{"id":177082,"date":"2026-04-27T09:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177082\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:06:34","slug":"new-erie-indemnity-chairman-elected-thomas-hagen-steps-down-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177082\/","title":{"rendered":"New Erie Indemnity chairman elected; Thomas Hagen steps down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time since 2006, someone other than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goerie.com\/story\/news\/local\/2025\/09\/12\/thomas-hagen-erie-pa-birthday-party-hagen-history-center\/86091689007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Thomas B. Hagen;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Thomas B. Hagen<\/a> will serve as chairman of Erie Indemnity Co., the management firm of Erie Insurance.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Hirt Hagen, son of Thomas B. Hagen and the late Susan Hirt Hagen, has been elected by the board to serve as its new chairman.<\/p>\n<p>The company&#8217;s board of directors elected the 63-year-old Philadelphia man during an April 19 meeting and named Thomas Hagen, who is 90, to serve as chairman emeritus.<\/p>\n<p>The elder Hagen, who led Erie Insurance as CEO from 1990 to 1993, was elected to replace former chairman F.W. Hirt, following his death.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Hagen is not new to the leadership ranks at Erie&#8217;s largest employer and the only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goerie.com\/story\/news\/local\/2025\/06\/03\/fortune-500-erie-insurance-ranks-on-2025-list\/84007995007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Erie-based Fortune 500 company.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Erie-based Fortune 500 company.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Jonathan Hagen, Erie Indemnity Co.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777280794_823_86f4b23ac610c3214d6cdfa436950950.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Hagen, Erie Indemnity Co.<\/p>\n<p>He has served as co-trustee of H.O. Hirt Trusts, vice chairman of Erie Indemnity and chairman of the board of Erie Affiliated Insurance Companies.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Cummings, a spokesman for the company, said the company&#8217;s new chairman was elected unanimously.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This transition reflects both continuity and a deep connection to our company\u2019s history,&#8221; Cummings said in a statement. &#8220;Jonathan is the son of Tom Hagen and the late Susan Hirt Hagen, and the grandson of our co-founder, H.O. Hirt. He has served on our Board since 2005 and as Vice Chairman since 2013.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tim NeCastro, who announced earlier this year that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goerie.com\/story\/news\/local\/2026\/02\/20\/erie-insurance-ceo-tim-necastro-retiring\/88761251007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:intends to retire;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">intends to retire<\/a> as CEO at the end of this year, applauded the move in a memo to employees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJonathan brings a thoughtful, steady approach to leadership, along with a strong understanding of our business and our culture,\u201d NeCastro wrote. \u201cHe also carries forward the legacy of those who helped build this company \u2014 grounded in service, integrity, and a long-term perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Thomas Hagen, chairman of Erie Insurance speaks, on Sept. 15, 2021, during a dedication of the new $147 million Thomas B. Hagen Building.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1242\" height=\"1175\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/701b5a48be8a7373b38d4dc4bff59949.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thomas Hagen, chairman of Erie Insurance speaks, on Sept. 15, 2021, during a dedication of the new $147 million Thomas B. Hagen Building.<\/p>\n<p>Like his father, Jonathan Hagen will serve as non-executive chairman, meaning that he will lead the board of directors, but will not oversee daily operations.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Hagen, who sometimes accompanied his father to work as a young man, worked at the company for several summers while attending college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Centennial anniversary: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goerie.com\/story\/news\/local\/2025\/02\/14\/erie-insurance-top-employer-erie-pa-eyes-future-past-celebrates-a-century\/77600475007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Erie Insurance marked 100 years in 2025. &quot;We are not changing who we are&quot;;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Erie Insurance marked 100 years in 2025. &#8220;We are not changing who we are&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A graduate of McDowell High School, he earned a bachelor&#8217;s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, both an MBA and a law degree from Temple University and a master&#8217;s degree from Villanova University School of Law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Erie Refocused: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goerie.com\/story\/business\/2026\/03\/16\/erie-refocused-investiment-goals-10-years-later\/5592737001\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:10-year anniversary brings into focus success of Erie community plan;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">10-year anniversary brings into focus success of Erie community plan<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thomas Hagen, who remains active as the leader of the Erie Historic Preservation Trust, served as the first secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.<\/p>\n<p>He was selected by the Pennsylvania Society to receive the 2024 Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement.<\/p>\n<p>Contact Jim Martin at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/news\/mailto:jmartin@timesnews.com\" data-ylk=\"slk:jmartin@timesnews.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">jmartin@timesnews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">(This story was updated to add new information.)<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goerie.com\/story\/news\/local\/2026\/04\/24\/jonathan-hirt-hagen-new-chairman-erie-indemnity\/89770388007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Erie Indemnity&#039;s new chairman is Jonathan Hirt Hagen;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Erie Indemnity&#8217;s new chairman is Jonathan Hirt Hagen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since 2006, someone other than Thomas B. Hagen will serve as chairman of Erie&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[31619,136,78476,138,9080,137,78475,78437,78477,78472,78474,78473,56488],"class_list":{"0":"post-177082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-chairman-emeritus","9":"tag-erie","10":"tag-erie-affiliated-insurance-companies","11":"tag-erie-headlines","12":"tag-erie-indemnity","13":"tag-erie-news","14":"tag-jonathan-hagen","15":"tag-jonathan-hirt-hagen","16":"tag-matthew-cummings","17":"tag-susan-hirt-hagen","18":"tag-thomas-b-hagen","19":"tag-thomas-hagen","20":"tag-tom-hagen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}