NEW BERLIN – Preferred Mutual Insurance Company’s chairman and chief executive officer, Robert A. Wadsworth, will retire at the end of 2008, the company announced Thursday. Effective Jan. 1 2009, Preferred Mutual will name Christopher P. Taft as its president and chief executive officer. Taft is currently the company’s president and chief operating officer. Wadsworth will continue to provide leadership to the company and its board of directors as chairman of the board.

Beginning his tenure with Preferred Mutual in 1971, Wadsworth worked his way up through the organization. He was named president and chief operating officer in 1995, president and chief executive officer in 1997, and chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 2006.

Wadsworth holds a degree in political science and economics from Syracuse University, the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters (CPCU) designation as well as the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation. Wadsworth is the former chairman of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) and the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS).