Mutual insurers account for more than a third of the $1 trillion-plus U.S. property and casualty market, and many of them have been serving policyholders for generations. New CEO of The Mutual Group, Tom Troy, is focused on helping these organizations remain independent and community-focused while gaining the scale needed to compete in an increasingly complex insurance landscape.
The Mutual Group announced Troy's appointment in October 2025, and he officially assumed the position in January 2026. His career in the insurance industry has spanned more than three decades. He comes to The Mutual Group from USAA, where he served as chief transformation officer. Before that, he served as president and CEO of CSAA Insurance Group.
Troy was also previously an executive vice president at Allstate, held senior leadership positions with Safeco Insurance and served in a variety of executive vice president roles at Liberty Mutual.
Troy steps into his new role at The Mutual Group as someone who believes that mutual insurers have what it takes to hang with the major carriers.
"Many of the mutuals are under a billion dollars in size," Troy explained in an interview with PropertyCasualty360. "They have a long history. They were some of the first insurance companies in our great nation. Some are over 200 years old, believe it or not, and they have a rich history of serving the members of the mutual in their local communities. So they know their geography very well, they know their distributors very well, they have multi-generational relations with their distributors, and they have multi-generational relationships with their customers at the end of the day, who are, by virtue of being a customer, they're a member of the mutual."
Mutual insurance companies are owned by policyholder "members" rather than stockholders. These members get a vote in many of the company's decisions and enjoy other benefits like potential dividends and protection from the ebb and flow of the stock market.
Smaller mutual operations can face a bit of an uphill battle when it comes to competing with stockholder-based insurers, which often have access to more capital to scale. Troy said the work they do at The Mutual Group empowers mutual insurers to compete with large carriers.
"We at The Mutual Group are in existence to help those mutuals grow and compete by bringing them together and making sure that they, first and foremost, remain independent," he said. "That's very important; that the mutual remains an independent organization serving their geography, their distributors, and their customers, and their communities. But at the same time, we think that mutuals can come together through The Mutual Group and find ways to scale and make more cost-effective big investments like technology, product modernization, so on and so forth. So, the vision is for The Mutual Group to play a role in helping mutuals compete on a larger scale in what is a very competitive insurance climate here in the U.S."
That competition, he says, is good for customers because it provides them with more choices, but The Mutual Group wants to ensure mutual insurers remain visible among those options.
According to Troy, mutual companies already possess some unique advantages that are appealing to potential customers.
"Their proximity to the communities that they serve is an advantage," Troy said. "They also have these long-term relationships that are an advantage, and those are competitive advantages. But I also think that, while the mutuals may not need to replicate the expense ratio of some of their largest competitors, they probably need to close the gap for customers to continue to feel good that the overall value that they're getting from the mutual."
For policyholders, value means a combination of price, service and trust. Mutual insurance companies must continue to deliver on all three.
One of the most important ways insurance companies provide value is through the hiring and retention of quality talent, but unfortunately, staffing remains a struggle across the insurance industry.
Troy theorized that insurance's struggle with attracting new blood may be due to a failure of messaging about the unique value proposition presented by the industry.
"I think our industry should continue to tell the good story about the wonderful jobs that are available in the industry. There are times I think we do a good job of that, and there are other times where I think, compared to some other types of industries or companies, I feel like we could do more," he said.
"We have wonderful jobs and careers to offer people in all phases of their career… We need technology people, and they're very exciting technology jobs; sales and marketing people, and they're very exciting as well; underwriters, where you might use your analytical skills; accounting, HR, so on and so forth; everything that a lot of other companies have. But I do sometimes wonder if we tell the story up-front to a young person who might be entering their professional career, are they hearing our message loud enough?"
The integration of new insurtech and artificial intelligence into insurance workflows is also top-of-mind as Troy begins his time at the helm. As processes become more automated, he emphasized the importance of keeping employees in the loop and maintaining a human touch where it matters.
"Our philosophy is to have a human in the loop in terms of our utilization of AI. So now, when you have that philosophy, and you communicate it and act that way, it does diffuse some of the tension that employees have about this technology and how it might affect their jobs," Troy said.
He explained that leaders should spend time with their employees to talk about the parts of their job that detract from using their skills at the highest level and how AI can help take those tasks off their plate.
"I think they realize that 'this could be good for me. This could help me do my job better, more consistently, but it could also make my job more enjoyable,' because most folks would say it isn't necessarily the data collection piece of their work that they really enjoy, but it's the time spent analyzing it and forming an opinion and ultimately making a decision -- and I'm speaking in terms of underwriting context or claims context, but you can see how that might apply in a number of areas -- that's what most people talk about when they talk about the satisfaction they have with their work. They're not talking about calling and getting a report or chasing down a fact," he said.
Ultimately, Troy said, The Mutual Group's employees understand that making agents and customers happy is a positive thing, and that usually boils down to providing a quick, consistent response based on facts. AI can be utilized to help quickly gather facts and consistently assemble them to help underwriters and adjusters make highly informed, fair decisions, which he said are the ideal outcomes that drive customer satisfaction.
"Every employee here at The Mutual Group, and really every employee at every company that I've worked for, they feel the best when their customers and their agents are happy with their work, right? It's a source of pride. Making people feel good feels good," he said.
Troy pointed to The Mutual Group's partnership with GuideOne Insurance as evidence of the mutual insurance model's potential for success with proper guidance. GuideOne, founded in 1947, specializes in coverage for religious organizations, nonprofits, human services agencies, educational institutions and small businesses, among other lines. Troy said the company has around $850 million in annual premium.
The Mutual Group partnered with GuideOne in 2023 in a transaction where they brought capital assistance to the GuideOne balance sheet while also providing across-the-board services for the company, including claims, underwriting, finance, actuarial, HR and legal assistance.
"In that time, we've improved profitability, we've improved growth, we have grown surplus, and we've established a wonderful working relationship and partnership," Troy said. "And so, it's on that basis that we're now out looking to add other members to The Mutual Group and looking to do similar things in partnership with mutual insurance companies who want to grow and prosper in the future."
By coming together and collaborating, Troy believes mutual insurance companies can stand out and remain competitive in a dynamic property and casualty market.
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