For Immediate Release
November 20, 2007
LANSING — James P. Hallan, long-time president and chief operating officer of Michigan Retailers Association and Retailers Mutual Insurance Company, will become president and CEO of both organizations on January 1, 2008. He succeeds Larry Meyer, who will retire as chair and CEO on December 31 after a distinguished 35-year career with Michigan Retailers Association.
“Jim Hallan has been a dedicated and talented leader at MRA for nearly 23 years,” said Peter Sobelton, chair of the Executive Committee of MRA’s board of directors. “His experience and knowledge of the retail and insurance industries will allow for a seamless transition and his vision will set the stage for a strong future.”
Hallan, a native of Holland, was named president of MRA in 1989 after serving as the Association’s general counsel since 1985. His broad responsibilities have included legal analysis, long-term financial planning and budgeting, daily operations and development of business relationships and member services. All these responsibilities will continue to play a role in his position as CEO.
Early in 2007 Hallan presented the Association’s board of directors with a strategic plan outlining his approach to guiding MRA in the coming years. Key features of the plan are to seek new products and services that aid small business owners and to reorganize responsibilities among key executives to better achieve the Association’s mission.
The transition at Retailers Mutual Insurance Company—the workers’ compensation insurance company formed in January 2006 through conversion of Retailers Fund—also will be seamless. Hallan was instrumental in the conversion to Retailers Mutual, a process that benefited from his legal knowledge and experience with the insurance industry.
Hallan received his bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Juris Doctor from the Detroit College of Law. A member of the State Bar of Michigan, Hallan served as an attorney with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and as general counsel for the Michigan Food Dealers Association and the Michigan Association of Professional Insurance Agents before joining MRA in 1985.
He also serves as a chair of the board of directors of Delta Dental Plans of Michigan and Ohio, and as a director of the Delta Dental Plan Foundation, the Michigan YMCA, the national Council of State Retail Association Executives and the Association Advisory Council for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. He and his wife, Beth, have three children and one grandchild and have been longtime supporters of local arts, music and sports programs.
The Michigan Retailers Association is the unified voice of retailing in Michigan and the nation’s largest state trade association of general merchandise retailers. MRA’s 5,500 retail business members operate more than 12,000 stores across the state.
