Under the leadership of John A. Buxton, Federated later became one of the first insurers to provide
coverage for property, liability and health insurance.
The company’s next president, Charles I. Buxton
II, great-grandson of the co-founder, took the company from $25 million in sales to $1 billion, making
it one of only seven property and casualty insurers
in the nation to exceed a billion dollars in premiums.
He started his 50-year career in the stockroom and
worked his way up from there, and was still chairman
emeritus of the board of directors at the time of his
death in 2000.
Longetivity and working your way up is a
constant theme at Federated. Current Chairman
and longtime CEO Al Annexstad earned his way
through then-Mankato State University with multiple jobs, and in his senior year began his Federated Insurance career as a sales representative in
his hometown of St. Peter. Since then, Annexstad
has had an uninterrupted 45-year career with Federated.
During his leadership tenure, he has positioned
Federated as one of the nation’s largest and most
financially secure mutual, multiple-line insurance
companies. The company greatly enhanced its focus on state trade associations and national industry
organizations who, in turn, recommend Federated’s
products and services to their members.
For his efforts, next month the Horatio Alger As-
sociation of Distinguished Americans will honor An-
nexstad as one of 11 recipients of the 2010 Horatio
Alger Award. It’s given annually “to persons who have
overcome great adversity and humble beginnings to
achieve the American Dream and to offer their time
and resources to help others in need.”
“I am deeply humbled by this honor,” Annexstad
OUR MORE ASTUTE READERS may remember a certain New Year’s resolution on
the part of the magazine—or me to be more specific—to do a better job telling some of the
business stories of outstate Minnesota. ¶ We want to take the temperature of the business
climate in places such as Owatonna, the subject of our first foray, as well as others such as
Rochester and Duluth. We want to find out what made these communities unique historically, where they are today and what the future might hold.
To begin our journey, I pointed the car due south on
Interstate 35 and waited for the mileage indicator on
the odometer to turn over 60 times.
Before I got to Owatonna proper, though, I passed
Cabela’s Outfitters. I didn’t go in, but I must be the
exception. On one of Owatonna’s official city websites they claim four million people visit Cabela’s every year. My guess is that would make it Owatonna’s
top attraction.
I did, however, exit at the very next off ramp, not
to purchase a new pair of waders or a hunting coat in
the latest variation of camouflage, but rather to gaze
at another popular attraction in Owatonna, this of a
more serious variety.
On October 16, 2009, the new Owatonna Hospital, part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, officially
opened. The $51 million facility includes a two-story,
38-bed hospital, located on 20 acres and physically
connected to the Owatonna Clinic-Mayo Health
System, whose physicians practice at the hospital.
The hospital, designed with input from nurses, staff,
physicians, patients and families, features an environment that enhances healing and an environmentally-sustainable design.
“In addition to using recycled building materi-
als and energy efficient systems, we tried to bring the
outside environment into the building using natural
light, and the exterior landscape provides a park-like
setting of green space, trees and plantings,” said Da-
vid Albrecht, president, Owatonna Hospital, at the
time it opened.
