USAA Announces Leadership Transition Plan
USAA announced a realignment of its executive management team in what the company describes as the initial phase of a transition of top leadership positions. "This new alignment will give us greater flexibility as we begin the process of selecting USAA's leadership for the beginning of the next century," says Robert T. Herres, USAA chairman and CEO. "It is part of an evolving plan that will unfold over the next three to four years. The governance arm of our board of directors will be changing soon, and the new board members will become increasingly involved in the selection process during this period of time."
The change is effective June 1, 1998.
Under the structure, two new positions have been created: Deputy CEO for Capital Management and Deputy CEO for Property & Casualty (P&C) Operations, Alliance Services and Corporate Support. Notable in the change is that the lines of business and a number of staff positions that formerly reported directly to Herres will now report through the deputy CEOs.
One of the deputy CEO positions will be filled by Bob Davis, presently president and CEO of the USAA Capital Corporation (CAPCO). Davis will continue as president of CAPCO as he steps into this new deputy CEO role. CAPCO is a major subsidiary responsible for its Investment Management Co., Federal Savings Bank, Life Insurance Co. and the Real Estate Co. A financial planning network subsidiary is under development now and is joining the CAPCO companies as a fifth subsidiary. These subsidiaries will continue to report to Davis in his role as president of CAPCO. In his Capital Management role, Davis will now oversee the offices of Chief Financial Officer/Corporate Treasurer and Cross Business Integration.
Bill Cooney has been designated as Deputy CEO for Property & Casualty Operations, Alliance Services and Corporate Support. Cooney moves into this new role from his current position as president of USAA's P&C Insurance Group. Reporting through him will be the Property & Casualty Group, the Information Technology Company, Alliance Services Company, Corporate Communications & Marketing, Facilities and Support Services, Organizational Planning, Transportation and Corporate Procurement.
Replacing Cooney as president of the P&C Insurance Group will be Butch Viccellio, now serving as an executive vice president and Deputy CEO for Operational Integration & Support. This latter position will be eliminated as Viccellio moves to P&C and its responsibilities are distributed to the two new deputy CEOs.
Functions which will continue to report directly to Herres are Corporate Plans and Analysis, Chief Information Officer, Human Resources, General Counsel and Community Affairs.
Herres said that the membership structure of his executive council will not change. This is USAA's most senior executive group and is composed of the heads of all lines of business and major staff agencies.