ALFA CEO Jimmy Parnell Shares the Company’s History and Plans for the Future

RCB President Gordon Martin and Rotarian Rotarian Jimmie Stephens with Jimmy Parnell.

This week the Rotary Club of Birmingham (RCB) welcomed Jimmy Parnell, Alabama Farmers Federation President and Alfa Insurance Companies President & CEO. He provided an overview of the organization that was formed over 100 years ago and later founded Alfa Insurance to provide fire protection for rural residents. He shared Alfa’s growth into a top-rated insurance company with over a million policies.

Parnell discussed the Alabama Farmers Federation's $158 million dollar investment in the Alabama Farm Center at iconic Hallmark Farm in north Jefferson County, located along I-65 in Warrior at Exit 280. The state-of-the-art agriculture and event center is planned to include an indoor livestock arena, covered outdoor arena, two livestock barns and an exhibit hall. Parnell highlighted the center’s potential to create jobs, enhance tourism and bolster the local community and Jefferson County, with an estimated $50 million economic impact on the state of Alabama per year. Parnell compared the center to similar facilities in locations like Perry, Georgia and Grand Island, Nebraska.

“It is exciting. It is a huge opportunity,” Parnell said. “I promise you, if you’ve ever been to one, you will find something there that will excite you regardless of whether you’re interested in livestock or showing dogs.”

Bio for Jimmy Parnell

Jimmy Parnell was elected President of the Alabama Farmers Federation in December 2012. He is also president and CEO of Alfa Insurance Companies. He has a long history with the Alabama Farmers Federation, including service on its state board of directors from 1999-2008, chairman of the Federation’s State Young Farmer Committee in 1997 and president of Chilton County Farmers Federation for six years. In 1999, he and his wife Robin, along with their children James Robert and Anna Grace, were named Alabama’s Outstanding Young Farm Family.

A fifth-generation Chilton County farmer, Parnell also farms with his father, his younger brothers and his son. They are in the timber and cattle business. In 2006, the Alabama Forestry Association named him Alabama Logger of the Year.

In addition, Parnell has served in numerous leadership roles for business and agricultural organizations throughout the state, including American Farm Bureau Federation, Central Alabama Farmers Co-op, National Cattlemen Beef

Association, Alabama Forest Fund, Chilton County Water Authority and Chilton County Soil and Water Conservation District. In 2020, Parnell was named to the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service Advisory Committee for Trade in Animals and Animal Products.

Jimmy Parnell is a 1985 graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and economics.