Erie Insurance employees celebrate a century of steady growth
Erie Insurance serves customers in 12 states and the District of Columbia and employs more than 6,500 people in Erie and field offices.
- Erie Insurance, celebrating its 100th anniversary, has invested heavily in its Erie headquarters and the city’s revitalization efforts.
- The company has added 500 jobs in Erie since 2015, contrasting with an overall decline in city employment.
- Erie Insurance CEO Tim NeCastro emphasizes the importance of public-private partnerships and expresses concern about the city’s financial challenges.
When I became president and CEO of Erie Insurance nearly nine years ago, something was clear to me: successfully running our insurance operation was only part of the job.
The other part? Actively supporting and engaging in the economic development and revitalization of our hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Service has been a part of our company’s DNA since it was founded 100 years ago — and that includes not only service to our customers, agents and employees, but also service to the communities throughout our 12-state footprint. That is especially true here in the place where it all began.
We feel that Erie Insurance — as the city’s largest employer and only Fortune 500 company — bears a responsibility to do our part in the city’s recovery across many fronts.
Revitalization is also very personal for me. I grew up in Erie’s Little Italy neighborhood, graduated from Cathedral Prep and Gannon University, and my wife, Lisa, and I raised our family here. Almost a decade later, I am proud to say that Erie Insurance has helped the city make significant strides in the state of its economy, employment, real estate, business environment and overall quality of life. Our company’s Chairman of the Board, Tom Hagen, has also personally invested tens of millions of dollars in revitalization, historic preservation and transformational philanthropy in the city. Tom cares deeply about this community and feels a personal responsibility to improve it in whatever ways he can.
We don’t typically like to boast about all that we’re doing for the community — much of it happens quietly and behind the scenes. But, as our company celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, which we marked on April 20, we’re focusing not only on where we’ve been but where we’re going — both our future and that of the city. We remain fully committed to the city we’ve called home for more than a century.
Let’s start with some of the growth within our company. Erie Insurance employs nearly 7,000 people across a region stretching from North Carolina to New York to Wisconsin. Roughly half, or 3,400, are based here in Erie County. Of those employees, almost 2,700 work on our downtown Erie campus, growing by nearly 500 jobs since 2015.
To put these numbers in context, we added 500 new jobs during the same 10-year period during which overall employment in the city of Erie fell by more than 5%. Total employment in the city declined from 42,399 in January 2015 to 40,136 in December 2024, according to city of Erie employment data obtained from the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership. This data shows that the city’s overall labor force — another important economic indicator — also contracted by 8%.
Our company’s workforce growth is what prompted us to expand our campus footprint east to Parade Street by purchasing and renovating the former Pennsylvania National Guard Armory Building, which opened as additional office space in 2015. It’s also why we constructed the seven-story, $147 million, 346,000-square-foot Thomas B. Hagen Building, which opened its doors to employees in 2022. We’re also currently making significant renovations to the F.W. Hirt Perry Square Building to improve the building’s visual appeal, energy efficiency, safety and accessibility — ensuring it continues to meet our needs well into the future.
In all, Erie Insurance has invested $400 million in our downtown campus since 2015.
The City Revitalization & Improvement Zone (CRIZ) designation for the city is also expected to return $15 million in tax dollars virtually every year for the next 30 years toward revitalization projects throughout the city. Over its lifetime, this program is projected to produce over half a billion dollars dedicated to breathing new life into our city and completing major projects, adding jobs and stimulating the regional economy — making our city a vibrant, culturally rich place that people want to call home or visit.
I was happy to work alongside state and local leaders like Sen. Dan Laughlin and state Reps. Bob Merski and Pat Harkins to get the CRIZ approval across the finish line for our city.
Aside from making our city more attractive, the revitalization of blighted and vacant properties serves as a catalyst for tangible economic development — creating jobs and drawing in new businesses. It’s for this reason that Erie Insurance became the founding funder of the Erie Downtown Development Corporation (EDDC) eight years ago, and I joined the organization as board president.
Since then, with support of local organizations and philanthropists, the EDDC has developed investment of over $115 million in Erie’s downtown, creating 25 new businesses,104 new residential spaces (which are all occupied), and more than 250 new jobs.
The transformation that is taking place downtown is incredibly exciting, and I’m proud that Erie Insurance has been able to play such an active role in the city’s renaissance.
Along this journey, what has been most crucial to our success, are the coalitions we have forged among leaders from the private sector — philanthropy, education, banking, health care, manufacturing — and the public sector. We’re fortunate to have great partnerships with entities like the EDDC, Infinite Erie, the CRIZ Authority, Erie County Redevelopment Authority, Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, and the Erie Community Foundation; and other businesses and organizations such as The Plastek Group, UPMC Hamot, AHN St. Vincent, Gannon University and Penn State Behrend, to name just a few.
And while much has been accomplished, the work is far from finished. We’re committed to doing our part as a leader in the private sector but, admittedly, I have concerns when the city’s budget continually shows structural deficits, requiring utilization of Erie Waterworks prepayments and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to cover. The city’s ability to work through fiscal challenges is a crucial component to its success and we need strong, proactive leadership among the public officials in City Hall to facilitate Erie’s revitalization.
Maintaining and growing partnerships and coalitions is critical to our city’s future success. Erie, Pennsylvania, speaking with one voice has been the key to building strong relationships with state and federal officials and gaining their confidence in our ability to complete the work ahead. It’s my hope that we can include a fiscally sound City Hall with strong visionary leadership in our coalitions going forward.
We’re at a pivotal — and exciting — time in our city. Being engaged in this work is a responsibility that I take seriously, and Erie Insurance is fully dedicated to this city. This is further evidenced by the announcement we made last week, establishing the Erie Insurance Foundation and funding it with a $100 million endowment for philanthropy and community investment for generations to come.
We’ve proudly carried the Erie name for a century, and we’re excited for what’s ahead for our company and our city during the next 100 years.
Tim NeCastro has served as president and CEO of Erie Insurance since 2016.