February 21, 2019 by matray

ProAssurance Corp. today announced that Howard H. Friedman will retire from his role as president of Healthcare Professional Liability. He will maintain his employment with the company, overseeing the continued development of the actuarial function.

Michael L. 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.

Kevin M. 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.

“Mike is an experienced insurance professional with a proven track record in leading an organization that creates value, delivers service excellence and maximizes operational performance,” Rand said. “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.”

“I have been in the insurance business for almost forty years, nearly all of it in healthcare professional liability,” Friedman said of his changing role at the company. “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.”

“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,” Starnes said. “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 organization and are delighted that he will remain with ProAssurance in a vital role. We are a better company because of him.”