USAA
Company History
USAA History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 1922 in San Antonio, Texas
When was USAA founded?
USAA was founded in 1922 in San Antonio, Texas by Major William H. Garrison, Major Harold Dunlap and Major C.B. Foster, making it 104 years old.
- Founded
- 1922
- Founding place
- San Antonio, Texas
- Founders
- Major William H. Garrison, Major Harold Dunlap and Major C.B. Foster
- Headquarters today
- San Antonio, Texas, United States
- Milestones documented
- 16 (1922–2025)
- Current CEO
- Juan C. Andrade
- Acquisitions
- 3
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1922 | Founding at the Gunter Hotel by 25 Army Officers |
| 1923 | Scope Broadened to Navy and Marine Corps Officers |
| 1924 | Renamed United Services Automobile Association |
| 1934 | Overseas & Foreign Military Posting Auto Coverage Initiated |
| 1952 | European Operations Established in Frankfurt, Germany |
| 1969 | Robert F. McDermott Takes Helm & Direct-Mail Automation Revolution |
| 1974 | Launch of Direct-Response Toll-Free Underwriting Systems |
| 1983 | USAA Federal Savings Bank Established in San Antonio |
| 1996 | Eligibility Expanded to Enlisted Military Personnel & Descendants |
| 2006 | Patenting and National Rollout of Remote Deposit Capture Mobile Banking |
| 2019 | Strategic Wealth Restructuring: Sale to Victory Capital & Charles Schwab Alliance |
| 2021 | Noblr Acquisition & National Rollout of SafePilot Telematics |
| 2022 | Centennial Celebration & Historic Post-Pandemic Underwriting Shock |
| 2023 | Aggressive Actuarial Repricing and Modernization Program |
| 2024 | Financial Rebound to Record $48.6B Statutory Revenue and $3.9B Net Income |
| 2025 | Executive Transition to Veteran Insurance Leader Juan C. Andrade |
- Where was USAA founded?
- USAA was founded in San Antonio, Texas in 1922. usaa.com
- Who founded USAA?
- USAA was founded by Major William H. Garrison, Major Harold Dunlap and Major C.B. Foster.
- When did USAA start?
- USAA was founded in 1922.
- How old is USAA?
- USAA is 104 years old as of 2026.
- How did USAA start?
- USAA was founded in 1922 by 25 Army officers who banded together to insure their own automobiles after commercial carriers turned them away.
Founding Story
In June 1922, twenty-five United States Army officers stationed at Fort Sam Houston gathered in the lobby of the Gunter Hotel in downtown San Antonio, Texas. Frustrated by commercial insurance companies who routinely refused to insure military personnel—branding them high-risk, transient drivers due to frequent base relocations and deployment orders—the officers resolved to take matters into their own hands. Led by Major William H. Garrison, the officers drafted a historic mutual pact: each officer contributed a $100 subscription deposit into a collective reserve fund, formally establishing the United States Army Automobile Association. Operating on reciprocal principles of mutual trust and shared fidelity, the young association proved that service members were exceptionally disciplined and responsible risks. Within two years, the association extended eligibility to naval and marine corps officers and officially renamed itself United Services Automobile Association (USAA), beginning a century-long legacy of military financial protection.
Founders
Major William H. Garrison
Major William H. Garrison was a U.S. Army officer stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. In June 1922, frustrated by commercial insurance carriers labeling military service members transient high risks and denying them coverage, Garrison organized the meeting of 25 officers at the Gunter Hotel. He drafted the founding pact, subscribed initial capital, and served as the association's first president, establishing the foundational principle that service members could insure one another at cost through reciprocal fidelity.
Major Harold Dunlap
Major Harold Dunlap was an influential Army officer who co-authored the original articles of association for the United States Army Automobile Association in 1922. Dunlap was instrumental in designing the reciprocal inter-insurance exchange governance mechanism, ensuring that operating surpluses remained member-owned rather than diverted to external stockholders, and helping expand eligibility to naval and marine officers in 1923.
