Paul Patsis, Farmers Insurance President of Enterprise Marketing, Announces Retirement Effective December 31, 2011

LOS ANGELES, July 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- After a distinguished and highly successful 40-year career in the insurance industry, Farmers Insurance President of Enterprise Marketing C. Paul Patsis has announced his plans to retire at the end of this year.

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"During his 13-year Farmers career, Paul has delivered strong results for the organization," said Robert Woudstra, chief executive officer of Farmers. "He has played a key role in establishing the Farmers brand on the national stage."

According to Woudstra, Patsis has helped Farmers lay a solid foundation for future success through his involvement with securing the naming-rights for the proposed Farmers Field in Los Angeles, signing new deals with NASCAR and 20th Century Fox, and launching the industry's first multi-language online quoting capabilities.

Patsis, reflecting on his upcoming retirement, noted: "Part of leadership involves laying a strong foundation that can be built upon in the future. I'd like to think I've been able to do that."

As President of Enterprise Marketing, a role he has held since March of this year, Patsis is responsible for all marketing operations, including the University of Farmers, Farmers Financial Solutions, Customer Experience and Marketing Communications. In addition, he is Chairman of the Broker/Dealer Farmers Financial Solutions and is a member of the Farmers Audit Committee and a member of the Farmers Group, Inc. Board of Directors.

Prior to his current position, Patsis was President of Farmers New World Farmers Life (FNWL) Insurance where he doubled the size of the company and under his tenure, FNWL was awarded three Emmys for creative and innovative use of video within the organization.

Before joining Farmers in 1998, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Marketing One, Inc. and President of Penncorp Financial Services. He began his career with Cigna in 1971 and held a variety of positions during his 12-year tenure. He then served as President of Colonial Penn Life Annuity Company.

Commenting on the future direction of the company, Woudstra said that a search is under way to select Patsis' successor.

Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is the country's 3rd largest insurer of both personal lines passenger automobile and homeowners insurance, and also provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with more than 20 million individual policies across all 50 states through the efforts of over 50,000 exclusive and independent agents and nearly 24,000 employees.

Farmers is a trade name and may refer to Farmers Group, Inc. or the Farmers Exchanges, as the case may be. Farmers Group, Inc., a management and holding company, along with its subsidiaries, is wholly owned by the Zurich Financial Services Group. The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders, and managed by Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information about Farmers, visit its Web site at www.farmers.com or at www.Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance Group