• Retailers Mutual Insurance Company was established by the Michigan
Retailers Association (MRA) through conversion of MRA’s highly
successful Retailers Fund group self-insurance workers’ compensation
program. Retailers Fund, founded in 1981, officially converted to Retailers
Mutual on January 1, 2006.
• Because of its Retailers Fund roots, Retailers Mutual is "the
new insurance company with a 25-year track record." Retailers Mutual
workers’ compensation insurance policies will be sold through independent
insurance agents throughout the state and by Michigan Retailers Association’s
regional marketing representatives. Coverage can be provided for non-retail
as well as retail businesses.
• Retailers Mutual is the first new, non-affiliate Michigan-domiciled
insurance company in six years, according to the state Office of Financial
and Insurance Services. Its offices are located at MRA Headquarters
in downtown Lansing (603 South Washington Avenue, Lansing, MI 48933).
Information is available by calling 800.366.3699.
• The conversion is only the second of its kind in Michigan. The
first was the creation of MCIM (Michigan Construction Industry Mutual)
in January 2000 through conversion of the Michigan Construction Industry
Self-Insurers’ Fund (MCISIF).
• Retailers Mutual was incorporated in Michigan rather than offshore because the company’s roots are in Michigan, its policyholders are in Michigan and company officials are committed to the future of Michigan.
• Conversion to a mutual company enables the former Retailers
Fund to expand and serve a far greater number of current and future
MRA members. As MRA has grown and its membership has evolved beyond
brick-and-mortar retail businesses, state regulations governing group
funds have prevented Retailers Fund from serving much of the expanded
membership.
• For 25 years Retailers Fund operated similarly to a mutual:
participants elected the governing board, just as mutual company policyholders
elect the board of directors.
• Conversion was approved by the state Workers’ Compensation
Agency and the state Office of Financial and Insurance Services. The
move was recommended by MRA management and the MRA Board of Directors
and approved by the Retailers Fund Board of Trustees and participants
in Retailers Fund at their Annual Meeting on June 28, 2005.
• Larry Meyer, chairman and CEO of the Michigan Retailers Association,
serves as Retailers Mutual’s CEO. James P. Hallan, president and
chief operating officer of MRA, serves as president and chief operating
officer of Retailers Mutual. Directors of Retailers Mutual are the same
as the trustees of the former Retailers Fund:
Larry Meyer
James P. Hallan
Rod Phillips, Country Casuals, Petoskey, chair
Joe Kay, Northland Tire & Service, Southfield, chair-elect
John Godfrey, Godfrey Jewelers, Battle Creek
Dan Marshall, Marshall Music, Lansing
Jean Sarasin, MRA senior vice president
Peter Sobelton, Sundries Plus, Troy
Thomas Ungrodt, Ideation, Ann Arbor
