Huffman Elected Vice Chairman, Chief Operating Officer of Ohio National Financial Services

CINCINNATI, OH--(Marketwire - November 11, 2009) - National Financial Services is pleased to announce that Gary T. "Doc" Huffman has been elected Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer. The Ohio National Board of Directors elected Huffman to the new position Nov. 6, and the promotion became immediately effective.

With more than 30 years experience, Huffman joined Ohio National as Vice Chairman, Distribution in Aug. 2008. Prior to joining Ohio National, Huffman was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Union Central Life Insurance Company and was Executive Vice President and Director of the UNIFI Mutual Holding Company.

Ohio National Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David B. O'Maley noted Huffman's immediate contributions since he joined the company last fall. "Through Doc's leadership and focus, our distribution channels have had record-breaking recruiting years in 2009, and sales of our core individual life and individual annuity products are running well ahead of the industry. Doc has been instrumental in positioning Ohio National as an industry and marketplace leader -- the 'flight to quality' company -- during this very challenging time."

O'Maley noted that Ohio National was one of the few insurance and annuity companies to have all of its ratings reaffirmed for financial strength during 2009 by independent rating agencies. "To have our very strong ratings reaffirmed during this period of unprecedented turmoil is especially noteworthy."

"We look forward to continuing to emphasize Ohio National's value proposition to distributors, policyholders and customers, and Doc will bring his extensive executive management skills and experience to help further strengthen our product administrative and information functions going forward," O'Maley added.

With the election to Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Huffman continues to serve in the four-person Office of the Chairman. The Office of the Chairman includes John J. Palmer, Vice Chairman, Ronald J. Dolan, Vice Chairman and Chief Risk Officer, Huffman and O'Maley. It was formed in 2008 to enhance the strategic growth of the enterprise and provide for continuity of management.

A native of Lexington, Ky., Huffman is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. After graduating, he had a 24-year career with MassMutual before joining Union Central in July 1999.

Huffman is a member of the Board of Directors of The American College (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to the development and education of financial services professionals, and is a past chairman of LIMRA International, a worldwide association of insurance and financial services companies. In the Cincinnati area, he is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Dan Beard Council of the Boy Scouts and Maple Knoll.

Tracing its corporate origins to 1909, Ohio National today markets a variety of insurance and financial products through more than 40,000 representatives in 47 states (all except Alaska, Hawaii and New York), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and through subsidiary operations in Santiago, Chile. As of December 31, 2008, its affiliated companies have $21.6 billion total assets under management. Products are issued by The Ohio National Life Insurance Company and Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation. Voted Cincinnati's "Best Place to Work" (large category) by the Business Courier (November 2003) and "25 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work for in America" by the Great Place to Work Institute (June 2004), Ohio National has more than 850 corporate headquarters associates. Visit www.ohionational.com for more information.

Contact Information: Contact: Adrienne Gutbier, APR 513.794.6254 office 513.520.1612 cell