Grange CEO Says It's Time to Leave: Urban Looks to Do Someth

Thursday, May 21,2009, 11:48:53 PM Click:

By Steve Wartenberg, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

May 21--The chief executive officer of Grange Insurance said yesterday he will retire in February because he wants to leave on his own terms and "refresh" himself with new challenges.

"My father was a medical doctor, and he worked until he was 70 and passed away when he was 71," said Phil Urban, 56, who has been CEO at Grange since 1999. "The message was not to follow that path; I want to do some other things."

Urban said he's not sure what he'll do, but he has several months to come up with a plan.

"I'm not interested in a 9-to-5 kind of job. Maybe I'll dream up something, start a business and work 100 hours a week doing something different," he said.

The company has formed a search committee to look at internal and external candidates to replace Urban, said Michael V. Parrott, Grange board chairman.

"Phil has been a great leader and has helped to transform and grow our company," Parrott said in a statement.

Grange is Ohio's fourth-largest insurer of homes and No. 5 in auto insurance.

The decision to retire was his alone, Urban said.

"This was not a board decision, it was driven by my desire," he said. "After 11 years in the CEO chair, it will be time for me to refresh myself and time for the company to refresh itself with a new CEO."

Area business leaders praised Urban as a strong and civic-minded leader.

"He has been a tireless advocate for the Columbus area," said American Electric Power Chief Executive Michael Morris.

At both Grange and in his community-service work, Morris said, Urban has brought creativity and a sense of humor.

"He's been very successful (at Grange), and he has led with the attitude of, 'Let's have some fun, and let's serve the customer, and let's not forget the investors,' " he said.

Robert Milbourne said staying too long as Grange chief was something Urban wanted to avoid.

"Phil is a risk-taker," said the president of Columbus Partnership, a group of leaders from central Ohio's top companies. Urban is a member and treasurer.

Urban said his legacy will be the company's strong financial foundation and growth into a super-regional insurance company that maintains excellent relations with its network of independent agents.

Grange wrote insurance policies in six states when Urban started and is now in 13 states. Revenue jumped from $716 million to $1.35 billion in the same period.

All the growth led to the recent opening of a $95 million, 240,000-square-foot addition to its corporate headquarters in the Brewery District.

Grange has about 1,600 employees, including 1,200 in Ohio, of which 950 are in central Ohio.

"Our senior leadership team is the best group of people I've ever worked with," said Urban, who left Guaranty National Insurance in Colorado to come to Grange.

Urban said he also tried to expand the company's commitment to the community.

Grange donated $4 million for the Grange Insurance Audubon Center that is scheduled to open soon in the new Scioto Audubon Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula.

"Phil was a spectacular leader, not just in contributing financially, but he was the person who got everyone behind a project that in many other communities never could have happened," Milbourne said of the center.

Grange has also been a supporter of Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus Speech & Hearing Center, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, the local Ronald McDonald House and several other nonprofit organizations in the area, Urban said.

swartenberg@ dispatch.com

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