Bill Pieroni Joins State Farm® to provide strategic planning direction

Bloomington, Illinois, August 18, 2006 – State Farm has appointed Bill Pieroni as Operations Vice President. Pieroni joins State Farm from Aon Corporation, where he was senior vice president. Pieroni will assist executive leadership at the nation’s largest insurer of autos and homes with strategic planning.

Pieroni, an established thought leader in the insurance industry, has held positions focused on strategy, operations and technology. He’s led efforts to use technology to strategically enhance the insurance operations of Aon, IBM and Accenture. He also served as a management consultant to several insurance entities while working at McKinsey & Co.

“State Farm will benefit from Bill’s extensive and diverse risk management industry experience and leadership," said Jim Rutrough, vice chairman and chief administrative officer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. “His unique talents and skills will be extremely helpful as we assess future directions for the business.”

Pieroni is a graduate of the University of Illinois and received an MBA with the highest distinction from Harvard. He currently serves on the board of the Presidential Classroom and the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD ).

About State Farm

State Farm® insures more cars than any other insurer in North America and is the leading U.S. home insurer. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 69,000 employees serve nearly 73 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 22 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.