Columbus, Ohio-based insurer SafeAuto has been a family-owned and operated business for 19 years, but on Aug. 13 an outside executive will take the reins as CEO—Ron Davies, who most recently served as Senior Vice President of Product Management at Allstate. (Founders Ari Deshe, chairman & CEO, and Jon Diamond, president & COO, will remain on the carrier’s board of directors.) Davies spoke with NU about his challenges as the new boss and how his extensive military background influences his decisions as an insurance executive.
Before beginning your civilian career, you served as an armor officer, platoon leader and a battalion and brigade operations officer in the U.S. Army. What was it that drew you to insurance, and how does your military background inform your decision-making as an insurance executive?
I was drawn to insurance while working in the real estate field with a large, national multifamily company. We were working on ways to reduce the cash new tenants needed to have in order to rent an apartment—this cash requirement was at times a barrier to renting. I came across the idea of using insurance instead of cash security deposits. That idea led me to co-found a company to offer security-deposit alternatives to large, multifamily property owners.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Shawn Moynihan
Shawn Moynihan is Editor-in-Chief of National Underwriter Property & Casualty. A St. John’s University alum, Moynihan has earned 11 Jesse H. Neal Awards, the Pulitzers of the business press; seven Azbee Awards, from the American Society of Business Press Editors; two Folio Awards; and a SABEW award, from the Society of American Business Editors & Writers. Prior to joining ALM, he served as Managing Editor/Online Editor of journalism institution Editor & Publisher, the trade bible of the newspaper industry. Moynihan also has held editorial positions with AOL, Metro New York, and Newhouse Newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].
