Speaker
Mr. Philip P. Weber
Position
President and CEO, Family Life Insurance and United Farm Family Insurance Companies
Biographical Sketch
Philip P.Weber is President and Chief Executive Officer of Farm Family
Life Insurance Company and United Farm Family Insurance Company. He has served in this capacity for the past 11 years.
Mr. Weber has been agent, field manager, state agency manager, Senior Vice President -Marketing and Senior Vice President – Operations. Since he has been a member of senior management, surplus has increased by 400 percent in both the Life and Casualty Companies. Farm Family Casualty has increased its earned premium revenue from $65 million to $188 million. In addition, Farm Family Life Insurance Company has increased its premium life insurance revenue from $23 million to $38 million.
In 1996 Farm Family Casualty Company became a public company, known as Farm Family Holding, Inc. In 1999, Farm Family Holdings acquired Farm Family Life Insurance Company. This acquisition added life insurance, annuities and disability income products to Farm Family Holdings product portfolio. Farm Family Holdings’ total assets now approximate $1.3 billion.
Under Mr. Weber’s guidance, a variety of programs were instituted to manage costs and align management’s interests with those of the stockholders. The Company has positioned itself to make use of opportunities presented in the rapidly evolving financial services industry and enlarged its distribution channels to include Maryland and Pennsylvania.
In April of this year Mr. Weber orchestrated a merger with American National Insurance Company, a life, casualty and financial services, company headquartered in Galveston, Texas. American National, which was founded in 1905, has more that $9 billion in assets. Farm Family now operates as a subsidiary of American National headquartered in Albany, New York with Mr. Weber as its Chief Executive Officer.
Farm Family retains its brand identity and will focus on expanding the delivery of financial services to farms, residents and businesses of rural and suburban communities in its twelve-state territory.
Mr. Weber has received national recognition for his leadership in insurance agency management. He is also a board member of the Million Dollar Round Table Foundation.
Presentation Summary
As the chief executive of an insurance company specializing in farm-related insurance, it has been essential to be sensitive to trends impacting agriculture and continually make adjustments for the company to remains profitable. It is equally important that the farmers and agri-businesses be aware of relevant trends in order to maintain or improve their profitability. Numerous factors have influenced the expectations and needs that people in the northeastern states have of agriculture. Some of these factors have been responsible for the decline in the dairy and beef industry and the growth of the poultry industry in this area. These and other changes have been set in motion because of changes taking place in the kinds of foods we consume, where we live and the value of land. The influx of immigrants from Latin America and Asia has been so rapid and great that it has created demands for entirely different kinds of foods in certain areas. The demand for land for non-farm uses, such as housing and commercial installations, has greatly increased land values. Federal, state and municipal regulations, demanded by non-farm interests, have imposed serious limitations on practices essential to crop and animal production. These social, economic and environmental problems affecting farms and agri-businesses cannot be dismissed. Agricultural entities must work closely with commodity and farm organizations to quickly detect trends affecting their businesses and then obtain assistance from federal and state agencies or individually devise practical alternatives. Farmers and agri-businesses that ignore these realities will inevitably become unprofitable.
In an effort to provide wide-ranging views and perspectives regarding the practice of and issues surrounding agriculture, the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture (PSPA) seeks speakers representing a variety of perspectives. The statements and opinions they present are strictly their own and do not necessarily represent the views of PSPA.