The Hartford has appointed Shahzad Ahmad head of the Western Division for the company’s Middle and Large Commercial Insurance business. Ahmad now leads the sales and underwriting operations for the company’s independent agents, brokers and customers across 13 Western states including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. He will report to Tracey Ant, head of Field Operations & General Industries for Middle and Large Commercial insurance. With more than 16 years of industry experience, Ahmad was most recently the regional vice president of Northern California, where he worked across multiple lines of business including Complex Casualty, Large Property, Construction, Marine, and Multinational, as well as The Hartford’s Global Specialty organization, to drive profitable growth and market success on the West coast. He joined The Hartford in 2005 and has since held several key positions of increasing responsibility across a diverse portfolio of middle market businesses, including Technology, Life Science, Construction, and General Industries. Ahmad succeeds Gretchen Thompson, who was recently appointed head of Construction, Inland Marine, Excess Solutions and Complex Liability Solutions for Middle and Large Commercial at The Hartford.