United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s Herbert R. Brown Society was featured in a Venue magazine article titled “Giving as a Tribute to a Giving Man,” written by J K Klaiber and published in the 2018 Volume 4 edition.
The Herbert R. Brown Society was founded in 2001 by Western & Southern Chairman, President and CEO John F. Barrett to encourage greater African American engagement with United Way. The society is named after Herbert R. Brown, a member of the Western & Southern board of directors, in recognition of his contributions to solving challenging community problems.In the Venue article, two members of the Society explain why they are involved. Heidi Thompson, manager of policy services at Western & Southern, says the Society has allowed her to be “a leader and a giver” alongside other African Americans. Michele Hawkins, managing director and chief compliance officer at Western & Southern subsidiary Fort Washington Investment Advisors, was inspired to join because of Brown himself. She looks forward to continuing his work.
A former U.S. Army paratrooper, Brown joined Western & Southern in 1963 as a computer trainee and rose through the ranks to become senior vice president of public relations. After his retirement in 2007, he was named to the board of directors.
At the same time he was building his career, Brown became a volunteer leader in his community. He served for nine years on the Cincinnati Board of Education – including a term as its president – helping to guide the district to passage of its first levy in a decade and influencing the settlement of a landmark desegregation lawsuit. After leaving the school board, he continued to contribute. He became a mainstay of United Way, serving on numerous committees, and its local and national boards of directors. In 2014, Brown was named one of the Greatest Living Cincinnatians by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.
Venue magazine is a Cincinnati lifestyle and event guide published by Lead Tribune, headquartered in Cincinnati.
About Western & Southern Financial Group
Founded in Cincinnati in 1888 as The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, and celebrating 130 years this year, Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc. (Western & Southern), a Fortune 500 company, is now the parent company of a group of diversified financial services businesses. Its assets owned ($48 billion) and managed ($27 billion) totaled $75 billion as of Sept. 30, 2018. Western & Southern is one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world. Its six life insurance subsidiaries (The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, Columbus Life Insurance Company, Integrity Life Insurance Company, The Lafayette Life Insurance Company and National Integrity Life Insurance Company) maintain very strong financial ratings. Other member companies include Eagle Realty Group, LLC; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.;1 IFS Financial Services, Inc.; Peppertree Partners LLC;1 Touchstone Advisors, Inc.;1 Touchstone Securities, Inc.;2 W&S Brokerage Services, Inc.;2 and W&S Financial Group Distributors, Inc. Western & Southern is the title sponsor of six major community events every year, including the Western & Southern Open, a premier event in the U.S. Open Series played each August by the world’s top-ranked professional male and female tennis players.
1 A registered investment advisor.
