That desire to work at an early age, along with a can-do attitude, has served Mitchell well over the years. So much so that he now heads up one of the Delta’s major independent insurance agencies.

Mitchell, president of The Mitchell Group and part owner of SouthGroup Insurance Services out of Jackson, has been a very familiar face for years around the Mississippi Delta and especially “in Cleveland and with Delta State University, both of which I care very deeply about,” he says.

Mitchell grew up on a farm about five miles west of Cleveland near Pace and spent many pleasurable days in and around the Bogue Phalia and Snake Creek.

“These were special places for me and I loved growing up there,” he says.“Even when I moved away, I always thought about where I grew up and how much it meant to me. I’ve always had a sense of place. It’s important to me. And that sense of place has been important in the insurance business.”

But his initial work on the farm wasn’t meant to be Mitchell’s destiny whose subsequent life took “some twists and turns” before he ended up “right back here in Cleveland.”

Armed with a Bachelors of Science in Education Degree in Social Sciences from what was then called Delta State College, Mitchell headed to Tulane University in New Orleans to begin work on a law degree. But after some time, the notion of becoming an attorney was not the most appealing idea. So, Mitchell took a job for a semester at Jean Lafitte Junior High School west of New Orleans teaching English and history.

“I enjoyed the experience and appreciated my time there,” Mitchell recalls. “It was a whole different type of world there in New Orleans, very different from my Delta experience.”

However, the legal curriculum at Tulane did eventually end up having an effect on Mitchell as he shifted his interests to the field of insurance.

“How I really got into insurance is a circuitous story,” Mitchell says. “I came to Jackson, Mississippi looking for a job after I made the decision to leave teaching. I was able to enter a management training program with Traveler’s Insurance Company. I worked there for two years learning about the business.

“The influence of my Tulane experience helped with my ability to study and analyze insurance contracts and policies. I became fascinated with how insurance worked in protecting and covering people’s property and assets. After my time at Traveler’s, I worked for a large insurance agency also in Jackson. It was a good job for me and I learned a lot, but there were certain aspects of the work that just did not appeal to me.” Mitchell then decided, at the ripe age of 27, to make a fortuitous career move that would have long lasting effects for his young family and for insurance business in the Delta.

“I bought a share of an agency in Sumner,” Mitchell relates. “That’s how I really got started in the insurance business on my own. Then, several years later, I bought the Bolivar Insurance Agency, a staple of the Delta business community since 1907. This was a major step for me and my family. This suited my career goals as well as anything I could have drawn up,” says Mitchell.

From there, he and his staff grew the agency to become a major player in the Delta.
The majority of Mitchell’s business consists of commercial work, ranging “from municipalities to farming and cotton gins, including major agribusiness firms,” he says. However, the agency also does a great deal of personal coverage, as well. “We are comprehensive in that we can handle almost any business, commercial or personal insurance need,” Mitchell adds.

Since getting into the insurance business full time some 40 years ago, Mitchell hasn’t looked back. Instead, he has kept moving forward with his career all the while making a name for himself, his family and his agency.

Another major business move for Mitchell and his company was the recent joint effort through SouthGroup to combine forces in providing greater and expanded insurance coverage around the state.

Under these new auspices of SouthGroup, insurance products can now be provided through offices in 17 Mississippi cities.

“We’ve really grown through this partnership and by combining forces under SouthGroup, we can provide even more and better services to clients,” Mitchell says.

He adds, “In five years or so, we probably will be expanding our geographic area and enter into other lines of insurance such as employee benefits and supplemental policies. What we’re looking to do is cover the mid-South in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and, of course, Mississippi.”

While Mitchell has kept busy building his business and providing top notch service to customers, he has also taken the time to give back to, and be involved in, the communities in which he works. Delta State University is especially dear to Mitchell’s heart.

“The insurance business has afforded me the opportunity for providing community service, especially with my two passions: Delta State University and the community of Cleveland. I feel a real sense of pride when I can help out and make a difference with these two entities that are so important and dependent on each other.” Along with the satisfaction of making a difference for the community, Mitchell still finds his professional work rich and challenging.

“The most rewarding part of my job is analyzing an insurance policy, figuring out the intent, and then being able to convince an insurance company that a claim is valid when they may say something isn’t covered,” he says. “I find that aspect of my job fascinating.”

Mitchell adds that “it’s important to make sure clients are covered properly and aren’t paying an unnecessarily high cost. We also try to educate our clients on their insurance needs so that they are protected as much as possible in the event something unfortunate happens.”

Mitchell says his success has come from hard work, dedication to his field, knowledge of the community and marketplace and a dedicated wife of 41 years, the former Bettye Branch of Goodman, MS.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have a wife who has been supportive through all the various moves and down times,” Mitchell says. “Moreover, Bettye has had her own business experiences and involvement in community activities, so we both complement and enlighten each other. I can’t say enough about her support,” says Mitchell.

Aspiring executives and future CEO’s could also learn a lot from Mitchell and his particular path to success. To such individuals, Mitchell has some words of wisdom to make the corporate journey a more successful one.

“Get a good education,” he says first of all. “I can’t stress that enough. Also, be able to write well. You’ve got to communicate and express yourself properly and thoroughly.

“Then find a niche that you’re interested in. You have to know yourself honestly and know your real strengths and weaknesses. Use that knowledge to find a niche in business,” Mitchell says.

Finally he advises, “Be creative. Use your time wisely. Creativity can come in many forms so use it to make life better for yourself and others. Then use your experience and knowledge where it’s going to serve people. That’s what I’ve tried to do and I think it has been successful for me,” he sums up. DBJ