Farmers Appoints New President/COO

Jeff Dailey has been promoted to the post of President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Farmers Group, Inc., effective January 1, 2011. The Los Angeles-based unit of Zurich Financial Services Group also announced that Dailey will become Farmers CEO when current Farmers CEO F. Robert Woudstra retires at the end of next year.

Dailey, Farmers' current president of personal lines, will succeed Woudstra as president on January 1. Over the next year, Dailey will continue to work closely with and report to Woudstra leading up to Woudstra's planned retirement at the end of 2011.

"Taking on the president and COO role now will provide Jeff Dailey with invaluable experience before he succeeds Bob Woudstra as Farmers CEO upon Bob's retirement," said Martin Senn, CEO of Zurich Financial Services Group, and Paul N. Hopkins, Chairman of the Board of Farmers Group, Inc., and Regional Chairman of the Americas for Zurich Financial Services Group, in a press release.

Dailey joined Farmers Insurance in 2007 with its acquisition of Bristol West Holdings, where he served as Bristol West CEO. He began his career as a claims adjuster with Mutual Service Insurance. Early in his career, Dailey worked at Progressive Insurance Company. After leaving Progressive, Dailey formed Reliant Insurance Company, an auto insurance start-up owned by Reliant Group Holdings, which was later sold to Bristol West in 2001.

"I am truly honored to take on this role and look forward to working with the entire Farmers Insurance team, including our outstanding agents, to create the best insurance company in America for the benefit of our customers," said Dailey, in the press release. He is only the 12th president in the history Farmers Group, Inc., which was founded in Los Angeles in 1928.

Woudstra joined Farmers in 2000 with the acquisition of Foremost Insurance, where he began his career in 1973. He was named president of Farmers Insurance in 2007 and CEO in 2009.

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio