USAA’s outgoing President and CEO Wayne Peacock has much more than golf and seashore holidays on his thoughts today as he heads into retirement this spring.
Peacock, who took up the helm of the Fortune 500 banking and insurance coverage big in 2020 as its first civilian CEO, sat down with former Speaker of the Texas Home Joe Straus earlier this week for a hearth chat hosted by the World Affairs Council of San Antonio to debate closing out his tenure.
In a quickly altering world the place pure disasters and world inflation have gotten the norm, Peacock mentioned he hopes USAA can proceed to be a pillar of hope and power to the 13.5 million world members who depend upon the corporate.
“We’ve made investments to make sure that USAA stays related for the long run,” he mentioned, noting that the board has already chosen Juan Andrade as his successor.
Like many insurance coverage corporations in the present day, USAA is going through unprecedented occasions that embrace financial challenges similar to rising rates of interest and geopolitical dangers, he mentioned. Whereas the corporate can’t deal with these points alone, it could purpose to make them easier for his or her members, Peacock mentioned.
He pointed to USAA’s latest response to the California wildfires for instance. For the reason that wildfires broke out on Jan. 7, USAA has processed greater than 6,000 claims within the Los Angeles space largely by means of utilizing satellite tv for pc and drone imagery to assist assess harm and expedite declare funds, Peacock mentioned.
“We have been the primary on the bottom and the primary to get cash into our members’ fingers,” Peacock mentioned. About 1,000 of these claims have been for houses that have been fully destroyed, he mentioned.
Peacock mentioned he believes that the best way USAA has embraced expertise, together with synthetic intelligence, will solely proceed to assist the corporate develop into the long run.
“It doesn’t matter what we take into consideration the tempo behind us, the tempo in entrance of us goes to maneuver rather more shortly,” he mentioned.
