Cincinnati Financial Corp. last week appointed Gretchen W. Price to its board of directors — adding an independent member to a board criticized in the past for having too many insiders.

        Ms. Price is vice president of finance and accounting at Procter & Gamble. She also serves on the board of the Cincinnati Symphony and the Greater Cincinnati Scholarship Association.

        Her appointment as an outside director to Cincinnati Financial comes less than a month after the Nasdaq Stock Market board voted to require that its listed companies have boards whose members are mostly independent.

        She also is the first female director for Cincinnati Financial, which trades under the symbol CINF on the Nasdaq.

        Under Nasdaq's definition of independence — having no financial or familial relationship with the company or its executives — six of Cincinnati Financial's 15 board members were considered independent, chief financial officer Ken Stecher said.

        Other board members are executives, their family members or insurance agents who earn commissions selling Cincinnati Financial's products.

        That composition led the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest pension fund, to harshly criticize Cincinnati Financial as one of the worst-run U.S. companies.

        Cincinnati Financial defended its board structure, saying each member, especially the insurance agents, brings unique benefits.

        “We feel all of our directors provide an integral part of our board,” Mr. Stecher said, noting the company would not end its tradition of keeping executives and insurance agents as directors, despite calls for additional outsiders.

        “I don't see us ever getting away from that,” he said. “That's what brought us to this point, and we don't want to lose that.”

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