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Robert M. Wallach is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Robert Plan Corporation, a financial services holding company primarily active in the insurance marketplace. The company is internationally renowned as the leading service provider and underwriter of private passenger and commercial automobile insurance, specializing in urban markets around the United States. It employs 1,400 people nationwide, with 1,100 headquartered in Bethpage, Long Island, and is the epitome of the equal opportunity employer, with individuals of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. In April 2000, The Robert Plan was recognized in Newsday as one of the few Long Island companies who has successfully moved women and minorities ahead in unprecedented numbers.
Bob enjoys an extraordinary reputation throughout the insurance industry and has been recognized in the media as one of the most compelling business leaders of the 1990s. The Robert Plan is the acknowledged leader in the fight against automobile insurance fraud, and established a successful business in an environment traditional insurers find challenging at best. Additionally, The Robert Plan was credited with breaking up the largest chiropractic fraud ring in the history of New Jersey, saving the state more than $40 million.
The Robert Plan regularly receives accolades from the media, the insurance industry, law enforcement officials, and its clients. In recent years, the company has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and on CBS News' Eye to Eye with Connie Chung.
Bob has been distinguished for his work and support for a significant number of charitable organizations. He is a major contributor and personally supports The Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, a community outreach program of the Big Apple Circus, currently operating at six New York hospitals including Schneider Children’s Hospital of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, as well as in Boston, New Haven, Seattle, Chicago and Washington D.C. Specially trained professional clowns visit hospitalized children and, while medical doctors treat their diseases, the clowns treat their funny bones and raise their spirits. He was honored by 1 in 9, Long Island’s Breast Cancer Coalition, as well as by many of the organizations named herein. In addition, Bob is on the Executive Council of The Tilles Center Council of Overseers and will be the honoree at the 2003 Tilles Center for the Performing Arts Gala XXIII.
In addition, Bob serves on the President's Council of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, is a Trustee of the North Shore/Long Island Jewish Health System, and is a co-chair of their Cancer Initiative as well as serving on the Advisory Board of Hofstra University’s Elite Honors College. He is also a founding supporter of The Harlem Little League, and actively supports the Little League Baseball Urban Initiative. He donates generously to The Church of St. John the Baptist Food Pantry and supports The Walt Frazier Youth Foundation as well as Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz @ Lincoln Center Program. He serves on the Board of the Diabetes Institutes Foundation, supports the Boys Club of New York, the Newark YM/YWCA, and numerous baseball, basketball and soccer teams throughout the metropolitan area. Most recently, Bob served as Chairman of the Nassau County Blue Ribbon Panel and sits on the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, to guide Nassau County’s fiscal destiny. He is often called upon as an expert on urban, healthcare, and minority issues by many members of both State and Federal governments.
Bob is also involved with H.E.L.P. (Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged), which was founded by Andrew Cuomo in 1986 and is the nation's largest developer of housing and provider of services for the homeless. In addition, Bob is also a major supporter of the Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City.
Additionally, in 1994 Bob received the Entrepreneur of the Year award in a competition sponsored by Inc. Magazine and Ernst and Young. In 1996, The Robert Plan was named Employer of the Year by Adults and Children with Learning and Developmental Disabilities, and in 1997 was honored by the National Center for Disabilities in Albertson. He was recently honored as the 1998 Corporation of the Year by The Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In addition, the company developed the pilot for PROSPER, a scholastic internship program for at risk students on Long Island.
In 1997, The Robert Plan, through The Newark Insurance Company, made a commitment to the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial scholarship/fellowship fund for $10,000 for 5 years. The goal is to move high school age children off the streets and into colleges and/or trade schools to prepare them for their future.
In 1998, Bob and The Robert Plan Corporation contributed $100,000 to the New York City Police Foundation to purchase bullet proof vests for NYC police officers. Locally, the company is an active supporter of the Old Brookville Police Department.
With their corporate headquarters based in Bethpage, The Robert Plan has sponsored Bethpage High School’s Physical Fitness Team, one of the top programs in the United States and indeed, winners of the National Championship in 1999. This sponsorship has helped ease the financial burden incurred while the team participates in competitions, as well as National Championships and fund-raising endeavors.
Bob is very politically active, supporting candidates of both major political parties. In his own words, he often says he has a Republican head and a Democratic heart and possesses a belief in those who demonstrate a commitment to improving the community, the environment and the business workplace.
Before joining The Robert Plan in 1988, Bob served as a new product development specialist in the mortgage finance division of Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, and as Vice President of New Product Development at First Interstate Bancorp. A graduate of the College of Insurance in New York, Bob earned his M.B.A. from Columbia University, where he also completed the Master's Degree program for executives. |
