Strategic Hire Brings Financial Expertise and Leadership Experience to Drive Operational Excellence and Support Next Phase of Growth
Higginbotham, an employee-owned insurance, financial, and HR services firm headquartered in Texas, has announced the appointment of Andrew Reutter as CFO/COO. This strategic move reflects the firm’s commitment to investing in top talent to drive its next phase of growth and operational excellence.
“Our success has been built on investing in great people — and making sure they’re in the right roles,” said Rusty Reid, Chairman and CEO of Higginbotham. “With that philosophy, we’ve built an incredible organization, strong partnerships, and a great culture. We realized last year that we needed additional senior leadership to extend our focus on excellence to our financial structures, operations, and technology. We’ve been fortunate to work closely with Andrew as Stone Point’s representative on our board for over a decade, and we knew he was the right person for the role.”
At Stone Point Capital, Reutter built and led the capital markets division, working closely with insurance services firms to oversee financing and investment strategy. His collaboration with Higginbotham helped develop an efficient capital structure, fueling both organic and inorganic growth while enabling annual shareholder liquidity. This strategy has supported the firm’s consistent 20%+ compounded annual revenue growth. Now, Reutter transitions from advisor to leader, bringing his expertise directly into the company’s next chapter.
“Higginbotham is at a unique inflection point,” Reutter said. “I like to call it Higg 3.0. If 1.0 was about building the employee ownership model, and 2.0 focused on growth through the partnership and M&A strategy, 3.0 is a new chapter focused on strengthening the team and driving operational excellence, while preserving our growth trajectory and culture.”
Reflecting on his career move, Reutter added:
“I loved my time as part of the Stone Point family. This change doesn’t feel like leaving Stone Point so much as joining Higginbotham at exactly the right moment. Having spent years working alongside the team, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the business and its potential. I’m truly excited to help strengthen an already exceptional organization.”
Focus on Operational and Financial Strategy
Reutter emphasized that his priorities will be to advance operational and financial strategy while maintaining Higginbotham’s strong culture:
“We have an amazing team that has built an incredible business. My focus is to help make it even better without changing the culture that makes Higginbotham special. That means finding ways to be more efficient, optimizing relationships, streamlining daily processes, and thoughtfully leveraging tools like AI and automation to help our people work smarter.”
Strengthening Employee Ownership
Reutter also highlighted the firm’s employee ownership model as a competitive advantage:
“That level of alignment is rare. When the people who ride the elevator every day have significant equity ownership, it fosters alignment, accountability, and collaboration in a way most firms can’t match. That excites me about the future — not just growing in size, but also expanding our services, whether adding financial services offerings, developing new verticals, or deepening our expertise in specialty lines. We have so much potential here, and I want to help us unlock it.”
Evolving Leadership for Future Growth
Reutter’s appointment represents an evolution in Higginbotham’s leadership structure. His dual role combines finance and operations leadership, creating dedicated capacity to support the firm’s growing scale and complexity.
“Given our size and historical growth rate, we need to invest in talent,” Reid said. “As we’re reaching a milestone of a billion dollars in revenue, we’re planning ahead — strengthening our bench to position ourselves for everything that comes after.”
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