Major C.B. Foster
Major C.B. Foster served as the organizing secretary during USAA's formative 1922 assembly at the Gunter Hotel. Foster managed early member communications, oversaw ledger underwriting subscriptions across military posts in Texas and the Southwest, and established the direct-mail circulars that enabled the young association to expand nationally without an expensive broker commission network.
Key Milestones
Founding at the Gunter Hotel by 25 Army Officers
On June 20, 1922, twenty-five United States Army officers met at the Gunter Hotel in downtown San Antonio, Texas. Facing refusal or prohibitive premiums from civilian insurance companies who deemed active-duty military personnel high-risk transient drivers, the officers pledged $100 each to establish the United States Army Automobile Association, creating a member-owned reciprocal inter-insurance exchange.
Scope Broadened to Navy and Marine Corps Officers
Recognizing that officers across the sea services faced identical commercial insurance discrimination and relocation hurdles, the association voted in 1923 to extend reciprocal automobile insurance eligibility to commissioned officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Renamed United Services Automobile Association
To formally reflect its tri-service military constituency spanning the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, the organization officially adopted the name United Services Automobile Association (USAA), establishing the corporate identity that would endure for over a century.
Overseas & Foreign Military Posting Auto Coverage Initiated
USAA pioneered international auto insurance endorsements, underwriting personal vehicles shipped by military officers on foreign duty deployments to Hawaii, the Panama Canal Zone, the Philippines, and Western Europe, an unprecedented service for mobile service personnel.
European Operations Established in Frankfurt, Germany
USAA established its first physical overseas claims and service office in Frankfurt, West Germany, providing on-the-ground automobile physical damage claims adjusting, local third-party liability coverage, and claims settlement for thousands of American military personnel stationed across NATO installations.
Robert F. McDermott Takes Helm & Direct-Mail Automation Revolution
Brigadier General Robert F. McDermott was appointed Chief Executive Officer, initiating a transformative 24-year tenure. McDermott retired manual carbon-paper file systems and pioneered automated computerized policy processing, direct-mail distribution, and customer service excellence, laying the technological foundation for modern USAA.
Launch of Direct-Response Toll-Free Underwriting Systems
USAA transitioned away from localized physical branch networks, becoming one of the first financial institutions in the United States to deploy nationwide toll-free 1-800 phone underwriting, enabling military personnel stationed at remote bases or deployed overseas to manage policies directly via telephone.
USAA Federal Savings Bank Established in San Antonio
USAA expanded beyond property-casualty insurance by chartering USAA Federal Savings Bank. Operating as an early branchless direct bank, it offered direct deposit checking, consumer auto financing, credit cards, and residential mortgages to service members globally through telephone and mail banking.
Eligibility Expanded to Enlisted Military Personnel & Descendants
In a landmark strategic pivot, the Board of Governors voted to eliminate the officer-only membership requirement, opening USAA insurance and banking eligibility to non-commissioned officers, enlisted service members, and their immediate family descendants, expanding the addressable member base from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions.
Patenting and National Rollout of Remote Deposit Capture Mobile Banking
USAA invented and patented mobile Remote Deposit Capture (RDC), allowing members stationed worldwide to photograph paper checks using desktop flatbed scanners and subsequently smartphone cameras for instant digital deposit clearing, fundamentally revolutionizing the American commercial banking industry.
Strategic Wealth Restructuring: Sale to Victory Capital & Charles Schwab Alliance
USAA executed a decisive corporate restructuring to refocus capital on core property-casualty insurance and federal banking: divesting USAA Asset Management Company (mutual funds and ETFs) to Victory Capital for $850 million and transitioning member brokerage accounts to Charles Schwab under a long-term strategic referral alliance.
