Thomas M. Van Berkel
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
The Main Street America Group
Jacksonville, Fla.
Chairman since September 2006, Director since June 2001

Tom Van Berkel is chairman, president and chief executive officer of The Main Street America Group, a super regional property/casualty insurance company that writes commercial lines and personal lines in 27 states, and surety and fidelity in 44 states. The company offers its products exclusively through a network of 2,000-plus independent insurance agents.

Tom joined Main Street America in 1990 as vice president, marketing, and was promoted to senior vice president, insurance operations, in 1993. He was elected president and chief operating officer of the company in 2001 and appointed chief executive officer in 2002. Tom was elected chairman of all of The Main Street America Group’s operating companies’ boards in 2006.

Prior to joining Main Street America, Tom was senior vice president of personal lines at Associates Insurance Group in Dallas, Texas, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. He has held several other management positions throughout his insurance career, including key roles with Crum and Forster and Trinity Universal Insurance Company, both based in Dallas.

Tom is chair of the Jacksonville, Fla., Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Tom has also held several other leadership positions at the JAX Chamber including treasurer of the board of directors, chair of the board of governors and chair of JAXUSA Partnership, the Chamber’s economic development division. Additionally, Tom is vice president of finance for the North Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America, chair of the River Club of Jacksonville’s board of directors and is a board member and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Tom earned his bachelor's degree in English and history at Boston College, Boston, Mass.

Terry L. Baxter
Retired Executive
Lyme, N.H.
Director since April 1995

Terry Baxter, a former television director at PBS, as well as a professional race car and stunt driver, began his insurance industry career at GEICO Corp. He spent 14 years in various management roles at GEICO, including vice president of corporate relations. For both President Reagan (1985) and President Bush (1989), Terry served as vice chairman and general manager of the Inaugural Gala. Between administrations, he served as senior vice president of the National Bank of Washington until President Bush appointed him managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board in 1990.

In 1993, Terry joined White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. as president. Before retiring from White Mountains in 2002, he also served as chairman for Source One Mortgage Services Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of White Mountains, and president of White Mountains Holdings.

Cotton M. Cleveland
President
Mather Associates
New London, N.H.
Director since June 1991

Cotton Cleveland is president of Mather Associates, a New England-based consulting firm specializing in leadership and organizational development for business, public and nonprofit organizations. She is the founding executive director of Leadership New Hampshire, a statewide leadership program designed to foster and expand the pool of key regional leaders from throughout New Hampshire and is moderator for the town of New London, N.H.

Cotton serves on the boards of Northeast Utilities, Hartford, Ct. and Ledyard National Bank, Hanover, N.H. She is a former chairperson of the University of New Hampshire Board of Trustees.

John A. Delaney
President
University of North Florida
Jacksonville, Fla.
Director since December 2004

John Delaney was named the fifth President of the University of North Florida in May 2003. His presidency continues a distinguished career in public service. During his two terms as mayor of Jacksonville, Fla., John convinced local voters to approve The Better Jacksonville Plan, a $2.2 billion improvement initiative that provided the city with new public facilities and other amenities.

Also while mayor, John created the Preservation Project, a massive land conservation program that gave Jacksonville the unique distinction of having the largest urban park system in the United States. For his efforts, John received the 2003 President’s Conservation Achievement Award from The Nature Conservancy.

Chris Doerr
Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Financial Officer
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida
Jacksonville, Fla.
Director since May 2011

Chris Doerr is executive vice president, chief administrative officer, chief financial officer and a member of the office of the chief operating officer of Jacksonville-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF). At BCBSF, Chris has overall responsibility for the company’s finance, accounting, actuarial, underwriting, corporate development, corporate tax, treasury functions, as well as its investment portfolios. Prior to joining BCBSF in 1995, Chris had a very successful 25-year tenure at CIGNA, where he began as an actuarial assistant in 1970 and rose through a variety of positions to become the senior vice president and chief financial officer of CIGNA HealthCare.

Chris is chairman of the boards for Florida Combined Life Insurance Company Inc. and Diversified Health Services Inc. He also serves as a director of the boards for LSV LLC and Florida Health Care Plan Inc. Throughout his career, Chris has been active in the community. He is a member of the United Way of Northeast Florida board of trustees, chairman of the United Way of Northeast Florida finance committee and chairman of the board of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, where he also serves as chairman of the Symphony's executive committee.

