When Higginbotham was celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2023, the insurance, financial and human resources firm celebrated by purchasing Snoop Dog, a 1,343-pound black European Cross steer, for a record-setting $440,000 at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.
It was a shoutout to the community that helped CEO Rusty Reid grow the insurance company from a single office to 140 offices in 25 states — the largest agency in Texas.
“We thought this is the year that we were going to go in to really help out any and all things that happen in our backyard, which is Fort Worth,” Reid said at the time.
Community focus remains the hallmark of Higginbotham, an employee-owned firm that set up the Higginbotham Community Fund in 2010 as an employee-funded, donor-advised charitable fund that provides grants to nonprofits chosen by the staff.
Two years after its big anniversary, Reid has yet more to celebrate as one of the 2025 Fort Worth Business Executives of the Year selected by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Texas Wesleyan University and the Fort Worth Report. Reid will be honored at the 2025 Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame event on Oct. 30 at the Omni Hotel in downtown.
The Business Hall of Fame began honoring businessmen and women of Fort Worth in 1970. In 1988, a scholarship component was added to award outstanding business students from the Texas Wesleyan School of Business via the Thomas H. Law Scholarship endowment.
During 30-plus years of leadership at Higginbotham, Reid spearheaded initiatives contributing to the firm’s impressive growth, expanded market presence and enhanced brand visibility, all the while building a sustainable company culture, according to the selection committee gathered by Texas Wesleyan to determine this year’s honoree.
Higginbotham, now employing more than 3,000 people, has become a top 20 independent brokerage firm in the U.S. and reported upward of $1 billion in revenue in 2023.
From introducing the firm’s groundbreaking single-source service model — enabling clients to access a full slate of insurance and financial services in one place — to building a culture of generosity, where employees combine philanthropic efforts, to establishing Higginbotham’s employee ownership structure, Reid has demonstrated leadership at both the firm and in the industry, the award judges said.
Texas Wesleyan has honored a top business executive every year since 1970.
If you go
What: Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth Report and Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce will honor Rusty Reid at the 55th Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame event. Dress is business attire, and attendance is open to the general public.
When: 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel. The reception begins at 6 p.m., and the dinner begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $400 per person.
To make reservations and purchase tickets: Contact Amy Tate-Almy, development officer, at 817-531-5806.
In 1986, Reid joined Higginbotham as the company’s 12th employee to help run the business insurance practice. In 1989, already serving as CEO, Reid began to plant the seeds of an idea that came to him when he worked at American General: employee ownership.
“I had noticed that when agents did well, another company would hire them away and you’d lose all that talent,” he said. “You’d end up competing against them often as not.”
That observation led Higginbotham to set up an employee stock ownership plan. It remains a business cornerstone that continues to attract and retain talent.
Higginbotham also began to expand, first across Texas and now to both the southeast and west, bringing on board a variety of companies to expand the agency’s reach geographically and add new services and technology to the company’s portfolio.
Speaking to students at Texas Wesleyan University on Oct. 14, Reid shared some of the leadership principles he has learned on his journey.
His number one rule: “Don’t be an arrogant leader.”
Reid said it can be hard not to be arrogant when you are leading a large company, but he sees that as a negative trait.
“I just have this belief in life, that when you do wrong things, it catches up with you,” he told the students. “Conversely, if you do the right thing and try to be good, it actually benefits you. I think good things happen to good people.”
As an example, Reid told an anecdote about when the company was developing their single-source insurance model. Reid and a consultant were in an office struggling for a good catchphrase or slogan to communicate their message to clients. A clerical employee walked by and asked what they were doing. Reid and the consultant explained their objective.
“(The employee) said it needs to be ‘Single Source for a Secure Future,’” Reid said. “It was perfect. If we had been arrogant, we never would have listened.”
Reid, 62, has earned widespread recognition for his leadership both from his peers and the broader industry. He was named the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s 2024 Philanthropic Leader. He received the Susan Halsey Executive Leadership Award from the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Reid was honored as CEO of the Year at the Business Insurance America Awards.
Reid graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s in business administration/insurance. Reid and his wife, Molly, have three children and six grandchildren.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
Disclosure: Higginbotham is a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.