Our leadership team

Executive Vice President and Chief Agency, Sales & Marketing Officer

Kristyn Cook is head of the company’s sales and distribution function and leads the more than 19,000 State Farm agencies that bring the company mission to life. Kristyn also leads the company’s brand and marketing efforts, connecting the power of Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there® to consumers and communities across America.

Before stepping into this role in January 2023, Kristyn served as Senior Vice President of Agency & Marketing with responsibility for marketing and branding, as well as corporate strategy for the company’s agency-based model. Kristyn began her 25-year career at State Farm in marketing and sales, before becoming a State Farm agent in Chicago, Illinois. She returned to corporate to hold positions of increased responsibility, including leadership of the sales force in the west central U.S. and southeastern U.S.

Kristyn is a proud alumna of the Syracuse University NCAA Women’s Basketball team and was awarded the Letterwinner of Distinction, the highest honor bestowed upon a former student-athlete. She holds a bachelor’s degree in policy studies and earned a master’s degree in public administration (MPA) from the Syracuse Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She is a graduate of the General Management Program at the Harvard University School of Business and was named Class Speaker, the first American female in the program’s history.

Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Chris Schell leads the day-to-day operations for the Property & Casualty business and claims.

He has more than 35 years of experience at State Farm and within the insurance and financial services industries.

Chris joined State Farm in 1988 and became a State Farm agent in 1994, serving the community of Cincinnati, Ohio. After returning to company leadership, he held a variety of executive positions in Ohio, Illinois, Texas and the eastern U.S., overseeing aspects of the State Farm agency sales force. In 2019, Chris was named Senior Vice President – Property & Casualty and led efforts aimed at achieving profitable growth and delivering new products. He assumed his current role in January 2024.

A native of Ohio, Chris received a bachelor's degree in marketing from University of Dayton and a master’s degree in business from Ohio University.

Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer

Fawad joined State Farm in 2016 to lead digital strategy development and execution as Vice President – Digital. In 2017, he was promoted to Senior Vice President in Enterprise Technology and earned the additional title of Chief Digital Officer in 2019. He led Customer Experience until 2024, including the data science, analytics, and software design and experience teams who deliver and optimize end-user apps for customers, agents and employees. He assumed his current role in 2024 to drive the enterprise strategy and transformation work to position State Farm for future growth.

Prior to joining State Farm, Fawad led business and digital strategies and transformations at other Fortune 500 organizations, including Staples and eBay. He has also provided legal, compliance and corporate oversight work for financial services organizations like Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. and U.S. Bank.

Fawad earned his juris doctor degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Southeastern University. Outside of work, Fawad joined the Carle Foundation in 2021. In 2023, he was appointed to the Board of Directors for Radian Group Inc., which focuses on responsible and sustainable homeownership through real estate services. In 2024, he was appointed to the Advisory Board of Carnegie Mellon University’s Block Center for Technology and Society.

Senior Vice President & Chief Risk Officer

Andrea has responsibilities for Enterprise Risk Management, Enterprise Compliance & Ethics, and Information Security. 

Andrea joined State Farm in 2006 in the P&C Actuarial Department and has served in a variety of leadership positions in risk and compliance. She was named Vice President – Enterprise Risk Management in 2021 and assumed her current role in 2024.

Andrea received a bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Iowa, with a minor in economics. She also received a master’s of business administration from the University of Iowa, with graduate certificates in Leadership and Finance.

Senior Vice President – P&C Claims

Wensley has overall responsibility for the State Farm claims operation.

Wensley joined State Farm in 1991 as an Auto Claim Representative in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has held leadership positions in a broad range of areas, overseeing teams that provide simplified claim experiences for our customers. He assumed his current role in 2021. 

Wensley received a bachelor's degree from Concordia College, an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and completed the Executive Development Program at The Wharton School.

Senior Vice President – P&C Underwriting

Deon Johnson has responsibility for Enterprise Operations, Modernization, Property & Casualty Underwriting and Billing Operations Strategy, Property & Casualty Production, and Portfolio Management. Deon is responsible for delivering new business and technology solutions and leading the underwriting, billing and call center associates who deliver remarkable customer experiences every day.

Deon joined State Farm® in 1998 and has served in a variety of executive leadership positions including Assistant Vice President – P&C Underwriting, leadership executive development associate and executive lead for the Integrated Solutions Department, Vice President Operations – P&C Underwriting, and Operations Vice president –P&C Underwriting. She assumed her current position in 2022.

She received a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University and a Master of Business Administration from Purdue University.

She earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 2003, the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation in 2007, and the Charted Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation in 2009.

Senior Vice President – Western Market Area

Dan Krause is responsible for nearly 4,000 State Farm agents across eleven states.

Dan has more than three decades of experience with State Farm. He joined the company in 1990 and has served in a variety of executive leadership positions in multiple markets across the United States and over the Life operations area within State Farm. Dan assumed his role of Senior Vice President in 2016 residing over the southeastern part of the United States, later moving to lead the western part of the US in 2024.

Dan received a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and is a 2010 graduate of the Harvard General Management Program. He earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 1995, the Chartered Financial Consultant in 2001, the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) in 2002, the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) in 2003 and the Chartered Advisor for Senior Living (CASL) in 2005.

Dan is the past Operations Chair for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Senior Vice President – Life/Health and Investment Planning Services

Sarah Mineau joined State Farm® in 2005 as an insurance and investment consultant. In 2007, she joined the Mutual Funds product line as a manager of product management and over the next several years held a variety of leadership roles responsible for Mutual Funds strategy, customer experience and back-office operations. From 2014 to 2019, she served in Marketing, Learning and Development, and Human Resources, before being named vice president of Life/Health & Investment Planning Services in 2021. She was promoted to her current role in 2024.

Sarah is a member of the board of directors of State Farm Life Insurance Company, State Farm Life and Accident Assurance Company, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Company. She serves as director and senior vice president for both State Farm Investment Management Corp. and State Farm VP Management Corp. Sarah has also served as the Executive Sponsor of the PRIDE Business Resource Group.

Sarah received a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York College at Geneseo and earned her MBA from the University of Michigan. Additionally, Sarah has earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations.

Senior Vice President & General Counsel

Keesha-Lu has overall responsibility for the Law Department, including the Corporate Law division which handles litigation, legislative and regulatory affairs, and legal counsel provided to the organization, and the Claim Litigation Counsel division which provides insurance defense representation to State Farm policyholders through 38 offices around the nation.

Keesha-Lu is a proud product of the Law Department’s internship program, joining State Farm in 1989 upon law school graduation. She has served in a variety of roles and sections within the Law Department.  She moved into leadership in 2016, became Vice President – Counsel in 2020, and assumed her current role of General Counsel in 2024.

Senior Vice President – Agency

Brad Montgomery, CLU, ChFC, CPCU, FLMI has leadership responsibility for the Corporate Agency department.

Brad joined State Farm® in 1991 as a life service supervisor in Missouri, and in 1995, moved to the role of agency field specialist. In 1998, Brad became an agent in St. Louis, Mo., where he later served as an agency field consultant. In 2004, Brad was appointed zone sales associate manager in the former Great Western Zone and, in 2005, he was selected as agency field executive in New Jersey. Brad assumed the role of agency administrative assistant in the Strategic Resources department at Corporate Headquarters in 2008 where he later served as an executive assistant.

He was appointed vice president agency – sales services for the Eastern Market Area in 2013. In 2014, he was promoted to area vice president in the Southeastern Market Area. Brad was named Vice President – Life, Health & Investment Planning Services in 2019 and Operations Vice President – California Growth Initiative in 2021. He was promoted to his current role in 2023.

Brad received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration – Finance from the University of Missouri and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s General Management Program. He earned the following designations: Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI), Health Insurance Associate (HIA), and Certified Advisor for Senior Living (CASL). He currently serves on the Board of The American College.

Brad and his wife, Dawn, have two daughters, Abigail and Alyse.  

Senior Vice President – North Central Market Area

Bill Roundtree, CLU, ChFC, attended and played basketball at the University of Missouri. With a regional office located just miles from the arena where he played, and knowing State Farm was an employer of choice for so many, Bill made the decision to join the State Farm family in 1986 as a health claims representative. It was not long before he became interested in the agency side of State Farm, which prompted his move to the agency administration department in 1988. This move set the wheels in motion for Bill's journey through State Farm Agency, which included stops in corporate headquarters in Bloomington, IL, Overland Park, KS, Tulsa, OK, and Milwaukee, WI.

Prior to becoming SVP for North Central, Bill has served in a variety of senior executive roles in Florida, the former Mid Atlantic Zone and the South Central Market Area.

Bill successfully juggles family life, work, continuing education and civic contributions. He is married to Teana, and has a daughter, Jordan. He has completed the General Manager's Program at Harvard, and has earned Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations. He is a board member of the Insurance and Risk Management Program at the University of Missouri.

