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The Main Street America Group Announces 1 Company Officer Promotion and 4 New Officer Appointments
[May 05, 2016]

The Main Street America Group Announces 1 Company Officer Promotion and 4 New Officer Appointments


The Main Street America Group announced the promotion of one company officer to assistant vice president and the appointment of four new company officers, all of whom will be an assistant secretary of the super-regional property/casualty insurance carrier. They are:

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160505005938/en/

Darryl Osman has been promoted to assistant vice president at The Main Street America Group (Photo: ...

Darryl Osman has been promoted to assistant vice president at The Main Street America Group (Photo: Business Wire)

  • Darryl Osman: director, personal lines product management and market research - promoted to assistant vice president.
  • Daniel Blau: director, personal lines pricing - appointed as an assistant secretary.
  • Jane McPherson: director, commercial lines product management - appointed as an assistant secretary.
  • Deana Pessina: director, commercial lines product management - appointed as an assistant secretary.
  • Scott Simmons: director, commercial lines agribusiness - appointed as an assistant secretary.

"Darryl, Dan, Jane, Deana and Scott all play key roles on Main Street America's management team," said Tom Van Berkel, the company's chairman and chief executive officer. "They exemplify the strong leadership qualities that drive our organization's success in a challenging marketplace and helped us generate very solid financial results in 2015." Main Street America's fiscal 2015 performance included generating net income of $91.4 million, the highest level in its 92-year history; net written premium of $968 million; and surplus growth of $60 million to $1.07 billion.

Following are more details about each of the five Main Street America officers:

Darryl Osman

Osman is responsible for managing Main Street America's personal lines product areas - including its homeowners, private passenger auto and personal umbrella insurance programs - and also oversees the market research and competitive analysis functions for personal lines. Additionally, he spearheads personal lines product improvements and product launches, including the company's new Main Street Protection Auto program. Osman reports to Deb Murphy, Main Street America's vice president/head of personal lines, and is based at the company's corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.

Osman has extensive personal lines product management experience. He joined Main Street America in 2011 as a personal lines product manager for our New England Region states. He was promoted into his current position in 2015 and was also appointed as a company officer (assistant secretary) last year.

Prior to joining Main Street America, Osman was a product management director at Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, Chicago. He also held product management roles at Zurich North America, Schaumburg, Ill., and Allstate Insurance Company, Northbrook, Ill.

Osman earned his master's degree in business administration from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He earned his bachelor's degree from Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.

Daniel Blau

Blau is responsible for defining and directing actuarial efforts to achieve Main Sreet America's desired loss ratio, production, profit and growth objectives in personal lines through pricing and rate structure strategies. He also provides support and recommendations to the company's personal lines product management team on strategic planning issues and maintains predictive models used in personal lines pricing. Blau reports to Murphy and is based in Jacksonville.



Blau has extensive property/casualty management experience, primarily in product and pricing development. He joined Main Street America in 2014 from Hartford Financial Services, Simsbury, Conn., where he led research, product development and pricing efforts in personal lines. Blau previously held management roles at GMAC Insurance, Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Insurance Services Office, New York, N.Y.

Blau graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in mathematics at New York University, New York, N.Y. He is a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society.


Jane McPherson

McPherson is responsible for managing Main Street America's Main Line Business Owners Policy program. She also spearheads its commercial lines product improvements and product launches, including the ongoing rollout of the company's new cyber risk program. McPherson reports to Dan Gaynor, the company's vice president/head of commercial lines, and is based in Jacksonville.

McPherson has extensive commercial lines management experience. She joined Main Street America in 2003 as a commercial lines product and process manager. In 2007, she was promoted to director, commercial lines underwriting systems and process. McPherson assumed her current director role in 2009.

Prior to joining Main Street America, McPherson held a variety of roles at Indiana Insurance during her 13-year tenure at the regional property/casualty carrier. This included commercial underwriter, commercial underwriting supervisor and team leader.

McPherson earned her bachelor's degree in business administration and communications arts at St. Mary's University, Winona, Minn. She holds several professional designations including Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management (ARM (News - Alert)) and Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC).

Deana Pessina

Pessina is responsible for managing Main Street America's commercial auto, workers' compensation and commercial umbrella programs. She also spearheads its product improvements and product launches, including the ongoing rollout of the company's tiered workers' compensation program. She reports to Gaynor and is based in Jacksonville.

Pessina has extensive commercial lines management experience. She joined Main Street America in 2005 as a senior commercial lines team underwriter in the company's Jacksonville (Southeast) Region. In 2007, she was promoted to commercial lines underwriting and process manager at the corporate level and, in 2008, was promoted to director, commercial lines underwriting and product management. Pessina assumed her current director role in 2011.

Prior to joining Main Street America, Pessina was a customer service representative at Bob Geier Insurance Agency, an independent agency in Spring Hill, Fla. Previously, she held several commercial lines roles at Commerce Insurance Company, Webster, Mass.

Pessina earned her bachelor's degree in business management from Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Conn. She also holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) professional designation.

Scott Simmons

Simmons is responsible for leading Main Street America's Austin Mutual Insurance Company agribusiness operations, where he oversees premium growth and profitability initiatives in 11 Midwest and Western states. Simmons also directs product development and management, underwriting and loss control, as well as field marketing and producer management of the company's agribusiness function. He reports to Gaynor and is based at the company's Omaha, Neb., office.

Simmons has extensive experience in agribusiness underwriting and management. He joined Main Street America in 2015 from Berkley North Pacific LLC, Bellevue, Wash., where he served as executive agribusiness underwriter and led development of the regional insurance carrier's commercial agriculture program. Previously, Simmons held agribusiness management and underwriting roles at Penn Millers Insurance Company, Unigard Insurance and Grange Insurance Association, all in Washington State.

Simmons earned his bachelor's degree in communications and English at Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Wash. He holds the Agribusiness and Farm Insurance Specialist (AFIS) professional designation.

About The Main Street America Group

With roots dating back to 1923, 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, Spring Valley Mutual Insurance Company and Main Street America Protection Insurance Company. Based in Jacksonville, Fla., Main Street America offers a wide range of commercial and personal insurance, as well as fidelity and surety bond products, to individuals, families and businesses throughout the United States.

With nearly $1 billion in premium written exclusively by more than 3,000 independent insurance agents, the 93-year-old company insures over 600,000 policyholders in 36 states and writes bonds in 47 states and the District of Columbia. A.M. Best Company rates The Main Street America Group with an "A" (Excellent) financial strength rating and "a+" issuer credit rating. The company has $1.07 billion in surplus (capital) and $2.42 billion in total assets.

Main Street America is the founding company partner of Trusted Choice®, the global branding program of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. Main Street America is also a founding company partner of the TrustedChoice.com consumer agent portal and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center. For more information about Main Street America, please visit our newsroom at http://news.msagroup.com or connect with us on Facebook (News - Alert) at www.facebook.com/MainStreetAmerica.


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