UmialikXpress
Agency Bulletin
March 18, 2021
Umialik Insurance Company and Western National Insurance Group Announce Upcoming Retirement of Stu Henderson, Succession of Rick Long as CEO
Umialik Insurance Company and Western National Insurance Group today confirmed the upcoming retirement of Stu Henderson as Chief Executive Officer, as well as the full succession of current President Richard (Rick) Long to the role of President & Chief Executive Officer for all companies in the Group, effective April 2, 2021. These changes will end the year-long leadership transition that began in March 2020.
Stu joined Western National in 2001, at a time when the company’s equity had fallen to just $60.3 million and its A.M. Best financial strength rating had been downgraded to B+. Henderson orchestrated a quick turnaround, renewing the company’s commitment to the Independent Agency system, broadly diversifying its risk exposures, and rebuilding its equity. Over a 20-year tenure with the company, Henderson’s leadership ultimately grew Western National into a super-regional group of eight active property-and-casualty insurance companies writing over $800 million annually in personal and commercial premium, with a policyholder’s surplus of over $610 million and total assets of over $1.59 billion. Following his retirement, Henderson will remain a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
Rick Long became President of Western National last spring amidst the U.S. emergence of COVID-19, and he steadily and successfully guided the company through a globally turbulent 2020 that included widescale remote work, premium and other COVID relief programs, and a significant outage of our systems. Rick initially joined Western National in 2010 as Senior Vice President of Claims, later becoming President of Michigan Millers Insurance Company in 2016. He has served on the Boards of Directors of all Western National wholly owned stock companies, as well as on the Board of the Property Loss Research Bureau and the Minnesota Insurance Guaranty Association. Prior to joining Western National, Rick served as Senior Vice President of Claims for Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company, having worked his way up to that position from the role of field claim adjuster in 1984. He has a B.S. in Business Administration from SUNY at Binghamton, New York, and he has earned the AIC, CPCU, and ARe designations. Having moved to Mound, Minnesota from New York a decade ago, Rick has finally acclimated to the extremes of Midwest weather and developed a love for lake life with his wife, Lois, and their two dogs.
We send our congratulations to Stu on his upcoming retirement, and we look forward to Rick’s leadership in the CEO role as we work to continue the group’s successes.
