Acuity Insurance's latest hires hint at where the Wisconsin mutual wants to grow. Three of the five managers and directors it has brought in from outside the company have backgrounds in private-client or high-value personal insurance, at Chubb, Cincinnati Insurance, Nationwide and USAA.
The roles, first reported in the local newspaper, cover internal audit, personal lines growth, marketing, product strategy and regional distribution. All five started in August or September, according to their LinkedIn profiles, about six months after Melissa Winter became chief executive. When she took over from Ben Salzmann in March, the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, carrier filled its new senior posts with existing staff.
HNW personal lines looks to be the most obvious answer. Acuity's personal lines business has been growing faster than the rest of the company: personal lines revenue rose more than 34% in 2024, to over $820 million, the company reported in January 2025.
It has now hired a dedicated personal lines growth manager, and three of the newcomers have worked at the wealthier end of the market. Tara Harmon spent a decade at Chubb, a major high-net-worth insurer, then managed private client and personal lines agencies for Cincinnati Insurance. Maria Vittorio spent most of her Nationwide career in its private client unit, after handling private client accounts at HUB. Stuart Rogers's recent work at USAA included products for valuable personal property and umbrella liability. That suggests Acuity may want to grow with more affluent customers, though it hasn't said so.
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Rogers's own job, general manager of product strategy and performance, lines up with a change Acuity made in March. Joel Katsma was named chief marketing and distribution officer, and his remit was widened to include product development and product management, according to the company. Rogers is now building a team under that wider brief. A few weeks into the job, he posted on LinkedIn that Acuity needs experienced product managers to help grow and develop its product management function.
Several of the new roles fill in the gaps left by March's promotions. Three of the people promoted then were general managers. Trisha Krautkramer moved from general manager of communications to vice president of product and marketing. Brad Lloyd went from general manager of distribution to vice president of distribution, and Jeff Boldig from general manager of personal lines underwriting to assistant vice president of personal lines. Stephanie Krickeberg's marketing and communication role, Vittorio's regional market post and Harmon's personal lines job map closely onto the areas those three left behind.
All five came from outside the company, a change from March. Three come from other insurers; Krickeberg comes from consumer products and Dave Augustiniak from healthcare audit. "Promoting from within" at Acuity hasn't always meant lifelong employees, though. Lloyd joined in 2018 as a territory director after six years at Selective Insurance and a stint at Erie Insurance, according to LinkedIn. Krautkramer came over in 2015 from marketing agency Laughlin Constable. The pattern is to bring in experienced people below the senior ranks and promote them later, and the five new hires fit that mold.
The internal audit appointment reflects the company's size. Acuity's revenue grew nearly 20% in 2024, taking it past $3 billion for the first time, and a business growing that quickly needs its controls to keep up.
Acuity is also hiring while much of the industry holds back. Only 28% of large insurers plan to add staff over the next year, and industry headcount grew just 0.21% between July 2025 and July 2026, according to the latest labor market study from the Jacobson Group and Aon. Acuity said early in 2025 that it planned to hire more than 200 people that year.
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Stuart Rogers becomes general manager of product strategy and performance, covering both personal and commercial lines. He joined in August from USAA, where he spent seven and a half years, most recently as director of product development; his work there included a new valuable personal property product, an umbrella overhaul and a modernized dwelling product, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before USAA he spent six years at American Family Insurance, including a stint as state product director with profit-and-loss responsibility for three states writing about $800 million in premium, by his account, and seven years in product roles at Nationwide. He started out as an actuarial student at Milliman, and holds a math and economics degree from Indiana State University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
Stephanie Krickeberg is the new general manager of marketing and communication. She comes from outside insurance, after about 13 years at Kohler, the plumbing and wellness products maker based in Kohler, Wisconsin, also in Sheboygan County. There she launched and ran the Sprig by Kohler wellness brand and most recently led product management for the company's sauna business, according to her LinkedIn profile. Earlier she worked in mobile marketing at Kohl's. Announcing the move on LinkedIn, she said she was looking forward to learning "from a whole new set of leaders and experts in a new field." She studied at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and completed an executive MBA at Marquette University.
Tara Harmon arrives as personal lines growth manager. She joined in August from Cincinnati Insurance, where she spent seven years as a senior field director managing its Illinois agencies, with a focus on private client and personal lines, according to her LinkedIn profile. Before that she worked as a broker at several Chicago-area firms and spent a decade at Chubb, rising from personal insurance underwriting trainee to assistant vice president and strategic partnerships manager. She began her career adjusting claims at Country Financial. She studied insurance and mathematics at Illinois State University, holds a property and casualty license and carries the Chartered Private Risk and Insurance Advisor (CPRIA) designation, which comes from the Private Risk Management Association and is aimed at professionals who advise high-net-worth clients.
Maria Vittorio joins as a regional market director. She arrived in August from Nationwide, where she spent nearly 13 years, most of them in its private client business, rising from underwriting specialist to director of underwriting, according to her LinkedIn profile. Before that she managed private client accounts at HUB International and worked in sales at State Farm. She holds bachelor's degrees in business administration and psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and a master's in management from the American College.
Dave Augustiniak started in September as director of internal audit. His background is in healthcare: he spent more than six years as chief audit executive at Marshfield Clinic Health System and 16 years in Crowe's healthcare risk consulting practice, and most recently worked as an engagement director at accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen, according to his LinkedIn profile. A certified public accountant and certified internal auditor, he earned his accounting degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
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A group of Sheboygan County farmers and small-town business owners formed the company in 1925 as a mutual auto insurer. It later traded as Heritage Mutual and took the Acuity name in 2001. It remains a mutual, owned by its policyholders rather than shareholders.
Most of its modern growth has come under two long-serving chief executives. During the Holden era, from 1969 to 1999, written premium grew from roughly $7 million to $249 million. Salzmann, previously head of technology, then held the top job for more than a quarter of a century, from 1999 until his retirement in March.
Today Acuity writes more than $3 billion in annual premium, manages over $8.5 billion in assets and employs nearly 1,900 people, according to the company. It sells personal and commercial coverage in more than 30 states, exclusively through independent agents, and says it works with around 40,000 of them. The carrier holds A+ ratings from both AM Best and S&P Global Ratings and reported a 2025 combined ratio of 96.3%, with written premium up almost 10%.
Winter is a company veteran. She joined Heritage Mutual as a claims representative in 1998, became president in 2023 and took the CEO title in March at the end of a three-year handover, BizTimes reported. All seven senior appointments announced alongside her went to existing staff.
Acuity has a long record of promoting from within. In 2004, when it operated in 11 Midwestern states, it announced five promotions in its marketing department, all to long-serving employees, one of whom had been there 23 years, Insurance Journal reported at the time. When Winter was named president in 2023, then-board chair Bob Willis said the company's executive team "allows us to perpetuate our leadership internally.”
