Erie Insurance's Terrence W. Cavanaugh joins Highmark board of directors

PITTSBURGH, May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Terrence W. Cavanaugh, Erie Insurance Group's president and chief executive officer, is the newest member of Highmark's board of directors.

Highmark is a nonprofit diversified health and wellness system based in Pittsburgh that employs 37,000 people and serves millions of people across the United States. Highmark is the third largest integrated delivery and financing network in the nation and is the parent company of Highmark Health Services, which provides health insurance, dental insurance, vision care and other related health businesses, and Allegheny Health Network, which provides regional health care provider services.

A native of Chicago, Cavanaugh joined Erie Insurance Group in 2008 as president and CEO after a distinguished 33-year career with the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.

Under Cavanaugh's leadership, Erie Insurance has grown property and casualty direct written premium by 22 percent and boosted policyholder surplus by 32 percent. ERIE was named a J.D. Power and Associates' Customer Service Champion in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, the insurer received the J.D. Power and Associates' award for "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with the Auto Insurance Purchase Experience." ERIE consistently ranks on the Fortune 500, as well as Ward's 50 Group of top performing insurance companies.

Cavanaugh currently serves as the second vice chair for the Board of Governors of Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). In addition to PCI, he is on the board of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, Mercyhurst University, Saint Vincent Health System, the United Way of Erie County, and the American Institute for CPCU and Insurance Institute of America. He is a 1975 graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

SOURCE Highmark