Fromme selected as first woman on Lumberman’s board

May 22--Cally Fromme was recently named to the board of directors for Pennsylvania and Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company.

With this appointment, she becomes the first woman to serve on the board, she said.

"It is time for women to take roles in these (organizations)," she said. "Rotary and lumber organizations, quite honestly, have been a man's world. . It has taken to this point in time for women to infiltrate more and take on leadership positions."

Fromme was also the first female president of the Victoria Rotary Club, Lumberman's Association of Texas and Louisiana and National Lumber and Building Materials Dealer Association.

Fromme served as the CEO of Zarsky's Lumber until Kodiak Building Partners acquired it in 2015. Now, she is vice president of business development for Kodiak Building Partners.

As a board member of the insurance company's board, she will serve as an adviser.

"I'm there to help advise them in my expertise in the lumberyard," Fromme said. "What is valuable to them is me having been president of a lumber company that had 10 lumberyards, knowing risks, the way it operates and reality in lumber."

The Pennsylvania and Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company was started in the early 1900s by a group of lumbermen who had trouble finding insurance for their lumberyards.

The company provides insurance to wood-related businesses nationally.

"You can imagine the fire risk because of lumberyards," Fromme said. "It's got a unique niche. Most lumber companies, if they are not insured by PLM, or something like PLM, it's a struggle to find someone to cover you because of the uniqueness."

Fromme said she is proud that she has had successful leadership positions and that she is joining the board.

"I'm used to working in a man's world, and I love it," Fromme said. "I really enjoy it. It is a neat honor. I wish my father was still alive, because I know he would be proud of me."

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