Nova Scotia’s largest farm mutual and Ontario’s second largest farm mutual insurance company, The Kings Mutual Insurance Company and Heartland Farm Mutual Inc., have announced that Kings Mutual president and CEO, Cara Cameron, will not continue with the company following its proposed merger and amalgamation with Heartland.

In a statement made April 23, Kings Mutual says that Cameron is supportive of the amalgamation, but that she will not continue with the company once it is completed. Provided it receives regulatory and policyholder approval, the proposed merger is currently planned for June 30, 2021.

According to the company’s website, Cameron, who joined the company in 2007, has held various positions including chief operating officer and vice president of finance before she was appointed to the CEO position in January 2017. Prior to her work at Kings, Cameron also worked as a director with Farm Mutual Re.   

When it first made its merger plans known back in January 2021, the companies initially said Cameron would transition to the role of vice president and chief operating officer of the new company’s maritime operations. It stated at the time that the amalgamated company’s head office would reside in Waterloo, Ontario while the Kings Mutual business becomes a regional division. The name of the amalgamated company will be Heartland Farm Mutual Inc.

“This amalgamation supports both organizations’ scale aspirations and brings several benefits, including geographical spread of risk through access to new markets, greater economies of scale and a stronger overall capital base,” said Heartland’s chair, Larry Binning.

Heartland itself was established in January 2016 as a result of the amalgamation between Waterloo-based Farmers Mutual Insurance Company and the Oxford Mutual Insurance company. It currently offers home, farm, automobile and business insurance through brokers in Ontario. Kings, meanwhile, was also established in January 2016, the result of an amalgamation between Kings Mutual and the Pictou County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company. It sells a similar lineup of products through brokers and agents in Nova Scotia. In 2019 Heartland had premium revenue of $128-million and assets of $306-million, while Kings had premium revenue of $14-million and assets totalling $52-million.