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Top Leader of 21st
Century Insurance
21st Century
Insurance's success story begins with its founder
Louis W. Foster. After 20 years as an independent
agent in the insurance business, Mr. Foster
founded the original company in 1958 in Los
Angeles as an inter-insurance exchange. An
inter-insurance exchange is similar to a
cooperative where policyholders work together to
finance and insure the losses of the other
policyholders.
The one-employee
office grew rapidly and in 1966 the company moved
to Century City to accommodate its expanding staff
and volume of policies. The company celebrated a
major milestone at the same time — achieving $1
million in premiums in a single year.
In 1968 the decision
was made to convert the inter-insurance exchange
to a capital stock company for two reasons. First,
the federal government had minimized the tax
advantages for the exchange. Second, the
California Department of Insurance raised the
capital and surplus requirements of reciprocals to
$1 million. The decision was considered one of the
most unique in the annals of business in
California. The policyholders of the exchange
ultimately became stockholders in the newly
structured company. The profits in the exchange
were used as a basis for measuring the amount of
equity the policyholder would be entitled to in
the new company. As a result, people who had
bought insurance to save money received the added
benefit of becoming stockholders. In 1969 the
company wrote $2 million in premiums; $5 million
was reached in 1972, and $10 million in 1975.
In 1980 the
company moved from Century City to its current
headquarters in Woodland Hills. Its spectacular
growth continued upward with $100 million in
premiums in 1982, $200 million in 1984, $500
million in 1987, and more than $1 billion in 1993.
The company expanded into Arizona in 1996 and
began operations in Nevada, Oregon, and Washington
in 1998. 21st Century Insurance has more than
2,500 employees and occupies two 11-story
headquarters buildings in Woodland Hills. The
company also operates 14 division service offices,
five vehicle inspection centers, and nine drive-in
claim centers.
www.i21.com
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