Albert H. Elfner III, CFA
Retired Executive
Boston
Director since December 2001

Albert "Chip" Elfner retired from Evergreen Investment Management Company, Boston, in 1999, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer. Prior to his tenure at Evergreen, Chip spent 17 years at Keystone Custodian Funds Inc., Boston, where he held numerous management roles, including chief investment officer, president and CEO.

Chip is a director of Unitil Corp., Hampton, N.H., and chairman of its Executive Committee. He serves as president, trustees of the donations, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and is on the Board of Anatolia College, Thessalonikki, Greece. Additionally, he is a director of Emerson Ecologics, Bedford, N.H., and a trustee of the Middlesex School, Concord, Mass.

David Freeman
Retired Executive
Manchester, Conn.
Director since March 2003

David Freeman retired from Lydall Inc. in 2007, where he served as president and chief executive officer. Lydall is a publicly traded company whose subsidiaries manufacture technologically advanced engineered materials for demanding specialty applications. Prior to joining Lydall in June 2003, David was a distinguished professor of international business at Central Connecticut State University for four years.

From 1974 through 1999, David held various roles with Loctite Corporation in both Europe and the United States, including chairman, president and CEO. He serves on the Advisory Board of Horst Engineering and Manufacturing Co. and is a member of the Central Connecticut State University School of Business Advisory Council. Additionally, David is on the Advisory Board of the Center for International Business Education and Research.

William D. Gunter Jr.
Chairman
Rogers, Gunter, Vaughn Insurance Inc.
Tallahassee, Fla.
Director since December 1994

Bill Gunter has over 40 years of experience in the insurance industry. He currently serves as chairman of the board of Rogers, Gunter, Vaughn Insurance Inc. (RGVI), an agency based in Tallahassee, Fla., and is CEO of Bill Gunter & Associates, a financial and insurance consulting division of RGVI.

As insurance commissioner of Florida from 1976 through 1988, Bill was involved in the review and rewriting of the state insurance code under the Sunset Law. He is a past president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and was named Most Effective Insurance Commissioner in the United States by the National Insurance Consumers Organization in 1988. Bill is currently vice chairman of the board of directors of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents.

Idalene Kesner
Associate Dean of Faculty and Research
Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Bloomington, Ind.
Director since October 2010

Idalene Kesner is the associate dean of faculty and research and the Frank P. Popoff chair of strategic management at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, Ind. From 2003-2009, Idalene served as chairperson for the Kelley School's department of management and entrepreneurship. From 2003-2006, she served as chairperson of the school's MBA program and from 1996 to 2003, Idalene was co-director of the school's consulting academy. Prior to joining Indiana University in 1995, she was a professor at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Idalene, who earned her master's of business administration and Ph.D. from Indiana University, has won 17 teaching awards for her work in the Kelley School's MBA program. During her tenure at Indiana and the University of North Carolina, Idalene has been selected by Business Week magazine as one of the nation's leading MBA instructors. At Kelley, she teaches a variety of management and strategy courses across several areas including strategic management, crisis management, change management and management consulting. In addition to being a board director at Main Street America, Idalene is a board director at Sun Life Financial.

Philip D. Koerner
Former President and CEO, The Main Street America Group
Jacksonville, Fla.
Director since March 1983

Phil Koerner began his distinguished career at The Main Street America Group in 1974 as director of corporate planning for National Grange Mutual Insurance Company. During his 27 years at Main Street America, he held several management positions. In 1982, Phil was elected president and chief operating officer and in 1984 was elected chief executive officer. He retired from the company in 2001 and was succeeded by Tom Van Berkel. Prior to joining Main Street America, Phil held actuarial, planning and management positions with Aetna Insurance Company.

Phil served as a director of the Alliance of American Insurers (now called the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America) and has served as a member of its executive committee and chairman of its finance committee.

James E. Morley Jr.
Retired Executive
Annapolis, Maryland
Director since September 1994

Jay Morley retired from National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in August 2006, where he served as president and chief executive officer. At NACUBO, he spearheaded many efforts to remain in the forefront of the everchanging world of higher education including, NACUBO-sponsored projects related to TRA97 tax-reporting requirements, college costs, total quality improvement and institutional student aid.

Before joining NACUBO, Jay spent 10 years at Cornell University, serving first as vice president and treasurer, and then as senior vice president. His tenure at Cornell was preceded by roles at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rider College and Syracuse University. Jay was also affiliated with the New York office of Ernst & Ernst (predecessor of Ernst & Young) as an Auditor/Management Consultant. Currently, Jay is a trustee of Russell Sage Colleges in Troy, N.Y. and has chaired the board of the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y., since 2000.