The Mutual Group Leadership Team

The Mutual Group’s leadership team is comprised of seasoned industry experts with deep experience in leading innovative insurance companies across a variety of subsectors.

Chuck Chamness

Chairman

Chuck is a seasoned executive with over 28 years of experience across board governance, executive management, government affairs, regulatory affairs and public affairs. In July 2021, he concluded an 18-year tenure as President and CEO of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), a leading property and casualty insurance trade association, during which he also obtained designations of both National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) certified Governance Fellow and NAMIC Mutual Director Certification (MDC).

Chuck graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University Bloomington.

David Charlton

Board Member

David brings extensive insurance industry and leadership expertise, including roles as Chief Executive Officer & Director at Global Indemnity Group (GBLI), President & Executive Vice President at ACE/Chubb Insurance and Executive Vice President & Chief Underwriting Officer at USLI, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. His expertise encompasses building businesses, teams, products and automation, as well as devising and executing innovative ideas for insurance companies in the property and casualty industry.

David earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Babson College and holds a Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) designation.

Kurt Bock

Board Member

Kurt is an accomplished executive with significant insurance and financial services leadership expertise. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer for Country Financial, a multi-line insurance and financial services company and has held a number of leadership roles across financial services, insurance, membership associations and manufacturing/distribution companies. Prior to his career in the financial services industry, Kurt served 28 years in the United States Air Force from which he retired with the rank of Colonel. 

Currently, Kurt serves as an adjunct faculty instructor at Queens University of Charlotte, as well as acting as a primary faculty member for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies’ Directors’ Bootcamp. 

Kurt holds a doctorate degree from Saint Louis University and an MBA from Southern Illinois University. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Tim Fleming

Chief Executive Officer

Tim serves as Chief Executive Officer of The Mutual Group, responsible for all facets of the business. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Commercial Niche Businesses and CGA Insurance Services for GuideOne Insurance after beginning his career there as Chief Actuary.

Tim brings a forward-thinking approach to his roles and seeks innovative ideas and solutions to support and enhance proven business models. Before joining GuideOne, Tim worked for CNA Financial Corporation as Vice President, Actuarial Reserving for specialty lines.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and completed the Executive MBA program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Brett Humphrey

Brett Humphrey

Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Brett is responsible for overseeing all aspects of The Mutual Group’s financial success. He brings over 20 years of experience leading high-performing finance organizations in the global financial services sector to his role as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Before joining The Mutual Group, Brett held various senior leadership positions with insurance companies in New York and Japan, most recently serving as Vice President, Separation Finance for American International Group, Inc. He also worked as Head of Actuarial and Finance for Aegon Sony Life Insurance and Chief Financial Officer at Hartford Life Japan.

Brett earned dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of Utah and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Coleman Johnson

Senior Vice President & Chief Underwriting Officer

Coleman leads the strategy, governance and performance of underwriting functions, driving profitability and growth for The Mutual Group and its mutual insurance member companies. He brings to his role over 20 years of field and home office underwriting leadership experience and a proven record of achieving profitable performance for several large, national carriers.

Before joining The Mutual Group, Coleman served as Chief Underwriting Officer for U.S. and Bermuda at Canopius. Previously, he held roles of increasing seniority at Liberty Mutual, most recently as Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer for the U.S. Middle Market business. Coleman has also held senior underwriting roles at The Hanover Insurance Group and The Hartford.

Coleman earned his bachelor’s degree in business marketing from Florida State University.

Patrick Markowski

Patrick Markowski

Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Pat leads the strategic operations, technology, new member onboarding and integration, and optimization of the underwriting-focused platform at The Mutual Group. He brings more than 30 years of financial services leadership experience to this role, along with an established track record of driving growth, efficiency and innovation for industry-leading underwriting organizations. In addition, Pat has a solid depth of expertise in service management and shared services, mergers and acquisitions, automation and technology to apply toward scaling and growing The Mutual Group’s insurance solutions platform.

Prior to joining The Mutual Group, Pat held executive leadership roles at Chubb, most recently serving as Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor to the North America Chief Executive Officer and Executive Team, which followed his tenure as Chief Operating Officer of North America. Additionally, his previous experience includes multiple leadership roles at Wells Fargo Advisors, Wachovia and Bank of America.

