Passion for Pizza - Columbia Business Times

26 September 18, 2010 Columbia Business Times | ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com
SPECIAL SECTION | insurance
Columbia’s Insurance Industry
When economists and industrial recruiters talk about Columbia, they
invariably point out that the local economy is less likely to be affected
seriously by economic downturns than other cities because the primary
employers are in stable sectors: education, health care and insurance. In the
latest list of Boone County’s biggest employers, two insurance companies
are in the top 10, and two others are in the top 30.
State Farm
Location: 4700 S. Providence Road
Year opened in Columbia: 1956
Number of employees in Columbia: 1,079 in 2009, 1,066 in 2010
Principals: Mike Staloch, vice president of operations
Amount of written premiums for 2009: $1 billion
Percentage paid out of premium activity: 61 percent
Website: www.statefarm.com
State Farm, based in Bloomington, Ill., insures nearly one in four homes and one in five cars
in Missouri. It employs 67,000 people and manages policies throughout the US and Canada. The
company opened a regional office in Columbia in 1956 and has since become Missouri’s largest
insurance group. In 2005, the Columbia office expanded when the company consolidated by closing
an operations center in Monroe, La. They have hired 31 employees at the Columbia office in the past year.
Shelter Insurance
Location: 1817 W. Broadway
Year opened in Columbia: 1946
Number of employees in Columbia: 1,000 in 2009, 1,000 in 2010
Principals: J. David Moore, president and CEO; Jerry French, executive vice
president; William Keithley, executive vice president; Don McCubbin, executive
vice president; Rick Means, executive vice president; Frank Thompson, vice president of marketing
Amount of written premiums for 2009: $1.1 billion
Percentage paid out of premium activity: 74 percent
Website: www.shelterinsurance.com
Shelter Insurance was originally part of MFA Mutual Insurance Company but separated in 1981.
Shelter, now the sixth-largest insurance group in Missouri, has 1,400 insurance agents and provides
services in 14 states. The company was named as a top-performing life insurer by Ward Group for
the fourth year in a row. It also ranked fourth in customer satisfaction with auto insurance shopping
in J.D. Power’s 2010 National Auto Insurance Study.
Columbia Insurance Group
Location: 2102 White Gate Drive
Year opened in Columbia: 1874
Number of employees: 160 in 2009, 160 in 2010 (330 companywide)
Principals: Bob Wagner, CEO; Gary Thompson, president
Amount of written premiums for 2009: $252 million
Percentage paid out of premium activity: 74.8 percent
In 1874, the Home Mutual Insurance Company offered insurance for property damage from
natural disasters. Nearly 136 years later, that same company, now known as Columbia Insurance
Group, is the 29th-largest insurance group in Missouri and operates in 19 different states. Wagner is
retiring in 2011.
Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance
Location: 101 N. Keene St.
Year opened in Columbia: 1995
Number of employees in Columbia: 148 in 2009, 149 in 2010
Principals: Roger Wilson, president and CEO; Michael Foerst, vice president of information systems
and chief information officer; Timothy Jackman, vice president of claims, compliance and legal
services; Michael Kravchick, vice president of sales and marketing; Steven Millikan, vice president