Lincoln's legacy: still a force in Fort Wayne.

• Author: Kronemyer, Bob
• Position: Insurance

Lincoln National Corp. may no longer be a Hoosier-headquartered financial-services powerhouse, but its legacy continues in Fort Wayne, at a major Lincoln operation as well as three thriving reinsurance companies staffed with former Lincoln employees.

Lincoln National started in Fort Wayne in 1905 under the name The Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. "Although the company started out primarily in life insurance, it soon entered the reinsurance market, for which it was one of the first" recounts Steve Rahn, vice president at Lincoln National. By the 1980s, the company had become a diversified financial-services organization, with insurance business including life, property and casualty, health and annuities.

Because of its dominance in the Fort Wayne business community, many in the area reacted with great concern when Lincoln National Corp. announced that its corporate headquarters was moving to Philadelphia in 1999.

While it hurt to lose a major headquarters, the reality was that only 29 employees relocated, and Lincoln left behind its reinsurance business its retirement-products operation as well as the official headquarters of The Lincoln National Life Insurance Co.

In the fall of 1999 Lincoln decided to withdraw from the HMO reinsurance business. "The corporation had lost appetite for such a volatile business, and was focusing instead on the wealth-protection and wealth-accumulation businesses," explains Mark Troutman, president and co-founder of Fort Wayne-based Summit Reinsurance Services Inc., which began at the same time and picked up where Lincoln Re left off in HMO reinsurance.

All of the principals at Summit Re are ex-Lincoln personnel. The group signed an agreement with Lincoln allowing Summit access to Lincoln Re's pricing system as well as information about its HMO reinsurance clients. Lincoln Re also leased office space to the fledgling company for the first several months.

"Reinsurance by definition is assumption of risk and the spreading of risk in a volatile and uncertain situation," says Troutman, who was Lincoln's second vice president in group markets when he left. His new company primarily handles managed-care reinsurance. "We also reinsure some preferred-provider organizations and some provider groups that assume risks through capitation contracts."

Summit Re has 18 employees and services about 25 HMO reinsurance clients and five brokerage clients. Gross annual revenues are about $4.5 million. Lincoln National...