Ed Rust Addresses Illinois Wesleyan Associates Luncheon May 6

April 23, 2003

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Ed Rust Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of State Farm Insurance Companies, will address the future of State Farm and Bloomington/Normal at the annual Illinois Wesleyan Associates Luncheon on Tuesday, May 6.

The luncheon will be at 12 p.m. in the Shirk Center on the Illinois Wesleyan campus. For complimentary reservations, call Lorrie Gummere at 556-3710.

A 1972 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan, Rust holds both juris doctor and master of business degrees from Southern Methodist University.

Rust joined State Farm in 1975 and became president and chief executive officer in 1985. He was elected to the additional post of chairman of the board in 1987.

A member of the Illinois Wesleyan Board of Trustees, Rust has been a leader in focusing the business community’s attention on the need to improve education in the United States. Among his many activities in this area, he is chairman of the Business Higher Education Forum, a director of the National Center for Educational Accountability, and former co-chairman of the Business Coalition for Excellence in Education. He served on President Bush’s Transition Advisory Team committee on education and on the National (Glenn) Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century.

Rust is vice chairman of The Business Roundtable, an organization of about 200 of the nation’s largest business, and chairman of the Illinois Business Roundtable. He is immediate past chairman of The Financial Services Roundtable. He serves on the boards of directors of Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, Ill.; Helmerich and Payne, Inc., Tulsa, Okla.; and McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., New York.

The Illinois Wesleyan Associates, formed in 1953, is a group of business and professional leaders interested in the advancement and support of independent higher education. The Associates provide internships and job opportunities for IWU students, as well as financial support for students from McLean County. There are 155 McLean County students enrolled at Illinois Wesleyan this year, representing 7.7 percent of the student body.