THOMAS H. RITTER

          2000 Member

          Michigan Insurance Hall of Fame

Tom Ritter has been a distinguished insurance industry and civic leader during his tenure as an officer at Alexander Hamilton Life.  He served the industry and his community through many organizations, including service as chairman of the board of the Life Insurance Association of Michigan, Michigan Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association, and Consumer Credit Insurance Association of America.  Tom was instrumental in establishing the Life Insurance Association of Michigan as a freestanding trade association with a full-time staff and a membership consisting of foreign, domestic and international companies.  He also served the Michigan Insurance Bureau as chairman of the Commissioner's Ad Hoc Committee on AIDS and chairman of the Commissioner's Committee on Life and Health Insurance Marketing and Practices.  He was a member of the Regulatory Affairs and Risk Classification Committee and state vice president of the American Council of Life Insurance.

Tom served as chairman of the National Governmental Affairs Committee of the United States Jaycees, president of the Independence Township Business Association, and president of the Alexander Hamilton Life Insurance Foundation.  He was a member of the board of directors of the Oakland County Economic Development Council.  Tom was a treasurer, vice president of government affairs, and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Development Committee of the Oakland County Chamber of Commerce.  He wrote the manual titled Government Involvement by Business, in 1977 for the Chamber.  He answered the call of his community to serve on the board of directors of the Michigan Heart Foundation and Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and president of the Michigan Jaycees and the Metropolitan Detroit Council of the Boy Scouts of America.  Tom was a member of the advisory board of the National Institute of Burn Medicine, Ann Arbor and vice president of the board of directors of the National Foundation on the Aging.

In his most significant contribution to the insurance industry and insurance buying public, Tom Ritter recently completed an unprecedented 12 terms as chairman of the board of the Michigan Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association, which provides protection to Michigan policyholders of admitted insurance companies that become financially unable to meet their obligations.  During his tenure, the Association provided significant protection to the public by providing benefits in excess of $500 million dollars to Michigan policyholders affected by insolvent insurance companies, such as Executive Life Insurance Company, Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company and Confederation Life Insurance Company.