Donald D. Larson Named President, COO of Great American P&C Group

Great American Insurance Company (Cincinnati) has named Donald D. Larson president and chief operating officer of the company's property casualty operations. Larson, the company's 16th president, succeeds Carl H. Lindner III, who has held the position for the past 23 years. Lindner will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Great American Property and Casualty Group and Great American Insurance Company, and Larson will continue to report to Lindner, according to a Great American news release.

Great AMerican also announced the promotions of Ronald J. Brichler and Gary J. Gruber, both to executive vice president of the Great American Property and Casualty Group and the Great American Insurance Company.

Brichler most recently served as Senior Vice President of Great American Insurance Company and currently serves as a member of Great American's board of directors. He started his career with AFG in 1976 in its finance department. In 1982, Brichler transferred to Great American Insurance Company where he held positions of increasing responsibility. In 1984, he was named Chief Financial Officer for a national brokerage subsidiary of Great American. In 1988, he returned to Great American as an Assistant Vice President in its Specialty Operations area and was named Divisional President of Great American’s Crop Division in 1994. Brichler is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive). He also holds the CPCU and Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) designations. Brichler is a past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Crop Insurers (AACI), and is the current Chairman of this organization’s Government Relations Committee. He is also a past chairman of the Board of Directors of National Crop Insurance Services. Brichler will continue to report to Don Larson.

Gruber most recently served as Senior Vice President of Great American’s Property and Casualty Group and serves as a member of Great American’s Board of Directors as well as the Board of Directors of National Interstate Corporation. Gruber started his career with Great American in 1977 and held a number of accounting and finance positions, serving as senior vice president and treasurer from 1990 to 1995, when he assumed a senior management role within the specialty operations. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive). Gruber is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled, Inc., and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Athenaeum of Ohio. Gruber will continue to report to Don Larson.

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