State Farm Board chairman stepped down; replaced by presiding director

Posted on October 25, 2024
State Farm’s headquarters are located in Bloomington. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By WMBD TV

BLOOMINGTON – There’s a new presiding director for State Farm in Bloomington.

Former CEO Michael Tipsord resigned at a meeting in September and was replaced by W. H. Knight Jr., who is a presiding director on the board, a company spokeswoman said. Knight was selected to sit on the company’s board of directors in 1996.

Tipsord retired first from his position as the company’s president at the beginning of the year and then a few months later, as the CEO. He had assumed those roles beginning in 2015, according to the company.

He began his State Farm career in 1988. He was named vice chairman and chief financial officer in 2004, chief operating officer in 2011 and elected CEO and president in 2015. He was elected Chairman of the Board of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in June 2016.

Jon Farney, replaced Tipsord in both positions. He too serves on the company’s board of directors.

Knight is a retired law professor from Seattle University School of Law.

WMBD TV can be reached at [email protected].

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