Latina executive of the year' chosen to lead five-state area
(Columbia, MO, March 9, 2011) - State Farm announced today that the new head of Claims operations for its five-state Central Zone will be Virginia Gonzales. Gonzales takes over the operation from Mike Staloch, who is working with the Company's Canada Zone.
Gonzales will be based at the main facility in Columbia, Mo.
Gonzales' title is Vice President of Operations - Central Zone Auto & Fire Claims. The Central Zone consists of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Gonzales comes to the Central Zone after working as an executive assistant in Bloomington, Ill.
She began her career at State Farm in 1982 as an auto claim representative in Houston, Texas. Gonzales has served the company as a claim attorney and in various supervisory positions in both the Texas and Northeast zones. She recently completed a developmental assignment with the State Farm Multicultural Business Development Group on the Hispanic Growth Strategy Core Team.
Gonzales is a graduate of the University of Houston and holds a juris doctorate from South Texas College of Law. She has also attained her Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) designation. She is a former member of the Board of Directors for Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Company of New York and also served on the Leadership Council of Mentoring Partnerships of Long Island, also in New York.
In January of this year, Gonzales was chosen as one of the top five Latina executives in the nation byLatina STYLE, the premier magazine addressing the needs of professional Latinas in the United States. The magazine also recognized State Farm's Hispanic Employee Resource Organization (HERO) as Hispanic Employee Resource Group (ERG) of the year, which also named State Farm as one of the top employers of Latinas in the nation.
Jim Camoriano, State Farm Insurance at (573) 499-2452.
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. Our 17,800 agents and more than 66,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts - more than 79 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 34 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com®.
