Leon Thomas is the Regional Manager for American Family Insurance’s Northwestern Region. In this role, which he first assumed in 2007, he oversees all claims and underwriting leadership for the region and serves as its liaison to the corporate office in Odenville. Originally from Odenville himself, Leon grew up just a few miles from the company’s headquarters. However, his was one of the few families in town that had no family members employed there. He remembers thinking that he didn’t really know what all of his friends’ parents did at American Family, but he knew he never wanted to work there. Things changed, however, after Leon attended college. After graduating with a business degree, getting married, and having a baby all within a year’s time, he admits that he simply needed a job! He started at American Family as a Claims Adjuster and was soon promoted to Claims Manager. He later moved to the Southern Region as a Consultant before being selected for his current role as Regional Manager. When asked about his career success, Leon advises that he was always the guy with his hand raised. He volunteered for every opportunity that came along, more so out of a desire to learn and gain new experiences than it was to get himself noticed. He stresses that the best way to stand out, at American Family or in any organization, is by doing a great job at whatever it is that you’re currently doing. This is still true for Leon today. He states that he strives to be the most effective, most collaborative, and most results-driven leader that he can be. A defining moment of Leon’s career was when he began his first leadership role as a Claims Manager. It was then that he realized that it wasn’t about him and what he could do. What really mattered was how he could influence his team and bring about results through others. He attributes this valuable insight to his manager at the time, Joe Thornton, who served as a mentor to him and showed him the kind of leader he wanted to be. Leon continues to be a proponent of mentoring relationships and has been known to take on anywhere from two to ten mentees