Management

James E. Hohmann has served as a director, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Members Mutual, and as a director and Chief Executive Officer of Vericity since September 2014. For approximately two years prior thereto, Mr. Hohmann worked as a private consultant in the life insurance industry, including providing consulting services for Members Mutual. From April 2009 until June 2012, Mr. Hohmann served as a director, President, and Chief Executive Officer of FBL Financial Group, an individual life insurance and annuity products company. From January 2007 until January 2009, Mr. Hohmann was an executive officer of Allstate Corporation with accountabilities as President and Chief Executive Officer of Allstate Financial. From December 2004 until December 2006, Mr. Hohmann was President and Chief Operating Officer of Conseco, Inc. Earlier, he served as President and CEO of a newly formed XL Life and Annuity business at XL Capital, was Chief Actuary and then President of the Financial Institutions business of Zurich (Kemper), and worked for nearly 13 years as a management consultant, first for KPMG Peat Marwick, followed by Tillinghast/Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson) where he was Managing Principal of the Chicago Life Practice.

Mr. Hohmann is a former member of the Board of Directors of American Council of Life Insurers and the Board of Governors for the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Bankers Trust (non-public) and is Chairman – Elect of MIB Group Inc., a life insurance industry membership organization. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

James C. Harkensee has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Fidelity Life since November 2012. From July 1, 2013 to August 4, 2014, Mr. Harkensee served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Members Mutual. Prior to that, Mr. Harkensee served in various capacities at Fidelity Life, including most recently as Vice President of Product and Corporate Development and prior to that as President of America Direct Insurance Agency, Inc., a subsidiary of Fidelity Life, which he joined in 2005. He was formerly President of Zurich Direct, a direct marketing insurance agency. Mr. Harkensee began his career at Bankers Life & Casualty in 1980, later joining Zurich Life, where he was promoted to Chief Actuary. Mr. Harkensee also serves as Executive Vice President of Vericity. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

With more than 20 years of experience in direct-to-consumer marketing and branding, Melissa has built deep knowledge of customer acquisition and led digital transformation within insurance, education, and e-commerce businesses. She served as Chief Marketing Officer for GoHealth, a Medicare insurance broker, as well as Chief Marketing Officer for Endurance Warranty, a leader in auto protection services. At Perdoceo Education Corporation, Melissa held marketing leadership positions responsible for new student enrollment and retention; and as a digital native, helped establish search engine and social media marketing at CareerBuilder.com. She began her career in advertising guiding established brands like Ford Motor Company and La-Z-Boy through digital transformation.

Melissa graduated from Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan with a BBA in Marketing where she also completed Public Relations studies.

John Buchanan has served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Vericity and Members Mutual since February 19, 2016. Prior thereto, from 1995 to February 2016, Mr. Buchanan served in various legal roles during a twenty year career at Allstate Insurance Company most recently as Chief Counsel supporting Allstate’s agency operations from July 2014 to February 2016, and prior to that as Corporate Counsel supporting direct sales from July 2009 until July 2014. Among other positions at Allstate, Mr. Buchanan led several legal teams within Allstate’s P&C and life insurance operations, including acting as lead counsel for Allstate Life of New York. He also served as lead counsel to Allstate’s Chief Marketing Officer and Lead Counsel to Allstate’s Eastern Region President. Mr. Buchanan served as Secretary on NJ Life and Health Guaranty Fund boards. Mr. Buchanan began his career as a trial attorney with dozens of jury and bench trials on insurance matters.

David R. Drollette has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Data Officer & Chief Technology Officer since September 1, 2020. Prior thereto, Mr. Drollette served as Vice President Product Analytics at athenahealth, Inc. from September 2018 through August 2020, where he led the product analytics team and set the research & development strategy for the data and artificial intelligence engineering teams across multiple geographies. Prior thereto, Mr. Drollette served in various leadership roles at Wayfair, Inc. from January 2006 through August 2018, where he led a 180+ person team of analysts, data scientists, and software engineers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics/Physics from Ithaca College in New York where he graduated Cum Laude.

Chris S. Kim has served as Chief Financial Officer of Vericity and Members Mutual since August 2014. Prior thereto, Mr. Kim served as Chief Accounting Officer of Members Mutual since June 2013. Mr. Kim has over twenty years of experience in public accounting and controllership with a focus on property and casualty and life insurers. He has extensive experience in advising public companies on accounting and financial reporting matters related to capital raising activities and advising clients on complex accounting matters. Mr. Kim also serves as Executive Vice President of Vericity. Prior to joining Members Mutual, he was employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC for a total of seventeen years within the audit and transaction services practice in Kansas City, Chicago, and New York, from 1995-2002 and again from 2004-2013. From 2002-2004, Mr. Kim held the position of Assistant Controller with Employers Reinsurance Corporation, a subsidiary of GE Capital.