Later today, I’ll share 2018 American Family Insurance results during our annual member meeting. Thanks to investments we’ve made and leaders who supported it, American Family is positioned to be more than just a great exclusive-agency insurance company with a 19-state footprint. That’s who we were.

Today, we’re more. We’re a …

  • Direct-to-consumer insurance company.
  • Technology company.
  • Data company.
  • Partner company.

Thanks to last year’s largest-ever merger of property and casualty companies, we’re now an enterprise with independent agency owners. And, we’re looking at additional growth options right now that will help us continue our evolution from what we were, to what we are – a national brand. 

American Family’s evolution is apparent every day – not just when we report annual results. We must continue to evolve by expanding our consumer brand and people brand strategies. This mean creating strong partnerships and community investments across the country. It means reaching new customers and tomorrow’s workforce. 

Here’s how AmFam shows up … last year, today and in the future.

  • Our foundation supports charitable organizations nationwide. 
  • Our logo is on the jersey of the winning Major League Soccer Cup team – Atlanta United.
  • Our first-ever brand ambassador, Steve Stricker, is the 2020 Ryder Cup captain.
  • We host a PGA TOUR Champions golf tournament that’s raised $4.7 million for charity.
  • We have strong partnerships with several NFL teams.

This is who we are. 

In the last few years, American Family also made $1 billion in technology investments, with some pretty remarkable results. We’re investing in employees and facilities in all of our operating states. We’re committed to supporting agency-owners. We’re building that national brand with better customer service and world-class claims experiences. 

We’ll continue the challenging work of improving how our enterprise works together. That means developing new skills in our current workforce while also being adaptive, agile and open to new ideas. It also means we will need to attract new talent.

We need both. But we also need bold moves. 

You’re seeing that in Milwaukee, where we’ve secured naming rights to a Major League Baseball stadium, and planned a downtown technology hub. Both strengthen American Family’s national brand.

Our presence there is more, though. It syncs with American Family’s ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts, and racial and ethnic hiring designed to drive inclusive excellence. It fits with being an innovative and agile company. It supports a hub-and-spoke approach to hiring that taps into places outside the reach of our National Headquarters – or even our home state of Wisconsin.

Milwaukee is an example of what it means to have access to different perspectives and backgrounds. This approach goes hand-in-hand with an entrepreneurial spirit and – equally importantly – business results. That’s a big part of #AmFaMKE!

This is who we are becoming.  

Annual results are important. But I want American Family to be about more than just generating positive financial returns. We must a good employer, and a terrific place for agency-owners to build businesses. Our work should excite consumers and attract the best people. Along the way, we should help solve social, environmental and community problems where we live and work.

In 2018, American Family wrote the latest chapter in its history. Our story continues in 2019.

This is who we are … and we’re not done.