GUARD Insurance Group Names New President and Chief Operating Officer

WILKES-BARRE, Pa., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- GUARD Insurance Group's Chief Executive Officer Sy Foguel recently assumed the role of President, and former Chief Administrative Officer Carl Witkowski was promoted to Chief Operating Officer.

Foguel's and Witkowski's new roles were formerly held by Susan Shoval, GUARD co-founder, who has retired from the company along with her husband and co-founder Judd Shoval.  Both will remain board members.

Foguel, former Executive Vice President of international financial conglomerate Clal Insurance Company, Ltd., has held the position of CEO since GUARD's 2007 merger with Clal, which Foguel helped facilitate.  In that time, GUARD has achieved record profits while Foguel has created a new vision for the company's future through expansion into other lines of business insurance to complement a long-time specialty in Workers' Compensation coverage.  

In Witkowski's new role, he is directly responsible for information technology, human resources, legal operations, managed care, claims, customer service, and underwriting for all but small business accounts, which enables him to ensure that GUARD has the infrastructure and processes needed to support planned growth while concurrently achieving optimum effectiveness.  Witkowski has been with GUARD since 1996 in several executive management positions of increasing scope and responsibility.

Foguel and Witkowski, along with other members of the executive management team, will carry out GUARD's expansion plans.  Thus far, the group has launched a full complement of products (under the name of BizGUARD Plus) that is designed to match the characteristic Property and Casualty insurance needs of small- to mid-sized businesses.  GUARD currently offers Workers' Compensation policies in 27 jurisdictions as well as a Businessowner's Policy (BOP) and Commercial Auto and Umbrella coverage in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina.  The BOP and Umbrella/Excess are also available in Maryland and New York. Over the next several years, the organization's new lines will be systematically introduced in other states.  

Rated A- ("Excellent") by A.M. Best Company, GUARD is a national commercial Property and Casualty insurer operating in over half the United States.  In 2009, the company wrote approximately $200 million in premium for 36,000 accounts.  Agents interested in learning more can contact the company on-line at www.guard.com/apply  or by phone at 1-800-673-2465 (extension 4567).

SOURCE GUARD Insurance Group