MERRILL, Wis. — Three present Church Mutual Insurance Company officers have been promoted, and another person has attained officer status as part of restructuring within the 114-year-old insurer of religious organizations.
“Our main goal in this reorganization is to improve profitability,” President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Ravn explained. “The competitiveness within the property and casualty market and tough economic times have been a challenge over the past few years. We are also in the midst of what may be a record claims year. I felt we needed to change the structure of our business operations to gain more efficiency and better communication.”
Jim Jordan has been named Senior Vice President — Commercial Lines Business Operations. Jordan joined Church Mutual as Vice President — Sales and Marketing in 2002. Under his leadership, the company has achieved more than $500 million in sales each year since 2004.
He came to the company with an extensive insurance background, having held positions in senior marketing management and claims since entering the industry in 1979. Jordan earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin — Oshkosh and a doctoral degree in organization development from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minn.
In his expanded role, Jordan will oversee the sales and marketing, underwriting and risk management operations.
Cheryl Kryshak has been promoted to Vice President — Underwriting. She joined Church Mutual in 1998 as Senior Underwriter for its long-term care (now senior living) unit. She was promoted to Long-Term Care Underwriting Coordinator in 1999 and to Assistant Vice President — Underwriting Manager in 2000.
Kryshak was a commercial lines supervisor for another major Wisconsin-based insurance company before coming to Church Mutual.
She earned a bachelor of business administration degree, with a risk management and insurance major, from the University of Wisconsin — Madison. She earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 1983 and also holds the Associate in Management (AIM) and Certified Professional Insurance Woman (CPIW) designations.
Craig Wessman has been promoted to Vice President — Direct Sales. He joined Church Mutual in 1986 as a Regional Representative in Minnesota. He was promoted to West Central Division Sales Manager in 1990, Regional Direct Sales Manager in 2000 and Assistant Vice President — Sales in 2005.
Wessman earned a bachelor of science degree in education from St. Cloud State (Minn.) University.
Mark Steinberg has been named Assistant Vice President — Broker/Specialty Markets. He has served as Broker/Agent Division Manager the past two years. Steinberg has a bachelor of arts degree from West Virginia University, has earned the CPCU designation and is an Accredited Advisor in Insurance (AAI).
He formerly worked at another national insurance company where he held expanding roles of account representative, field sales manager, regional sales manager, vice president — marketing, vice president — sales business center, senior vice president and general manager — sales business center and president.
Source: Church Mutual