Mr. Jerger has over forty four years of executive experience in property and casualty insurance specializing in homeowner and mobile homeowner’s products. Mr. Jerger is part of a family that has been involved in the Florida insurance business since 1946.
Tom Jerger currently serves as Chairman of the Board for American Traditions Insurance Company. This domestic insurance company protects over 100,000 homeowners in Florida. In this executive role, Mr. Jerger provides strategic vision and oversight to all functional disciplines and all members of management.
Mr. Jerger has great Florida property insurance institutional knowledge that he utilizes to guide the executive management team and the companies through the difficult Florida homeowner marketplace. He is well respected by Florida regulators, legislators and executives. Tom uses his knowledge of the Florida marketplace to advocate for long term solutions to Florida’s homeowner’s insurance problems and promotes long term answers that benefit future generations of Floridians rather than quick simple answers that just serve as temporary fixes at greater cost to Floridians in the future. Working with the Legislature and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) has been a priority for Mr. Jerger. He worked vigorously to see that the citizens of Florida receive the statutory protection necessary to protect their policyholders.
Our companies have adhered to conservative, long term philosophies and business strategies since inception. The Jergers carefully underwrite all homeowner risks with a focus on long term growth rather than short term profits to ensure the company can sustain multiple catastrophic events per year. The Jergers personally spend the weeks leading up to hurricane season each year obtaining the necessary levels of reinsurance in both Bermuda and Europe. They have always understood the importance of private reinsurance, beyond the traditional Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (“FHCF”), to ensure both insurance companies and policyholders would be protected for years to come. Mr. Jerger has been quoted saying many times, “We want to make sure we are here after the storm.” He continues to educate both legislators and consumers that an insurance company must be judged on the adequacy of its reinsurance rather than the size of its surplus alone. This lack of understanding regarding the importance of reinsurance has negatively impacted numerous Florida domiciled companies.
Mr. Jerger has a Bachelor of Science degree in Insurance from the University of Florida.
