W. Kim Austen is President and Chief Operating Officer of Allied Group, which includes responsibility for Nationwide’s Allied Insurance, Harleysville Insurance, Nationwide Agribusiness, Scottsdale and Titan Insurance business units.
Austen began his association with Allied in 1976 as a claims representative. He held various management positions in underwriting and was named Regional Vice President of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office in 1990. He moved to the Lincoln Regional Office as Regional Vice President in 1992 and then to the Des Moines Regional Office in 1994. He was named Senior Vice President of Product Development, in 2001. In 2003, Austen was appointed Senior Vice President of Nationwide Commercial/Agribusiness Product & Pricing. In 2006, Austen was named President of Allied and added COO to his role in March 2009.
Austen serves as a Board member of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. He is a member of the Iowa Business Council and serves on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Central Iowa. He serves on the Leadership Cabinet of the American Red Cross, Central Iowa Chapter and serves as an Advisory Board member of the Emmett J. Vaughan Institute of Risk Management and Insurance affiliated with the University of Iowa’s College of Business. He also serves as a member of the Chair’s Circle of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and as a Board member for the Science Center of Iowa.
A graduate of the University of Nebraska, he received a bachelor’s of science degree in mathematics and economics and holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter designation.
