Safeco and Liberty Northwest Announce New Northwest Regional Operations

Seattle-based Safeco Insurance and Portland, Ore.-based Liberty Northwest, both Liberty Mutual Agency Markets companies, have announced key management appointments to lead their respective personal and commercial lines operations in their Northwest territory.

Rebecca Fann has been named vice president, Safeco Insurance, and Northwest Regional General Manager. Most recently, Fann was vice president and Northwest regional executive for Safeco Insurance. In this new capacity, Fann, who will be based in Seattle, is responsible for profit and growth throughout Safeco's five-state Northwest territory.

Joining Safeco's Northwest personal lines field operations as Agency Managers and reporting to Fann are: Casie Bowers, representing Oregon and southwest Washington; Mark Cummings, representing eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana; and Angela Thompson, representing Alaska and western and central Washington.

Chuck Blondino has been named Director of Marketing for Safeco Insurance and will report to Fann.

Two new Regional vice presidents are joining Liberty Northwest's commercial lines operations. Guy DeCosterd will manage Alaska and western Washington, and Ken Koehler will manage the Portland region. Both come to Liberty Northwest from Safeco Insurance. They form a regional executive team of four that also includes Mark Backstrom, managing eastern Oregon and southern Idaho region, and Thomas Becker who manages the eastern Washington, northern Idaho and Montana region.

As announced by Liberty Mutual Group on September 22, the Agency Markets business unit's personal lines will be sold under the Safeco brand. Liberty Northwest will be the exclusive provider of commercial lines business in its five-state Northwest territory, where Safeco will also offer personal lines.

Peggy Bresnick Kendler has been a writer for 30 years. She has worked as an editor, publicist and school district technology coordinator. During the past decade, Bresnick Kendler has worked for UBM TechWeb on special financialservices technology-centered ... View Full Bio