Allstate restructures senior leadership to drive Property-Liability growth

The Allstate Corporation has made a series of changes to its senior leadership team, including the placement of Mario Rizzo as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the Property-Liability and Protection Services businesses.

Rizzo, who was previously President of Property-Liability, has held numerous senior roles during his 33 years at Allstate, including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Allstate Corporation and Allstate Insurance Company.

Earlier in his career, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Property-Liability, Treasurer of Allstate, and Vice President of Allstate Protection Finance.

Meanwhile, Allstate has named Jess Merten, currently Chief Financial Officer, as the next President, Property-Liability. He will report to Rizzo.

Merten joined Allstate in 2012 as Senior Vice President of Finance, overseeing Allstate Financial. He later served as the company’s Chief Risk Officer, responsible for all corporate risk and return activities.

John Dugenske will reportedly serve as Interim Chief Financial Officer while an external search is conducted, in addition to his current role as President, Investments and Corporate Strategy.

Dugenske joined Allstate in 2017 as Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, a role that later expanded to include Chief Corporate Strategy Officer.

Before joining Allstate, he was Group Managing Director and Global Head of Fixed Income at UBS Asset Management. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of European and Middle East Fixed Income at Neuberger Berman (formerly Lehman Brothers Asset Management) and began his career as a Portfolio Manager at NISA Investment Advisors.

Tom Wilson, Chair, President and CEO of The Allstate Corporation, commented on the changes, “The Transformative Growth initiative has positioned Allstate to increase Property-Liability market share and expand protection offered to customers.

“These leadership changes are the next logical step to complete our Transformative Growth initiative and enable us to leverage artificial intelligence to better serve customers, earn returns for shareholders and create opportunity for employees.”