Church Mutual opens downtown Milwaukee offices, hopes to increase local employment in the years ahead
Rich Poirier's corner office has a nice view of Lake Michigan and the Summerfest grounds – for the moment.
His office also has a nice view of the construction of the Couture building that will eventually affect his view of the lake, but the CEO of Church Mutual Insurance Co. doesn’t mind. He’s happy the company, which insures houses of worship, has a footprint in Milwaukee.
Church Mutual officially opened its downtown Milwaukee offices, 833 E. Michigan St., on Tuesday and hopes to have up to 60 people working in it.
“If I have my way, 200 jobs by 2030 will be here in Milwaukee,” Poirier said. “We’ll grow this office a little faster than others.”
Poirier said that roughly 50% of the company's customers were people of color. That led Church Mutual, which is based in Merrill, to come to Milwaukee to attract more diverse talent.
“We have an emphasis right now on hiring African American, Asian and Latino (employees), but we don’t limit it to that,” Poirier said. “We’re going to be ramping up and doing a lot more recruiting at all of the area colleges.”
Partnerships with Marquette and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will help ensure Church Mutual's mission of “serving those who serve others” is attractive to younger workers.
“This is a job with a purpose,” Poirier said. “That generation is very socially responsible. So when they come to Church Mutual, they don’t have to get up in the morning and find purpose or meaning in what they do here because of the nature of our mission.”
Church Mutual plans to expand the areas that it serves beyond houses of worship.
“We’re going to grow outside of just conventional churches, we’re going to grow in the nonprofit base, senior living, schools,” Poirier said. “So as we grow that, those compatible spaces, that’s how we get to $2.2 billion.”
Poirier said Church Mutual has about a third of the church market.
“The market is stable, but I would not say it’s growing at the same pace as the other markets that I mentioned,” Poirier said.
“We’re happy with the market share that we have in the church space, we’re going to maintain that, we’ll continue to be the leader, but we can’t get to $2.2 (billion) just doing religious (organizations). The numbers won’t let that happen. It’s been kind of flat in that area.”
Name recognition in the greater Milwaukee area is a big challenge for Church Mutual. Poirier is hoping the company can grow its popularity “organically.”
“You’re not going to see us on a ballpark,” Poirier said. “You’re going to see us sponsoring the nonprofit (events).”
As part of the new office ceremony, the company named one of its rooms the Dr. George Koonce Innovation Center.
Koonce played linebacker for the Green Bay Packers in the 1990s and won a Super Bowl with the team. After his playing career, he went on to earn a Ph.D. from Marquette.
Koonce was present for the unveiling of the center and called it “one of the highest honors that I’ve ever received outside of football.”
“My mission and their mission are intertwined together,” Koonce said. “They give back to institutions that are all about faith, and growing up in eastern North Carolina, growing up in a very poor area, that’s all we had to live on and fall back on was our faith.”
Koonce is on the board of CM Regent, a Church Mutual subsidiary.
State insurance commissioner Nathan Houdek said the new Church Mutual office is a good sign for the local insurance industry.
“It’s exciting to see them now have a footprint in Milwaukee, be growing into this market and really showing a commitment to investing in the community,” Houdek said.
“Wisconsin, historically, has had a very competitive and strong insurance industry. It’s something we take great pride in.”
Contact Ricardo Torres at ritorres@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RicoReporting
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Church Mutual opens downtown Milwaukee offices, plans to grow
