NU Online News Service, July 6, 3:12 p.m. EDT
Fireman's Fund says CEO Michael LaRocco has left the company to pursue other professional opportunities and has been replaced by Lori Dickerson Fouché.
LaRocco was named Fireman's Fund CEO in March 2008. In January 2009, LaRocco told NU Online News Service that the company was seeking to become the choice of independent agents throughout the country, backed by a significant investment from parent company Allianz. He also said the company planned to become a major player in the small to midsize marketplace.
"This is an incredibly exciting time at Fireman's Fund," LaRocco said at the time. "The direction that Fireman's Fund is now taking will make us a much more significant player in the property and casualty marketplace."
In an interview with National Underwriter Editor-in-Chief Bryant Rousseau in March 2011, LaRocco spoke further on the plan to grow the company and noted the difficulties that smaller regional companies face. "The smaller regional carriers are going to have to find their unique niches and play in that space," he said. "The reality is, there's so much consolidation within the distribution side of our business that the distributors are clearly becoming national in their own right, or at least super-regional. And so they expect to be partners with companies that can match their reach, whether it's product reach or geographic reach. And so the opportunity for long-term significant growth is going to be with the national players who can meet the needs of their distribution channel and the evolving customer."
He noted in that same interview, though, "Our first goal is to make an underwriting profit on each of our lines of business. So at the end of the day if we can't grow because we have discipline around underwriting profit, that will be something we'll have to accept."
Commenting on regions he would like to see the company expand in, LaRocco said, "There's a whole bunch of the country where we don't have a lot of business, so it's hard for me to specifically say we like this area a lot. But if I look at the map of the U.S., certainly there are major areas in the middle of the country, the Midwest states, where we see some significant opportunities. There are areas in the Southwest, whether it's Arizona, Texas, New Mexico or Nevada. And the Southeast presents opportunities."
LaRocco took over the CEO post from Charles M. Kavitsky, who had filled the role after Joseph J. Beneducci resigned after less than six months on the job. Beneducci had originally taken over as CEO for Kavitsky when Kavitsky was promoted to president of Allianz of America.
Fouché joined Fireman's Fund in February 2006 and most recently served as president of Commercial Insurance. Previously, she was chief operating officer for Fireman's Fund's specialty business.
Prior to Fireman's Fund, Fouché was senior vice president, private-company product manager at Chubb & Son and also served as a management consultant at The Parthenon Group.
Fireman's Fund says Jill Paterson, currently executive vice president, chief financial officer and member of the company's board, will retire at the end of the year. The board says it will decide on a successor over the next several months.
Paterson joined Fireman's Fund in 2003 as senior vice president and controller. Prior to Fireman's Fund, she had an 11-year career at Allianz Canada.
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