Senior Vice President

Michele joined State Farm in 1989 and has served in executive leadership positions in Claims, Human Resources, and Corporate Learning and Development. She has current responsibility for Human Resources and Development; Executive Succession and Development; Administrative Services; Corporate Communications; and Corporate Responsibility. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington.

Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer

Since 2012, Mark has served as vice president – financial operations and controller with oversight of the financial and statistical reporting, investment accounting, tax, treasury, shared services and capital management operations of the organization. Mark joined State Farm in 1991 as an accounting trainee. He was named to his current role in January 2024.

A native of Illinois, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, MBA from the University of Illinois, and the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation.

Senior Vice President – Eastern Market Area

Lisa Stewart, CLU, CLF, joined State Farm In 1991 as an Auto Operations Assistant in Duluth, Georgia. She later became a licensed team member for a State Farm agent while completing her college education. In 1996, she returned to the Atlanta Operations Center and held various roles in claims and agency before becoming a State Farm agent in Albany, GA in 2001.

In 2004, Lisa transitioned into Agency field leadership for several years before moving to Corporate Headquarters to serve as Vice President for our Customer Care Center (CCC). In 2014, she was named Vice President Agency-Sales in the North Central Market Area and later returned to corporate to serve as Vice President-Life/Health and Investment Planning. Lisa assumed her current position in 2019.

Lisa is a graduate of Georgia State University and earned her Master of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame. She has also earned the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Leadership Fellow (CLF) through The American College.

Lisa and her husband, Brian, have two sons: Lane and Evan.

Senior Vice President - South Central Market Area

Rob Stewart is responsible for leading a team of 100 executives and sales leaders, and 4,000 independent contractor agents providing insurance and financial services products in the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

He has 35 years of experience with State Farm and has served in a variety of executive leadership positions in multiple areas across the United States. In January 2018, he was promoted to Senior Vice President for the North Central Market Area and in 2023 he moved to lead the South Central Market Area.

He received a bachelor's degree in 1989 from Louisiana Tech University. Rob has earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation and the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation.

Rob is an avid sports fan and enjoys traveling and spending time with his family.

Senior Vice President – Southeastern Market Area

Allyson joined State Farm in 1995 as an auto claim representative in Baton Rouge, La. She became a scratch agent in Westminster, Colo. in 2000 and was appointed as an agency field consultant in Atlanta in 2004. In December 2007, Allyson became a zone agency administrative assistant and acting zone marketing manager for the Southern Zone. In 2008, she was promoted to the agency field executive role where she served various markets in the metro Atlanta area. In April 2013, she became a sales leader in the Conyers Territory and moved to a leadership enterprise development associate role in Corporate in July of that year. She was appointed vice-president agency/sales in the Western Market Area in 2016 with responsibilities for northern California. Allyson assumed the role of area vice president in the South Central Market Area in 2020. She became senior vice president of the Southeastern Market Area in 2024. 

Allyson received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. She has also obtained her Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®), and Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) designations.

Allyson is married to Chad, and they have two sons, Parker and Peyton.  They enjoy the great outdoors and like to make time to travel and seek out new experiences.

Joe leads the State Farm® Investment team in developing and implementing the overall investment strategy across all insurance and related affiliates, with invested assets aggregating over $300 billion.  In this role, Joe is responsible for designing and overseeing investment strategies aligned to support insurance operations, including generating investment income, liquidity management, and capital growth within company risk constraints.  Joe has over 36 years of investment experience and has knowledge of markets across multiple asset classes and investment disciplines, including portfolio management, risk management, research, and trading.  He has a passion for developing investment talent and leaders, and has been active in establishing a talent management framework implemented across the State Farm Investment team.

Joe has investment experience with four different insurance company platforms, managing investments on behalf of both P&C and Life entities.  Prior to joining State Farm in 2011, Joe spent 13 years with Nationwide Insurance, most recently as Vice President – Fixed Income.  During his time there, he was responsible for leading all fixed income asset classes (corporates, structured products, private placements, bank loans, municipals, trading) as well as the mutual fund portfolio management team.  Previously, Joe joined CUNA Mutual in 1990 where he was a Senior Investment Officer responsible for public and private bonds and municipal securities.  Joe started in the investment industry in 1985 at Thrivent, where he was a Senior Investment Analyst focused on private placement bonds.  

Joe is a Chartered Financial Analyst and is a member of the CFA Society of Dallas / Fort Worth.  He obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration, Finance from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh.  Since 2005, Joe has been a member on the Advisory Board of the Fixed Income Forum and serves on two external investment committees for specialty insurance companies.