J Eric Smith

Career

J. Eric Smith, President and CEO Swiss Re Americas, is an American insurance industry executive. Smith joined Swiss Re, and the Swiss Re Group Management Board, in July 2011; he was named to the Swiss Re Group Executive Committee in January 2012. He is responsible for Swiss Re’s Property & Casualty and Life & Health reinsurance businesses, and has operational oversight of Swiss Re's business interests in the Americas as its regional president.

A career-long advocate of deploying technology to make insurance more accessible, Smith has also emphasized the role the reinsurance sector plays in both macro- and microeconomic resilience, especially in uncertain and hazardous conditions like those influenced by climate change and economic difficulty. In January 2014 Smith spoke at the 2014 Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the United Nations in New York.

Smith’s career encompasses both the business-to-business and retail sides of the insurance industry. He began his career as multi-line insurance agent with Country Financial in Monticello, IL. He spent over 20 years at Country Financial, helping to build its Property & Casualty business as VP of marketing. He joined Allstate and became President of Allstate Financial Services in 2006, where he was responsible for its agency line of business. He joined USAA as President of USAA Life Insurance Co. in 2009, where he led the effort to broaden access to the company's life and annuity products through direct distribution channels.

Smith was born in 1957 in Bloomington, IL. He holds a degree in Finance from the University of Illinois; and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Smith serves on the Boards of the American Council for Life Insurers (ACLI), American Insurance Association (AIA) and the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) and is a member of the Committee for Economic Development (CED).