Press release

The Ohio Mutual Insurance Group Board of Directors announced today that Mark C. Russell has been selected as the company’s next president and chief executive officer, succeeding the company’s current retiring leader Jim Kennedy.

Russell comes to Ohio Mutual from Columbus, Ohio-based Grange Insurance, where he has served in a variety of key roles since December 1997 – most recently in several executive vice president positions, as interim president of Grange affiliate Integrity Insurance, and roles overseeing information technology, marketing, agency relations, customer experience, and claims. Prior employers include Century Surety Insurance Group and Anthem Casualty Insurance Group (Shelby, OH), and Crum and Forster Commercial Insurance (New Jersey and Louisiana).

“Over the past few months as we have interviewed Mark, observed his alignment with Ohio Mutual’s Guiding Principles, and heard his commitment to perpetuate and strengthen the company’s unique corporate culture – we have become more and more confident that he is the right kind of person and the right kind of leader to assume this key role for our organization,” said Sue Porter, Chair of the Ohio Mutual Board of Directors.

Russell is a 1984 graduate of Texas Lutheran University, and earned an MBA from Ashland University in 1989. He has also completed additional executive training from the Harvard Business School and Indiana University. He holds the CPCU, ARM, and CCLA professional designations, and currently sits on the board of governors for the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

A resident of Dublin, OH, Russell is active in his local community – he currently serves as board president for the Ronald McDonald House and as a trustee for the Community Shelter Board. Russell and his wife, Lori, have two high-school age children.

“Following the Board’s careful search and selection process, we now move into a period of transition that will culminate with Mark assuming full leadership responsibility by January 1, 2016,” Porter added. “Ohio Mutual has thrived under the superb leadership of Jim Kennedy for the past 13 years, and we fully expect that the organization’s upward trajectory will continue under Mark Russell.”