5 to be inducted into Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame
April 18, 2016 by Business Record Staff
Five distinguished Iowa insurance professionals will be honored on May 19 as the newest members of the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame. The 20th annual induction ceremony will be held at the Prairie Meadows Convention Center.
To be eligible for consideration, nominees must have an Iowa connection, serve as a role model for young people as well as others in the insurance business, exhibit the highest standards of ethical conduct, and have made a significant impact on the insurance industry. With the five newest inductees, 98 individuals will have been inducted into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame since its creation in 1997.
The five honorees are:
James Mumford
James Mumford, who died Sept. 14, 2015, served as first deputy insurance commissioner with the Iowa Insurance Division from 2005 until retiring in 2015. An Iowa native, Mumford graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in agricultural economics and got his law degree from Harvard University Law School. In 1976 he started a law firm specializing in insurance-related matters. He joined ING Americas as chief counsel, corporate affairs, in 1997. As a regulator, Mumford used his extensive experience in the industry to lead many national projects, from multistate company examinations to creation of the Sustainability in Annuity Transactions model rule. “His contributions enhanced the reputation of the Iowa insurance industry at the same time that it strengthened the industry nationally,” wrote Therese Vaughan, former Iowa insurance commissioner and dean of the College of Business and Public Administration at Drake University.
Jon Newsome
An industry leader, Jon Newsome built three insurance and annuity organizations over his career that resulted in more than 1,000 new jobs, over $25 billion in assets under management and over 500,000 policyholders in Iowa. Early in his career, he built American Life & Casualty Insurance Co. in Fargo, North Dakota, which was re-domiciled to Iowa in 1988. That same year, he initiated a new company called USG Life & Annuity Co. a subsidiary of Equitable of Iowa Cos. in Des Moines, which became part of ING. In 1999, Newsome started Sammons Annuity Group, an annuity division for Midland National Life. When he retired from Sammons in 2006, the annuity division had sold $13 billion in annuities and resulted in 300 new jobs. A University of Iowa graduate, Newsome began his insurance career in Des Moines in 1972 after serving in the U.S. Navy.
Dana Ramundt
Dana Ramundt is president and CEO of the Dana Co., an independent insurance agency he founded in Des Moines in 1989. He has served the insurance industry as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa and most recently on the board of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. He re-established the insurance program at the University of Iowa, which evolved into the Vaughan Institute of Risk Management and Insurance. A tireless advocate for the institute and its students, in 2007, he established the Dana C. Ramundt Insurance Education Golf Outing to raise scholarship funds and as a means to bring together industry leaders and risk management students. Since its inception in 2006, 300 students have completed the program, and many of them have taken positions with Iowa insurance companies.
Larry Reelitz
Larry Reelitz has more than 30 years of experience with Principal Financial Group Inc. and during his career has been known as an accomplished sales leader in the field. He has worked in a variety of roles with Principal since joining the company in 1979. He was named general manager of the Des Moines agency in 1994. He is currently regional managing director of Principal’s Midwest Business Center. In his years of management, Reelitz has qualified for the Management Achievement Round Table, a listing of the highest performing agency managers, 17 times. He was inducted into the Principal Life Hall of Fame in 2005. In March he selected as a 2016 GAMA International Management Hall of Fame Inductee, the highest honor given by the financial services industry. A Dowling High School graduate, Reelitz has been an active volunteer and board member and in 2004 was named a distinguished alumni for his contributions to Dowling and the community.
JoAnn Rumelhart
When JoAnn Rumelhart began her career at Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. in 1978, the company was operating in three Midwestern states and had just reached $2 billion of insurance in force. Upon her retirement in 2008 after nearly 30 years with FBL Financial Group Inc., the company had operations in 15 states and more than $40 billion in insurance in force. Under her leadership, the company merged the operations and processes of four independent life insurance companies and introduced many new products. She began her career as an actuarial staff assistant and in 1992 joined the FBL management team as the only woman on the team. By 2000 she was promoted to executive vice president of Farm Bureau Life. An Iowa State University graduate, she was a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for ISU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2006. She has served on the boards of the Beacon of Life Residential Center for Women and the Make-A-Wish Foundation
