Farmers Insurance Names Karyn Williams as CIO

Karyn Williams, Farmers InsuranceInsurer Farmers Group has named Karyn Williams as its CIO, succeeding outgoing chief Peter Teuscher.

Williams, currently head of insurance investments for the Los Angeles-based firm, is expected to take on the principal position on September 1.

Teuscher, who has been at the helm since 2012, has been appointed head of alternative investments at Zurich Insurance Group.

“Karyn has done a tremendous job in helping to bring investment management at Farmers to a new level,” said Scott Lindquist, Farmers’ CFO. “I am confident that she will continue to use her wealth of knowledge working with institutional investors to the benefit of Farmers.”

According to her LinkedIn profile, Williams has not only transformed Farmers’ investment process, but she is also responsible for a growing surplus and optimizing sustainable alpha, risk, and liquidity for a combined portfolio comprising of more than 50 company balance sheets.

Prior to joining Farmers in 2013, Williams spent 12 years at Wilshire Associates as a senior consultant for large institutional investors.

There, she advised pension funds, endowments, and foundations on strategic investment decisions, risk management, manager selection, governance, and operations.

Williams also headed up Wilshire’s total fund analytics division, developing and implementing portfolio analytics software for the consulting firm’s institutional clients.

The investment chief taught finance at Claremont Graduate University before her foray into investment consulting.

Williams holds a Ph.D. in finance from Arizona State University.

Several other leading US-based insurers have named investment chiefs in the last few months.

AIG hired fixed-income veteran Douglas Dachille in July as CIO of its $357 billion portfolio. In May, New York Life promoted CIO John Kim to president amid a senior management reshuffle.