Noblr Acquisition & National Rollout of SafePilot Telematics
USAA acquired digital auto insurtech Noblr to integrate real-time usage-based driving algorithms and telematics tracking. The technology became the foundation of USAA SafePilot, a connected smartphone telematics platform rewarding safe military drivers with premium discounts of up to 30%.
Centennial Celebration & Historic Post-Pandemic Underwriting Shock
As USAA commemorated its 100th anniversary in June 2022, historic inflation in vehicle replacement parts, soaring used-car valuations, and catastrophic weather events generated a $1.3 billion statutory underwriting net loss—the first annual net loss reported by the reciprocal exchange in over a century.
Aggressive Actuarial Repricing and Modernization Program
Under CEO Wayne Peacock, USAA executed nationwide actuarial rate filings, automated claims triage systems, and overhead rationalization across its Property & Casualty units, stabilizing combined ratios and generating statutory net income recovery of $1.2 billion while maintaining member retention above 95%.
Financial Rebound to Record $48.6B Statutory Revenue and $3.9B Net Income
USAA achieved a historic operational turnaround in FY2024, reporting record statutory revenue of $48.6 billion (a 14.4% year-over-year increase), generating $3.9 billion in net income, lifting total capital net worth to $38.6 billion, and distributing $2.2 billion in member dividends and Subscriber Savings Account allocations.
Executive Transition to Veteran Insurance Leader Juan C. Andrade
Following the planned retirement of Wayne Peacock after 36 years of service, USAA's Board of Directors appointed seasoned global insurance executive Juan C. Andrade—former President and CEO of Everest Group and long-serving USAA board director—as President and Chief Executive Officer to steer the institution's next operational era.
Major Acquisitions
Noblr, Inc.
2021Victory Capital Holdings, Inc. (Asset Management Divestiture)
2019Charles Schwab Corporation (Brokerage Transition Alliance)
2019Keep researching USAA
USAA Company History FAQ
Why was USAA founded in 1922?
USAA was founded in 1922 because commercial civilian insurance companies routinely refused to sell auto insurance to active-duty military officers, or charged them prohibitive premium surcharges. Commercial underwriters classified military personnel as unreliable, itinerant transients due to frequent base transfers and foreign deployments. To overcome this commercial exclusion, twenty-five Army officers gathered at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, and agreed to mutually insure one another's personal vehicles.
Where was USAA originally founded and who were the key leaders?
USAA was established on June 20, 1922, in the lobby meeting room of the historic Gunter Hotel in downtown San Antonio, Texas. Major William H. Garrison convened the meeting and was elected the first president of the United States Army Automobile Association. He was assisted by Major Harold Dunlap, who co-authored the articles of association, and Major C.B. Foster, who served as organizing secretary.
When did USAA open membership to enlisted military personnel?
For its first 74 years, USAA operated strictly as an officer-only cooperative. In 1996, the Board of Governors voted to expand eligibility to non-commissioned officers and enlisted service members across all military branches, as well as their immediate family members. This historic decision expanded USAA's total addressable market from roughly 3 million officers to tens of millions of active-duty, reserve, and veteran families.
How did Brigadier General Robert McDermott transform USAA's customer service?
Brigadier General Robert F. McDermott served as CEO of USAA from 1969 to 1993, orchestrating a profound corporate revolution. McDermott retired manual carbon-paper file systems, invested heavily in early mainframe computing, and pioneered direct-mail and toll-free telephone underwriting. He established USAA's renowned employee-centric corporate culture, believing that treating employees with dignity directly translated into world-class service for military members.
What major technological innovations has USAA pioneered throughout its history?
USAA has a storied record of financial technology firsts. In 1974, it was one of the first American institutions to implement nationwide toll-free 1-800 phone underwriting; in 1983, it launched one of the earliest direct, branchless banks; in 2006, it invented and patented mobile Remote Deposit Capture (RDC), allowing checks to be deposited via digital imaging; and in 2021, it acquired Noblr to scale machine-learning telematics through its SafePilot application.
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