State Farm’s Rust Got Raise In Final Year as CEO

Feb. 29--BLOOMINGTON -- Retired State Farm CEO and chairman of the board Ed Rust, Jr. earned $13.34 million in 2015, an increase of 3.7 percent from the $12.86 million he earned in 2014.

Rust retired as CEO in September, after 30 years in the post, although he remains chairman of the board. His compensation includes his base salary and his at-risk incentive compensation, said State Farm spokesman Dave Phillips.

The at-risk incentive compensation is based on financial results, growth, customer retention and employee satisfaction for the three years prior to the year of compensation, Phillips said.

On Friday, the Bloomington-based insurer announced its property-casualty companies recorded a pre-tax profit of $1.9 billion in 2015, down from $3.4 billion in 2014 largely because of underwriting losses.

"Still, 2015 was a good year for State Farm," Phillips said. "There are several factors which determine the final salary figures for the year. In a business as cyclical as ours, one year does not provide a complete picture of his long-term performance. "

Michael Tipsord became CEO in September. His salary was not made public, but will vary, Phillips said, and will be a combination of a base salary and incentive pay based on the company's performance in the current year as well as the previous three years.

Rust's base salary was $1.75 million, which has not changed since 2001.

State Farm is ranked No. 41 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. It has more than 65,000 employees and more than 18,000 agents; about 15,000 employees work in Bloomington-Normal.

Follow Kevin Barlow on Twitter: @pg_barlow.

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