IBHS Makes Board Officer Appointments

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS; Tampa, Fla.) has named Rod Matthews, underwriting vice president, property and casualty, State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. (Bloomington, Ill.), the IBHS's new chairman of the board. The organization has named Kevin Kelso, executive vice president, Farmers Group (Los Angeles) vice chairman of the board and chairman of the executive committee—positions held until now by Matthews. The two-year appointments were effective as of Jan. 1.

Matthews succeeds Phil Love, chief executive officer of South Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, who will remain on the IBHS board as immediate past chairman, according to IBHS.

Julie Rochman, IBHS president and CEO, credits Love with providing strong leadership at a significant time, during which the organization implemented a new strategic long-range plan and underwent a management change.

"With Rod and Kevin, we're fortunate to have two talented insurance executives " both deeply committed to improving the science of loss prevention " stepping into critical leadership roles on our board as we seek to take IBHS to the next level of success," Rochman says.

IBHS property loss reduction trade association of the property/casualty insurance industry participated in by over 200 companies. Its stated mission is to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other property losses by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio