ProAssurance shuffles leadership roles as Friedman retires

Specialty insurance company ProAssurance Corporation has unveiled leadership changes following the retirement of Howard Friedman, president of healthcare professional liability.

Friedman will maintain his employment with the company, overseeing the development of the actuarial function, an area that the company said is taking on increased importance given current market conditions.

As a result of Friedman’s decision, Michael Boguski, the current president of Eastern Alliance Insurance Group (Eastern), ProAssurance’s workers’ compensation subsidiary, is being promoted to president of ProAssurance’s specialty P&C operations, which comprises all of ProAssurance’s professional and product liability operations.

Furthermore, Kevin Shook, the current executive vice president of Eastern and formerly its chief financial officer, is being promoted to become Eastern’s new president. These changes will be effective on May 13, 2019, and each executive will report directly to Ned Rand, ProAssurance’s president and chief operating officer.

Rand commented: “Mike is an experienced insurance professional with a proven track record in leading an organisation that creates value, delivers service excellence and maximises operational performance. I am confident our professional and product liability operations will rise to even higher levels of success under his leadership.

"Kevin has been a valuable partner and trusted advisor to Mike for the past 18 years and is the ideal person to succeed him. Kevin understands the customer-centric culture at Eastern and has been instrumental in developing Eastern’s industry-leading segregated portfolio cell operations, which have become a differentiating factor for ProAssurance.”

Friedman said: “I have been in the insurance business for almost 40 years, nearly all of it in healthcare professional liability. While my work has been immensely rewarding, I also want the opportunity to enjoy other aspects of life. I have been reflecting on this and with the blessing of Ned and Stan Starnes, our Chief Executive Officer, I decided to step away from my leadership role in healthcare and concentrate on the actuarial function at ProAssurance while allowing me to spend more time with my family and pursue personal activities outside of work.”

Stan Starnes, chairman and chief executive officer of ProAssurance, said: “Throughout ProAssurance’s history, we have been an innovative leader in our markets, and have achieved long-term success across the insurance cycles because of the effective strategies developed by an exceptional management team. We expect the changes we are announcing today will ensure that track record of success continues into the future. We are especially indebted to Howard for his dedicated service to the organisation and are delighted that he will remain with ProAssurance in a vital role. We are a better company because of him.”

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