On January 19, 2005, the Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West awarded their highest honor to retired State Fund President Jack Webb when they presented him with the Ramsden/Sullivan Memorial Award. The Award, which made its debut in 1959, is presented, “only when a person merits such a high honor, but is never awarded to more than one person and never more than annually.”

Ramsden/Sullivan Award recipients ‘exemplify the highest caliber of service to the American Agency System, their industry and their community.’

In honoring Webb, IBA West wrote the following:

“For more than 36 years, Jack Webb served as a productive and innovative force within the State Compensation Insurance Fund. He joined the State Fund Home Office Underwriting Department in 1959. He subsequently served as a sales representative in the Fund’s Fresno District Office, as Statewide Group Insurance Coordinator, Claims Manager for the Oakland District Office, Claims/Rehabilitation Office and Manager of the Santa Ana District Office. His promotion to the post of Vice President and Member of the Executive Committee came in 1976. This was followed by his appointment as Executive Vice President in 1980. He was named the State Fund President and Chief Executive Officer in October 1986 and served in that role until his retirement in 1995.

Jack also compiled an impressive record of leadership and service to the industry. Highlights of his distinguished service include terms as the President of the California Workers’ Compensation Institute, Chair of the Governing Committee of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, Member of the Senate Task Force on Medical Cost Containment, Commissioner for California’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Assessment Commission, President and Chair of the American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds and a host of roles in other committees and organizations.

Jack earned the respect of peers and competitors alike as a leader and loyal friend. He was admired for his intelligence, wit and hard work. He was equally comfortable talking about State Fund to a farm worker or the Governor of California. Through his leadership, the State Fund grew to a $7 billion, 6,500-employee organization serving over 250,000 policyholders.

Jack’s high-voltage approach to every thing he did contributed to the success of State Fund and to the success of California’s workers’ compensation system. He was deeply committed to the system’s excellence and to the vital role of the State Fund within that system. His legacy at State Fund is embodied in the senior management team that he trained that continues to build on his vision and to emulate his work ethic.

But, of even greater importance to independent agents and insurance brokers in the state was the fact that Jack was a catalyst for change at the State Fund. Because of his vision and foresight, the State Fund board of directors and management came to recognize the benefit of teaming with insurance brokers and independent agents to serve the changing and increasingly complex needs of California employers.

In 1994 Jack appointed a task force of State Fund executives and specialists to work with IBA West to design and develop a pilot for what would become the State Fund Broker Program. Today, more than 90 percent of all new business insured with State Fund is generated through the Broker Program. The importance and value of this partnership cannot be overstated – to employers, to the State Fund or to the thousands of brokers and independent agents that participate in it today.

Following his retirement, Jack has accelerated his pace of non-stop travel to exotic and distant destinations, indulging his lifelong passion for adventurous travel and study of unique, remote peoples of our world and their cultures. Yet he also has found time to become a first-rate gardener and to satisfy his voracious appetite for reading.”