The couple that co-founded GUARD Insurance Group has retired, and two of the Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-based company’s executives have new titles.

Sy Foguel

Susan Shoval and her husband and co-founder, Judd Shoval, will remain on the company’s board of directors, according to a statement.

The company’s chief executive officer, Sy Foguel, has assumed the company’s presidency, while Carl Witkowski, chief administrative officer, was promoted to chief operating officer.

Foguel, former executive vice president of international financial conglomerate Clal Insurance Co., has served as CEO of GUARD since its 2007 merger with Clal, which he helped facilitate.

Over that time, the company said, GUARD has achieved record profits while Foguel has led its expansion into other lines of business insurance to complement its previous focus solely on workers’ compensation coverage.

In Witkowski’s new role, he is directly responsible for information technology, human resources, legal operations, managed care, claims, customer service and underwriting for all but small business accounts. Witkowski has been with GUARD since 1996 in several executive management positions.

Foguel and Witkowski will lead the company’s expansion plans, which include its launch of products under the name of BizGUARD Plus. GUARD offers workers’ compensation policies in 27 jurisdictions as well as a businessowner’s policy (BOP) and commercial auto and umbrella coverage in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina. The BOP and umbrella/excess policies also are available in Maryland and New York.

Over the next several years, the organization’s new lines will be systematically introduced in other states, according to the statement.