Westfield Center, OH - December 14 - Mark Whitmore has been named executive, human resources operations, at Westfield Group. In this capacity, he is responsible for the coordination of Westfield’s development and administration of human resources services and programs.

Whitmore joined Westfield in 2001 with more than 17 years of experience in the insurance and financial services industry. Most recently, Whitmore served as director of Westfield’s career enhancement center, responsible for leadership and employee development and succession planning.

Throughout his career, Whitmore has developed and co-led many strategy retreats and leadership retreats to Civil War battlegrounds, including Gettysburg and Antietam. He is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. In addition, he earned his doctorate in industrial organizational psychology from The Ohio State University. Whitmore has made numerous presentations and published articles in the areas of early identification of emerging leaders, personality correlates of leadership, and the effectiveness of leadership development programs.

Whitmore is a member of the Northern Ohio Human Resources Planning Society and holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Senior Professional in Human Resource Management (SPHR) professional designations.

In business for more than 157 years, Westfield Insurance provides commercial and personal insurance and surety services to customers in 28 states. Westfield markets its products through more than 1,200 leading independent insurance agencies and is one of the country’s largest property and casualty insurers. Westfield Group provides banking through Westfield BankSM and agency support through Westfield Services, Inc. Westfield has over $3.1 billion in assets and holds an "A (Excellent)" rating from A.M. Best, a leading insurance financial rating agency. The Company has more than 2,500 employees, with 1,900 employed in Ohio.

# # #