DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Mark LaNeve, General Motors Co.'s (GM) sales chief and a longtime executive, will become chief marketing officer at Allstate Corp. (ALL).

LaNeve, 50, will oversee all of the insurer's marketing initiatives, including brand stewardship, marketing and brand strategy and advertising. As a member of the corporation's senior management team, he will report to Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas Wilson. He starts the new job Oct. 26.

Allstate has focused on improving customer loyalty in recent quarters. LaNeve will succeed interim Chief Marketing Officer Joan Walker, Allstate's senior vice president for corporate relations, who will continue as a member of the senior management team in her corporate relations role.

Last week, the Detroit auto maker said LaNeve would leave this Thursday for a position in another industry. LaNeve headed sales and marketing until GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson restructured the management team and put former product head Bob Lutz in charge of marketing.

Allstate saw its second-quarter earnings soar as its investment results benefited from Wall Street's rally. Harder hit than most insurers by losses on mortgage-related securities, the U.S.'s largest publicly held personal-lines insurer ousted its life-insurance chief as it scaled back those operations and halved its dividend earlier this year. Last week, it named American International Group Inc. (AIG) Vice Chairman Matthew Winter as the new chief executive of Allstate Financial, its life-insurance and annuities unit.

Allstate's shares recently traded at $31.75, down 0.5%. The stock has gained 18% in the past year.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2357; Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com