Erie Indemnity Company Expands Board Size; Announces Additional Nominees for Board of Directors

ERIE, Pa., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At its Board meetings during the week of Feb. 20, 2006, the Board of Directors of Erie Indemnity Company agreed to the expansion of the Board from 13 to 15 members and to the nomination of two additional directors, Thomas W. Palmer and Lucian L. Morrison. Mr. Palmer of Toledo, Ohio, is a managing partner of Marshall & Melhorn law firm. Mr. Morrison of Houston, Texas, is an independent trustee and consultant in trust, estate, probate and qualified plan matters. They will be added to the slate of nominees for directors announced by the Company in January 2006. The Board expansion will be effective at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for April 18, 2006, at the Company's headquarters in Erie, Pa.

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The full slate includes: Kaj Ahlmann, John T. Baily, J. Ralph Borneman, Jr., Wilson C. Cooney, Patricia Garrison-Corbin, John R. Graham, Jonathan Hirt Hagen, Susan Hirt Hagen, C. Scott Hartz, F. William Hirt, Claude C. Lilly, III, Jeffrey A. Ludrof, Lucian L. Morrison, Thomas W. Palmer and Robert C. Wilburn. Information on each of the nominees will be included in the Company's Proxy Statement to be mailed to Shareholders prior to the Annual Meeting.

Erie Indemnity Company provides management services to the member companies of the Erie Insurance Group, which includes the Erie Insurance Exchange, Flagship City Insurance Company, Erie Insurance Company, Erie Insurance Property and Casualty Company, Erie Insurance Company of New York and Erie Family Life Insurance Company.

According to A.M. Best Company, Erie Insurance Group, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, is the 15th largest automobile insurer in the United States based on direct premiums written and the 23rd largest property/casualty insurer in the United States based on total lines net premium written. The Group, rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company, has almost 3.8 million policies in force and operates in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Erie Insurance Group ranked 425 on the FORTUNE 500 and Erie Indemnity Company is included in Forbes Magazine's PLATINUM 400 list of the best-managed companies in America.

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