Duffy Pingree, who was named president of Bear River Mutual Insurance Co. in November 2016, has also been named CEO of the company. Former president and CEO Don Adams retained the title of CEO when Pingree became president but has retired, ceding the CEO designation to Pingree. The changes took place Jan. 1.
Adams will continue to serve as a member of Bear River’s board of directors.
Bear River was founded in 1909 and is currently the largest Utah-based auto and home insurance company, with over $160 million in annual premiums and over 169,000 active insurance policies.
Pingree has been with Bear River since 1996 when he was hired as chief financial officer. He was the executive vice president the four years prior to being named president. Pingree received his undergraduate degree from the University of Utah in finance in 1986 and an MBA from Westminster College in 1988. He has a Utah property and casualty agent license and is a chartered property casualty underwriter.
Adams was hired as the chief operations officer in 1999 and was president and CEO of the company from August 2001 to November 2016. During his tenure, Bear River Mutual Insurance Co. revised and replaced all processing systems and tripled in size.