Erie Indemnity Company

Good morning and welcome to the ERA Indemnity Company First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. This call was prerecorded and there will be no question and answer session following the recording. Now I'd like to introduce your host for the call, Vice President of Investor Relations, Scott Balhart. Please proceed.

Thank you and welcome everyone. We appreciate you joining us for this recorded discussion about our first quarter results. This recording will include remarks from Tim DeCastro, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Julie Pokowski, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Our earning release and financial supplement were issued yesterday afternoon after the market closed and are available within the investor relations section of our website, erieinsurance.com. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may contain forward-looking remarks that reflect the company's current views about future events. These remarks are based on assumptions, subject to known and unexpected risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties may cause results to differ materially from those described in these remarks. For information on important factors that may cause these differences, please see the Safe Harbor Statements in our Form 10 key filing with the SEC filed yesterday and in the related press release. This pre-recorded call is the property of your indemnity company. It may not be reproduced or rebroadcast by any other party without the prior written consent of your indemnity company. With that, we move on to Tim's remarks.

Tim? Thanks, Scott. Good morning, everyone. Before we get into our first quarter results, I'd like to share some recent changes to the Erie Indemnity Company Board of Directors. First, Tom Hagen recently informed the board of his decision to step down as chairman after serving in the role for more than 20 years. Following a special meeting of the board of directors on April 19th, Jonathan Herthagen was unanimously elected as chairman of the board. Jonathan is the son of Tom Hagen and the late Susan Herthagen and the grandson of our co-founder H.O. Hurt. He has served on our board since 2005 and as vice chairman since 2013. Jonathan brings a thoughtful, steady approach to leadership, along with a strong understanding of our business and of our culture. He also carries forward the legacy of those who helped build this company, grounded in service, integrity, and a long-term perspective. Tom will continue to serve as a member of the board as Chairman Emeritus and Chair of the Executive Committee. His experience and guidance will remain an important part of our leadership as we move forward. The Board of Directors also recently welcomed a new member. William Edwards is an attorney and partner at TAFT in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he practices employment law. He's also an alumnus and current board chair at Wittenberg University, which is the alma mater of Erie's co-founder, H.O. Hurt. Finally, we are deeply saddened by the recent passing of one of our longtime board members and retired Erie executive, George Lucor. George spent 38 years as an employee, retiring in 2010 as Executive Vice President of Field Operations. He continued his service to the company by joining the Board of Directors in 2016, where he remained an engaged and thoughtful contributor. He often said he was honored to continue his association with Erie in this capacity, and we were equally honored to benefit from his experience and his perspectives. Let's now turn to the first quarter results. As we shared in previous calls, 2025 was one of the more challenging periods we faced in terms of profitability, marked by elevated weather activity, including the costliest weather event in our company's history last March, and a complex market. But by the end of 2025, and now in the first quarter of 2026, we started to see a more balanced picture and early signs that we're beginning to turn a corner. We're still operating in a competitive market, and there's more work ahead. but the steady measured progress is encouraging. Here to share more details of our first quarter results is Chief Financial Officer Julie Palkowski. Julie?