USAA announced that its chief executive officer and president, Wayne Peacock will retire during the first half of 2025, after 36 years at the company—serving the last five as CEO.

In a letter Peacock sent to USAA teammates yesterday, the retiring CEO said he had served in 10 roles across the company during his tenure.

Since 1988, Peacock has led strategy, marketing, member service teams, technology, shared services and corporate real estate. Prior to becoming CEO in 2019, he served as president of the property/casualty insurance group, the fifth largest auto and fourth largest home insurer.

USAA Board Chairman, retired Navy Vice Adm. Jim Zortman, said Peacock “has always answered the call to serve” in a media statement.

“Because of his leadership, USAA is moving in lockstep with the changing needs of the military community and is continuing to set the bar for member service,” Zortman said.

Peacock has been with USAA since 1988 and has led strategy, marketing, member service teams, technology, shared services and corporate real estate. Prior to becoming CEO, he served as president of the property and casualty insurance group, the fifth largest auto and fourth largest home insurer.

Zortman said that the USAA board is evaluating a list of internal and external candidates, and both men indicated that Peacock will remain onboard until a successor is named.

“While the Board works through the selection process, I’ll continue to lead from the front, as I have always done, to help each of us be at our best and deliver on our commitments to our members, our teams and each other. And I’ll be here to ensure a smooth transition for our next leader,” Peacock told USAA colleagues in his letter.

In his letter, Peacock also noted that he had planned on a limited tenure from the start. He reported that when he accepted the role of CEO in late 2019 from then Chairman Admiral Tom Fargo, Peacock and his wife “talked about this being a three-to-five-year assignment.”

“As I approach the five-year mark, we’ve decided it’s time to take the next step forward,” he said.

USAA’s media statement listed Peacock’s accomplishments, including his leadership through a global pandemic—moving the company’s 36,000 employees to safely work from home in less than a week.

In addition, Peacock increased USAA’s minimum pay above the industry, provided paid career development time, and enhanced benefits to include mental health and family support aid for all employees.

Peacock led the founding of Face the Fight, an initiative to reduce veteran suicide, now supported by more than 200 like-minded organizations.

Peacock has also championed veteran and military spouse employment, the media statement said, noting that USAA’s legislative efforts have enabled more military spouses to transfer professional licenses from state to state.

Through Peacock’s leadership, the company has returned approximately $2 billion in distributions, dividends, and bank rebates and rewards to members annually.

Peacock’s letter reflected on some of the same milestones and others—including building new technologies to prepare for the future, growing the association by nearly a million members and maintaining a 96 percent member-retention rate.

“With our mission as our North Star, we continue to transform USAA to serve our members exceptionally well, with enhanced digital touchpoints, personalized advice and modern products. Even amidst record-high inflation and high interest rates, another tough CAT season and geo-political uncertainty, let’s focus on the things we can control: taking care of each other, serving with excellence, improving our operations and staying true to The USAA Way,” he wrote.

Founded in 1922 by a group of military officers, USAA provides insurance, banking and retirement solutions and serves more than 13.5 million members of the U.S. military, veterans who have honorably served and their families. Headquartered in San Antonio, USAA has offices in eight U.S. cities and three overseas locations and employs more than 37,000 people

Source: USAA