New Hires and Promotions at Barney & Barney - Around the Industry

Northwest Savings Bank has acquired The Bert Insurance Group, a property-casualty firm based in Erie, Pa. The agency will operate as a subsidiary of the bank. Douglas H. Bert, Bert's former owner, will assume the role of president of Northwest's insurance operations.

ProWriters has become an independent managing general underwriter. Brian Thornton, the new president of ProWriters, acquired the program, which provides professional and management liability insurance to specific industry segements including a focus on financial and healthcare industries.

New Programs

CFC launched a standalone terrorism policy to be underwritten by Lloyd's of London. Coverage includes property damage, loss of income and business interruption caused by sabotage or terrorism. Premiums start at $100 with maximum limits of up to $100 million for single or multiple locations.

Markel now offers DataBreach Mitigation coverage for its management liability product line. The policy will include PR expense coverage, notification and related legal expenses and voluntary credit monitoring.

The Main Street America Group introduced its remodeled commercial auto product to independent insurance agents in 15 states. Despite a struggling economy, Main Street executives report growing commercial lines new business this year in the majority of those states. The product combines auto liability, medical payments, comprehensive, collision, unisured/underinsured motorist, rental autos and more. Main Street plans to introduce the product into 10 more states in 2013.

News

Church Mutual lowered its premium threshold for broker and agent business from $150,000 per account to $50,000, effective in January 2013. Church is seeking to build relationships with a limited number of brokers and agents who have large books of religious entities such as houses of worship, educational institutions and camps.

Applied Systems released MobileProducer, an app designed to help insurance producers increase productivity with instant access to insurance information through tablet devices. The app includes:

• A touchscreen interface with access to accounts, activities, contacts, prospects, insurance policy information and other data
• Access to e-mail, ability to add activities to company management systems
• GPS technology to map accounts and coordinate daily schedules
• Integration with Epic and TAM systems.

The Ohio Insurance Institute (OII) launched a student and educator-focused website, InsuranceCareers.org. The site is designed to educate the public about insurance careers and provide interactive content such as interviews, a career survey and an "Ask a Pro" program. OII hopes the site will help with employee turnover as the Baby Boomer generation exits the workforce in the next 10-15 years.