Main Street America Promotes Frazier to SVP; Appoints 3 New Company Officers

The Main Street America Group has made changes to its personnel, including promoting Tom Frazier, the company’s chief investment officer, to senior vice president. Frazier has been a Main Street America vice president and its chief investment officer since 2011.

Additionally, Main Street America has appointed three of its functional unit directors as new company officers:

• Jim Kelly, director, commercial lines underwriting;
• Joe Schmucker, director, personal lines product development and underwriting; and
• James Vettel, director, information technology operations

All three will be an assistant secretary of the company.

Frazier manages Main Street America’s $2.2 billion investment portfolio. His responsibilities include determining appropriate asset allocations, selecting outside managers to meet the company’s portfolio objectives and managing their performance. Additionally, Frazier oversees Main Street America’s banking and custody relationships and assists in capital management activities.

Frazier, who reports to Main Street America executive vice president and chief financial officer Ed Kuhl, is based at the company’s Keene, N.H., office. He joined Main Street America in 1999 as a senior internal auditor. Frazier was appointed manager, corporate finance, in 2001 and promoted to director, corporate finance and investments, in 2005. He became a company officer in 2007 when he was appointed as assistant treasurer. Frazier was promoted to assistant vice president in 2010 and vice president, chief investment officer in 2011.

Prior to joining Main Street America, Frazier served as a Certified Public Accountant at Robert M. Mucha, CPA, PC, Keene. His broad financial services experience also includes roles as a financial analyst at Kingsbury Corporation, Keene, N.H., and an audit senior at Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP, Boston.

Frazier earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Assumption College, Worcester, Mass. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and has attained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance (AIAF) designations. Frazier was inducted into Main Street America’s Circle of Excellence in 2004.

Kelly has responsibility for Main Street America’s home office and regional commercial lines underwriting operations. This includes ensuring all of the company’s underwriters comply with Main Street America’s standards and regulatory requirements in each state where it writes commercial lines, while partnering with the company’s field marketing operation to write quality business and drive profitable commercial growth via its distribution force of 3,000 independent insurance agents.

Kelly, who reports to commercial lines vice president Dan Gaynor, is based at Main Street America’s corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla. He joined Main Street America in 2002 as a customer service representative. In 2003, he moved into commercial lines product as an underwriting assistant. Kelly’s other commercial lines roles at the company have included commercial lines underwriter, senior commercial lines underwriter and manager, commercial lines product. He was promoted into his current role in 2013.

Schmucker has responsibility for Main Street America’s personal auto, homeowners and personal umbrella products, as well as its home office and regional personal lines underwriting functions. He played a key role in the development and implementation of the company’s new Main Street Protection Auto private passenger auto insurance program, which is now available in eight states.

Schmucker, who reports to personal lines vice president Debbie Murphy, is based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla. He has nearly 30 years of property/casualty industry experience. Schmucker joined Main Street America in 2013 in his current personal lines director role. Prior to joining the company, Schmucker held operational underwriting, home office and product management positions at several P&C carriers, including AIG, Allstate, USAA and USF&G (Zurich North America).

Vettel has overall responsibility for Main Street America’s enterprise information technology operations including, security, controls and compliance, IT support services, IT operations and software release management. He also is responsible for operational and IT vendor relationships for telecommunications, server/infrastructure hardware, PC hardware, software licensing, outsourced infrastructure and IT services.

Vettel, who reports to Main Street America chief information officer Amy Frederick, is based at the company’s Maple Grove, Minn., office. He joined Austin Mutual Insurance Company in 2009 (prior to its affiliation with The Main Street America Group) as assistant vice president – IT. He was promoted to vice president—IT in 2011 and held that role until January 2014 when Austin Mutual employees transitioned to Main Street as part of the affiliation. At that point, Vettel became director, IT vendor management until he assumed his current role in October 2014.

Prior to joining Austin Mutual, Vettel held IT management positions at Hill Rom, IBM Global Services and Arthur Andersen Business Consulting.

The Main Street America Group is a mutual insurance holding company which writes business through its nine property/casualty insurance carriers: NGM Insurance Company, Old Dominion Insurance Company, Austin Mutual Insurance Company, Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Company, Main Street America Assurance Company, Great Lakes Casualty Insurance Company, MSA Insurance Company, Main Street America Protection Insurance Company and Spring Valley Mutual Insurance Company.

Based in Jacksonville, Fla., Main Street America offers a range of commercial and personal insurance, as well as fidelity and surety bond products, to individuals, families and businesses throughout the United States.

Topics Carriers Underwriting Property Casualty