Columbia, Missouri – Columbia Insurance Group has named Todd Ruthruff as President and Chief Executive Officer - Elect.  Ruthruff will join Columbia Insurance Group on November 1^st and succeed Gary Thompson as President & CEO on January 1, 2024, as only the 7^th CEO in the company’s 134-year history.

Prior to joining Columbia Insurance Group, Todd Ruthruff served for more than 30 years at Amerisure, headquartered in Michigan, beginning his career as a marketing underwriter.   During his career he held various positions of increasing responsibility including Regional Vice President, Chief Relationship Officer and most recently served as Chief Strategy Officer.  

“We are delighted to welcome Todd to our team,” commented Board Chair, Betty Schuster. “His extensive commercial property and casualty industry experience coupled with his demonstrated leadership ability made Todd the ideal Chief Executive Officer to lead the company successfully into the future.”

“It is truly an honor, and I am humbled by the opportunity to lead Columbia Insurance Group,” Ruthruff says. “Columbia has a great culture centered on teamwork, service, and agency relationships. I look forward to providing support and leadership to the talented team we have in place and I’m excited to work closely with our agency partners. Our focus is to build on the positive momentum of profitably growing the company by providing solutions and services that make us the most valuable commercial insurer in our marketplace.

Gary Thompson retires after 41 years of service to the insurance industry, including 34 years at Columbia Insurance Group serving the past 12 years as the company’s CEO.  Effective January 1^st, he will serve as CEO Emeritus and Senior Executive Advisor until his retirement from the company on March 1, 2024.

Headquartered in Columbia, MO, Columbia Insurance Group provides comprehensive property and casualty insurance protection to small and mid-sized businesses in 14 states.