George Ruebenson and Ken Lewis: Rats Leaving the Sinking Bailout Ship

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Oct 26, 2009 George E. Ruebenson, president of Allstate Protection, is retiring at the end of the year, said Allstate Corp. A striking parallel can be found in the departure of Ken Lewis from Bank of America.

Ruebenson, who has been with Allstate since 1970, will begin his retirement Dec. 31, Allstate said in a statement. He was appointed president of Allstate Protection in 2007 to succeed Thomas J. Wilson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Allstate.

A search for Ruebenson’s replacement is under way, the company said.

In 2000, Ruebenson was named vice president for the Property-Casualty Service Organization, the largest employee group in the company, then he became a member of the company’s senior management team as senior vice president.

The past several years has seen some shuffling among executives at the largest publicly traded personal lines insurer in the United States. Most recently, former vice chairman of American International Group Inc., Matthew Winter, was named president and CEO of Allstate Financial. Ruebenson had assumed the role as president of Allstate Financial when James E. Hohmann left the company. Don Civgin, former chief financial officer of OfficeMax Inc., was named CFO of Allstate last year.

Allstate Protection combines property/casualty offerings of Allstate, Encompass and Deerbrook Insurance, which are sold through Allstate and independent agents, respectively.