CSAA Insurance Group, based in Walnut Creek, Calif., has promoted Paul Acevedo to EVP and CIO and added Marlys Rodgers as CISO.
Acevedo joined CSAA Insurance Group in 2011 and has held responsibility for digital, data, telematics, and business architecture over his career there. Rodgers joins from PayPal, where she held the dual roles of head of Technology Oversight and Risk and Compliance Officer since 2017.
Digital Insurance was able to contact both new executives via e-mail. Acevedo says there are two major thrusts to CSAA's technology strategy: Modernizing the IT organization to be faster, more efficient and more agile; and deliver capabilities for a digital-first world.
"We’re investing in machine learning and robotic process automation to streamline and automate insurance processes, and modernizing our data platform and chatbot technology to help assist our customers with more routine transactions," he says. "We also have a new API platform that allows us to integrate with partners faster and more easily, improved multi-channel digital communications, and even more digital self-service capabilities for AAA Members. In partnership with our innovation group, we are working with a number of insurtechs on these and other initiatives."
For example, recalling the telematics initiative he had worked on before, he adds, "We are now working on providing AAA members a mobile-based option, integrating more value-added experiences and building more analytics muscle, and working with the information that we’ve gathered for insights that will uncover new sources of value for our members."
For her part, Rodgers says that differences in security threats between PayPal and an insurance organization are minor. When it comes to innovation, she writes that her goal is "helping technologists understand why we need to consider and incorporate security requirements while being agile in developing new capabilities is critical. The next step is to establish security by design. Incorporating security into each step of the development lifecycle with as much automation as possible is the key to sustaining this focus."
