Farmers New World Life, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services Group, has appointed Jerry Carnahan as new president and CEO, effective 1 March 2011. Carnahan will succeed Tom White.

In this role, Carnahan will report directly to David Dietz, CEO of Zurich Global Life North America.
Prior this role, Carnahan held the position of executive vice president of field operations for Farmers Insurance

In conjunction with this appointment the company also advised that White has been appointed Japan CEO for General Insurance for Zurich Financial Services and will soon be moving to Zurich’s offices in Tokyo, Japan.

Carnahan has led the field operations team at Farmers since 2005 and has worked in a variety of claims, marketing, sales and executive management positions. He will be relocating to Farmers New World Life headquarters in Mercer Island, Washington.

Zurich Global Life in North America CEO David Dietz Jerry said has made numerous contributions to Farmers Insurance and to the insurance industry throughout his 32-year career with Farmers.

"We look forward to Jerry leading the team and growing life sales through Farmers’ agents and their customers," Jerry said.

Carnahan said this is an exciting time for the organization it continue to expand into new markets and develop additional products and services to meet the needs of today’s families.