Edward B. Rust, Jr.

Edward B. Rust Jr. is chairman emeritus of the board of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, a position he held for 30 years. Rust previously served as president and chief executive officer in 1985, and chairman in 1987.

During his 30-year span of leadership, State Farm grew from 45 million policies to serving more than 82 million policies. He is the company’s longest serving CEO.

He is the former chairman of the Business-Higher Education Forum and Business Roundtable’s Education Initiative. He also served on the National (Glenn) Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century and on the No Child Left Behind Commission.

He was co-chair of Business Roundtable for more than seven years. He is also past chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of Directors, the American Enterprise Institute, The Financial Services Roundtable, the National Alliance of Business and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. He currently serves as a trustee of Illinois Wesleyan University and is a vice chair of the board of trustees of The Conference Board.

He is a member of the boards of Caterpillar, Inc., Helmerich and Payne, Inc., and McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A graduate of Illinois Wesleyan, Rust holds both a juris doctor and master of business degrees from Southern Methodist University.