Reilly Partners Recruits Chief Economist for Nationwide

November 23, 2022 – Chicago-based executive search firm Reilly Partners has assisted in the recruitment of Kathy Bostjancic as their new senior vice president and chief economist at  Nationwide. Ms. Bostjancic succeeds recently retired, former chief economist David Berson. She is the second person and the first woman to be named chief economist at the company. 

“This was another fantastic search with Nationwide,” said Liam Lawrence, Reilly’s insurance practice leader. “Their top-tier leadership team and amazing brand make them incredible partners – they just get it. They’ve made a fantastic hire. Kathy is an experienced chief economist with broad financial services industry experience in addition to being a talented media spokesperson. Her keen economic insights, both domestic and international, will be impactful to Nationwide’s businesses, their partners, and customers.”

“Kathy’s breadth of experience and pragmatic perspective will help us remain a strong and stable company through this period of economic volatility and beyond,” said Tim Frommeyer, Nationwide’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. “We’re excited to have Kathy join Nationwide, and we are looking forward to the impact that she will deliver for our customers and partners.”

Frequently quoted by national and global business media, Ms. Bostjancic joins Nationwide with both domestic and international economics expertise. She previously served as chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. There, Ms. Bostjancic was responsible for assessing and forecasting the U.S. macroeconomic environment, including Federal Reserve monetary policy and its impact on industries and financial markets. She served in similar capacities at The Conference Board, Merrill Lynch, Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), and Citicorp Investment Bank. In those roles, Ms. Bostjancic provided analyses on both U.S. and global macroeconomic topics, including international capital and foreign exchange markets, housing markets, U.S. consumer research, and global inflation and labor markets.

In her role with Nationwide, Ms. Bostjancic is tasked with leading the team that provides the Fortune 100 company’s economic forecasts and analyses, used to inform and strengthen the organization’s business strategies and operating plans for the diversified insurance and financial services company. “I am excited to join Nationwide as its new chief economist,” she said. “I look forward to working closely with Tim Frommeyer and the entire executive leadership team to provide insights that support the performance of the company, our customers and partners.”

Ms. Bostjancic is an active member of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) and a regular presenter and member of its forecasting committee. She is also a past president of the New York Forecasters Club, a group comprised of about 80 economists who either represent or have represented Wall Street Firms. Ms. Bostjancic also led Oxford Economics to be a top forecaster in the Bloomberg economic survey.

Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, OH, is one of the largest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. It provides a full range of insurance and financial services products including auto, business, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; excess and surplus, specialty and surety; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance.

Veteran Recruiters 

Established in 2005, Reilly Partners provides executive search services for clients in the private equity, sports, healthcare, insurance, industrial products, and digital sectors, among others. Robert Reilly is CEO and founding partner of the firm. As chairman of both Reilly Partners’ private equity solutions and board services practice, he has completed board of directors, CEO, COO, CFO, and president searches for prominent clients representing the financial service, insurance, investment banking, private equity, real estate, healthcare, consumer products, software, hospitality, gaming, information technology, and advertising industries nationwide. Additionally, Mr. Reilly has built many organizations from the ground up, filling as many as 71 positions with one client.

Mr. Lawrence is a managing director with Reilly Partners where he is responsible for leading the global insurance industry practice. Since entering the executive search industry in 1995 he has been working with clients to manage officer-level search assignments in nearly all lines of insurance.

His experience is broad, having recruited executives to lead public, private equity backed as well as mutual insurers, brokers, and industry groups. In addition to board and CEO level recruiting, Mr. Lawrence has deep experience recruiting executives to lead distribution, underwriting, operations, technology, program and project management, claims, customer service, HR, legal and compliance, finance (including risk management, audit and risk advisory services), strategy, marketing, and actuarial.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media

Check Out These Related Articles On Recruiting In the Insurance Sector:

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