10 Things You Didn't Know about Auto-Owners Insurance CEO Jeffrey S. Tagsold

Jeffrey S. Tagsold is the CEO of Auto-Owners Insurance. This makes him a figure of some importance in the insurance business, seeing as how Auto-Owners Insurance has more than 5 million insurance policies in force. What Are 10 Things You Didn't Know About Jeffrey S. Tagsold and the work he did that gave him his excessive net worth.

1. Went to Central Michigan University

For his education, Tagsold went to Central Michigan University, which is based in Mount Pleasant in said state. In total, the school is said to have more than 20,000 students enrolled at its main campus, thus making it one of the 100 biggest public universities that can be found in the United States. Besides this, Central Michigan University has a number of programs of note, with examples including but not limited to its music, its journalism, and its entrepreneurship programs.

2. Studied Mathematics

One of the two subjects that Tagsold studied at Central Michigan University was mathematics. On the whole, mathematics is very important for insurance as well as other financial topics. After all, while finance isn't hard science, there is nonetheless the enormous interest in providing it with a solid quantitative basis. This is particularly true for insurance, which can use mathematics to produce useful numbers based on the statistics of insurance consumers.

3. Studied Economics

Besides mathematics, Tagsold studied economics as well. It isn't uncommon to see people who study economics wind up in one kind of business or another, seeing as how both microeconomics and macroeconomics are so useful in business decision-making. The first provides interested individuals with a better understanding of both businesses and consumers on an individual level, while the second provides interested individuals with a better understanding of the economic environment in which these entities operate.

4. Has Been with Auto-Owners Insurance Since Graduation

Tagsold is an excellent example of a CEO who has been with Auto-Owners Insurance since the start of his career. Due to this, he has held a number of positions with the mutual insurance company, which have provided him with a solid understanding of how it functions at various levels on the corporate hierarchy.

5. Was COO At One Point in Time

Naturally, this means that Tagsold held various high-ranking managerial positions before he winded up as the CEO of Auto-Owners Insurance. For instance, he was the COO, which tends to be the second-in-command at a lot of companies. This is because the COO is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administration as well as day-to-day running of operations, meaning that they answer to no one but the CEO. Role-wise, it could be said that the CEO is the one who comes up with the plans for the business as a whole, while the COO is the one who sets about implementing said plan.

6. Saw No Need For Drastic Changes

When Tagsold rose to the position of CEO of Auto-Owners Insurance, he stated that he saw no need for drastic changes when it came to the mutual insurance company's policies. This makes sense because he stepped into his new position at a time when Auto-Owners Insurance was booming, meaning that there was no need for some kind of major course correction.

7. Runs a Business That Isn't Prone to Changing on a Constant Basis

There are some businesses that are eager to continue evolving with the result that its presence can bear little resemblance to its past. However, Auto-Owners Insurance isn't one of those businesses. Instead, it has been said that the mutual insurance company is a business that has managed to find a set of core business values that have worked out very well for it, meaning that it is in no rush to make unnecessary changes. As such, Auto-Owners Insurance is content with a policy of methodical, well-planned-out expansion rather than something faster but also riskier.

8. Runs a Business that Promotes From Within

It is interesting to note that Tagsold's rise through the ranks isn't particularly unusual for Auto-Owners Insurance. In fact, a number of his predecessors have followed a similar path, which is wholly unsurprising when Auto-Owners Insurance is very open about its preference for promoting from within its ranks rather than seek out leaders from elsewhere. This is one example of the mutual insurance company's commitment to its employees that has enabled it to hold on to its talent.

9. Runs a Business that Believes in Relationships

With that said, Auto-Owners Insurance's commitment to its employees is a reflection of its overall attitude towards relationships. In short, the mutual insurance company puts a strong emphasis on relationships, which extends to its employees as well as its other stakeholders. On the whole, this makes sense because stronger relationships make for stronger ties, which in turn, makes it much easier for Auto-Owners Insurance to get what it wants out of its stakeholders. This is particularly true when it comes to its customers because insurance companies are very much interested in selling insurance policies for the long run.

10. Has the Ability to Listen

Supposedly, one of Tagsold's best characteristics as a business leader is his ability to listen to other people. This has helped him in his efforts to understand the various operations that he has been entrusted with over the course of his career, which in turn, have helped him carry out his responsibilities with excellence. Furthermore, it seems safe to say that the ability to listen will continue to prove useful for Tagsold as he continues to lead Auto-Owners Insurance, seeing as how good communication skills are critical for ensuring that CEOs and other top-level leaders get all of the information that they need in order to make them more appropriate decisions at every twist and turn.