In an email sent to Team USAA just before noon Monday morning, USAA President and CEO Wayne Peacock announced his resignation as CEO, a position he has held since 2019.
Peacock described taking on the role, saying it would be a “three- to five-year assignment.” As the five-year mark approaches, he wrote, “I will retire in the first half of 2025 once a new CEO is selected.”
Peacock led the company through the COVID-19 pandemic, had 360,000 employees work from home, posted the first loss in its 102-year history, and returned to profitability in 2023. During his time as CEO, USAA responded to an increasing number of more severe natural disasters and a corresponding increase in insurance premiums, raising the company’s minimum wage and expanding benefits to include mental health and family support.
In 2022, USAA announced it would vacate its downtown offices by the end of the year. About 500 employees would return to the company’s sprawling headquarters in northwest San Antonio. Peacock noted at the time that the pandemic-related shift to hybrid work models “changed our real estate needs.”
“There has never been a time when there has been so much change and so much uncertainty,” Peacock said in May during a panel discussion on the future of work hosted by the San Antonio Report and Greater:SATX. “And the pace of change has never been faster.”
Peacock has spent 36 years at USAA since 1998, leading strategy, marketing, member services teams, technology, shared services and corporate real estate, according to the announcement posted on USAA’s website on Monday. Prior to his role as CEO, he served as president of the property and casualty insurance group.
Peacock was the first civilian CEO to head the organization, which was founded in 1922 by a group of U.S. Army officers and later expanded to include members and enlisted personnel of the U.S. armed forces.
“Wayne has always answered the call to service and the board is grateful for his leadership,” said retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Jim Zortman, USAA board chairman. “He is thoughtful and strategic and has never hesitated to do what is right for the association.”
The board is currently reviewing a list of internal and external candidates, Zortman continued, “and Wayne will remain on board to ensure a smooth transition.”
As the board goes through the selection process, “I will continue to lead from the front as I always have to help each of us do our best and fulfill our commitments to our members, our streetcars and each other,” Peacock wrote in his email.
“I have complete confidence in our leadership team and in Team USAA’s future path.”
