The Board of Directors of Church Mutual Insurance Corporation named Rich Poirier President, effective June 1, 2014. Poirier previously served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Church Mutual. He succeeds Mike Ravn as President of the corporation. Ravn continues as Chief Executive Officer. Ravn had held both positions since January of 2010.
“Rich has a complete insurance industry background,” Ravn said. “In his new role, he will continue to oversee Claims, Risk Control, Corporate Planning, Corporate Services, Actuarial and Product Services, Human Resources and Information Technology. Rich and I will continue to work closely together to deliver exceptional value for our policyholders.”
Poirier joined Church Mutual in April of 2011, as Vice President — Claims. In September of 2011, he was named COO.
Prior to joining the company, he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Claims for the Liberty Mutual Agency Markets Corporation. In that role, Poirier was responsible for all claims, loss mitigation and managed care activities and had approximately 1,500 employees reporting to him. Before that, Poirier served two years as Senior Vice President Western Division Underwriting for Wausau Insurance Companies in Warrenville, Ill.
Poirier earned his bachelor’s degree from Marquette University. After being commissioned an Ensign in the United States Naval Reserves, he returned to Marquette and earned a Juris Doctorate from its law school. Following that, Poirier entered four years of active duty as a Navy judge advocate. After active duty, he continued his service in the Naval Reserves, retiring in 2010 with the rank of Captain.
He is a member of the Wisconsin Bar and licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, the Military Court of Appeals and the Federal, Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Church Mutual, which now insures more than twice as many religious organizations as its nearest competitor with more than 96,000 accounts, is rated A (Excellent) by industry analyst A.M. Best.