Insurance Change To Leave Jobs In Wausau: Liberty Mutual Plans To Drop Iconic Brand

Jan. 24--Liberty Mutual Group's plan to do away with the Wausau Insurance brand name and change how Liberty sells insurance to midsize businesses will have a "minimal" impact on 1,400 local jobs, a company spokesman said Friday.

The Boston-based insurer announced Thursday it has created a new unit called Liberty Mutual Middle Market that will distribute commercial property and casualty insurance through brokers and agents instead of directly -- a method it said business customers prefer.

As part of that transition, the company said three firms -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Hub International and USI Holdings Corp. -- would have policy-renewal rights for its middle-market operations and that many sales and services professionals from Liberty Mutual would be offered jobs with those firms.

At the same time, other parts of the business operating in Wausau -- such as claims processing, customer service, billing and collection and policy production and audit -- will continue to be run from the three-building campus, company executives said in interviews Friday.

"There will be minimal net job loss overall in Wausau," said Liberty Mutual's John Cusolito. "We will continue to have a strong presence in the Wausau community."

Liberty Mutual, which has owned Wausau Insurance since 1999, was 94th on the Fortune 500 list of largest corporations with $26 billion in annual revenue.

The deals for the three firms to distribute Liberty Mutual's middle-market polices -- those generating annual premiums ranging from $150,000 to $1.5 million -- are expected to close around March 1.

Cusolito said he couldn't say exactly how many jobs might be lost until the transition takes place.

It makes sense to retire the Wausau Insurance brand name because while it is strong in the Midwest, Liberty Mutual "is viewed as more of a national brand," Cusolito said.

Wausau Mayor James Tipple, a former Wausau Insurance employee, said that wherever he has traveled, people were familiar with the Wausau Insurance brand and its train station logo.

"It certainly put Wausau on the map, so some people have some trepidation with the brand going away," Tipple said. "But it's closing an old chapter and opening up a new one."

He said he had received no indication from the company that the changes would have anything but a minimal impact on local jobs.