Bill Westrate

Bill Westrate CEO and Enterprise President American Family Insurance, Inc.(AFBI)

Bill Westrate oversees the American Family Insurance enterprise of companies. He is actively engaged in the strategy, operations, business development and innovation efforts at the enterprise, and he has a passion for community/social impact and progressing the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Bill started with American Family in 1996 as an actuarial analyst and later became the division’s actuarial manager, homeowners lines director and risk pricing director. In 2006, he was elected vice president of the Actuarial Division, and two years later he was named vice president of Personal Lines.

Bill became an executive vice president in July 2011, with oversight of the product line divisions: Commercial-Farm/Ranch, Life and Personal Lines. He continued in that role until becoming American Family chief operating officer in January 2014. In 2017, American Family promoted Bill to enterprise president, assuming that role from Chair and CEO Jack Salzwedel. Bill was then named CEO-Elect in 2021 in the organization’s succession plan for Jack’s retirement at the end of that year. In January 2022, he moved into his current position.

Bill earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern College in mathematics. He is a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He serves on the board of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and is the chair of the United Way of Dane County board of directors.

Bill Westrate assumed the top post at American Family Insurance earlier this year as part of a planned leadership transition. Westrate was previously chief operating officer of the Madison-based insurance company before becoming enterprise president in 2017 and then being named CEO-elect in 2021. With more than 13,500 employees across its family of companies, American Family is one of Dane County’s largest employers. It has ranked on the Fortune 500 for 20 years and reported $14.2 billion in revenue in 2021.