Patrick graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in economics.

Shannon Woods

Shannon Woods

General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer

Shannon serves as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at The Mutual Group. She leads the development and execution of the company’s overall legal and regulatory strategies, in addition to overseeing compliance functions. Her extensive knowledge of the insurance regulatory environment and experience in growth initiatives and mergers and acquisitions position her well as a strategic partner in The Mutual Group’s growth activities.

Shannon brings more than 20 years of C-suite legal and executive-level experience to her role, along with a strong record of leading highly-regulated companies in complex compliance environments. She previously served as Chief Legal and Strategy Officer at Mindr Co., and prior to that, held the role of Associate Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Compliance Officer at Hy-Vee, Inc. Earlier in her career, Shannon served as a partner in private practice at Whitfield & Eddy law offices.

She is a distinguished alum of Buena Vista University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice/psychology and Drake University Law School.

Naomi Myers

Senior Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer

Naomi oversees daily administrative operations, providing input on business planning and strategic initiatives, collaborating on policy implementation and ensuring smooth business operations to drive organizational performance. She previously served as Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at GuideOne, leading the human resources strategy, including talent acquisition and management, training and development and compensation and benefits.

Naomi has extensive experience across various functions in human resources leadership, having previously served as Vice President of Strategic Human Resources Partnership for Rite Aid and holding senior leadership roles at Nationwide Insurance and CNA Insurance.

Naomi earned a bachelor’s degree in human services from Buena Vista University.

Brian Nelson

Senior Vice President & Chief Claims Officer

Brian is responsible for the management of claims policies, guidelines and governance, risk control and for maintaining a superior customer service experience for The Mutual Group’s member companies.

He previously served as Chief Claims Officer at GuideOne Insurance and prior to that, he held the role of Associate Vice President of Claims at Nationwide Agribusiness.

Brian earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from the University of Northern Iowa and an MBA from Drake University. He holds several insurance designations and certifications, including Charter Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Claims (AIC).

Paul Knutson

Senior Vice President, Business Development

Paul is responsible for leading the development and growth of member business for The Mutual Group in addition to developing and executing all facets of the reinsurance purchasing strategy.

He previously served as Senior Vice President, Alternative Distribution & Reinsurance at GuideOne Insurance and was heavily involved in strategy for all business segments across the company. He played a pivotal role in aligning GuideOne’s reinsurance solutions with its financial and long-term capital goals. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience in various aspects of the insurance business, including reinsurance buying and reinsurance brokering.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business and political science from Concordia College.

Chris Steele

Senior Vice President, Enterprise Operations

As Senior Vice President of Enterprise Operations, Chris is responsible for the strategic planning and successful delivery of key capabilities essential to The Mutual Group’s growth and service expansion. He brings a proven record of steering and advancing major operational initiatives to his role and his oversight includes information technology, vendor management, rate/form filing, facilities and underwriting quality assurance audit.

Chris previously served as VP of Operations for GuideOne Insurance, joining the company in 2013 to lead the development of a project management office to support delivery of large initiatives. Since then, he has held various leadership roles spanning strategic planning, underwriting support services and driving results on special projects.

Chris earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Northern Iowa.

Shane Maas

Vice President & Chief Information Officer

Shane brings 25 years of insurance industry experience to his role as Chief Information Officer. Most recently, Shane led GuideOne’s Information Technology Services team to support the organization’s evolving needs through simplified processes and value-added services and tools.

During his tenure at GuideOne, Shane modernized the commercial underwriting systems and virtualized server and desktop resources. His work to successfully migrate GuideOne’s server infrastructure to the cloud in less than 60 days was featured in an economic study by Forrester.

Shane holds a bachelor’s degree from Westmar University.

Lori Chappell

Vice President, Corporate Communications & Marketing

Lori is responsible for all aspects of The Mutual Group’s corporate communications and marketing functions. With more than 30 years of integrated marketing communications and customer service experience, she transitioned to this role from GuideOne Insurance, where she led the company’s internal and external marketing strategies and served as the Executive Director of GuideOne Foundation.

In addition to leading the company’s strategic brand and marketing initiatives, Lori’s team is responsible for delivering measurable results through advertising, creative services, social media and internal and external communications.

Lori earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Iowa State University and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America.