Biography

Bob Bailey is the retired Chairman, CEO and President of the State Auto Insurance Companies. He now a professional public speaker and author of the books Plain Talk About Leadership;The New Leader; What Do You Do When You’re Having A Bad Day? and Super-Size Your Sales. He is also a columnist for Rough Notes magazine, one of the nation’s leading insurance industry publications, and his articles appear in a number of other publications..

Upon his retirement from the State Auto Insurance Companies at year end 2000, he took three days off, became bored on the third day, and started a new career as a public speaker and author.

Under his leadership of State Auto since 1983 until his retirement, several companies were added to the State Auto Group--now 13 insurance companies plus several other subsidiary companies. He was instrumental in taking the Company public in 1991 with the formation of State Auto Financial Corporation.

Since the Financial Corporation's first full year as a public corporation until his retirement, compound average annual growth rates were: revenues 14%; earnings per share 23%; equity 14%; assets 17%; and book value per share 16%. From 1991 through 1997, State Auto stock was the 85th best performer on the NASDAQ exchange. Just prior to his retirement, Investor's Business Daily listed State Auto as one of the 25 best insurance companies in the United States.

Under his leadership at State Auto, sales rose from $214 million to more than $1 billion, net worth increased from $139 million to nearly $1 billion, and State Auto became one of the top performing property/casualty insurance organizations in the United States. Service levels were improved dramatically under what he calls an "overwhelming service" objective. At the same time, employee morale rose to the highest level ever, thanks to a strong focus on communications, recognition and motivation. The accomplishments of the Companies have been noted in publications by Tom Peters, co-author of the best selling books on business management, In Search of Excellence, A Passion for Excellence, and others.

Following his retirement from State Auto, he was a consultant for a Swiss company that invests in insurance companies in the U.S. and for two years was chairman of one of its companies.

He was raised on a Kansas Farm and entered the insurance business in 1958 with the Western Casualty and Surety Company of Fort Scott, Kansas (now a part of the Liberty Group). He is a graduate of Pittsburg ( Kansas ) State University, following two years at Fort Scott ( Kansas ) Community College (FSCC). In 2001 FSCC named him its outstanding alumnus. Pittsburg State University awarded him its Meritorious Achievement Award in 2007, the highest honor Pitt State bestows on its alumni. In 2000 the Professional Insurance Agents Association named him the Insurance Industry Person of the Year.

He holds the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Risk Management designations. He is director emeritus and former chairman of Franklin University. In 2006 Franklin awarded him an Honorary Doctorate Degree.

He has served on the boards and is a former chairman of several associations: the National Association of Independent Insurers (now the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America), a trade association of several hundred property/casualty insurance companies; the Alliance for Productive Technology (APT); the Ohio Insurance Institute; and the Griffith Foundation for Insurance Education.

He has also served on a number of other boards, including American Institute for Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters, Insurance Institute of America, Insurance Institute for Applied Ethics, Insurance Value Added Network Services (IVANS), Methodist Theological School, Grant Medical Center Development Foundation, Private Industry Council, Jobs for Columbus Graduates, I Know I Can, The Fayette County (Ohio) Family YMCA, and others.

He is a member of the National Speakers Association, and the Sarasota Baptist Church.