USAA’s Maria Cantu Pushes For ’Excellence At 100’

Maria Cantu, VP of property claims for USAA, is not one to settle for the status quo. In fact, she’s always pushing to innovate in ways that increase empathy in customer service, say her colleagues.

The award comes as San Antonio, Texas-based USAA—the third largest personal lines homeowner insurer and fifth largest auto insurer in the country—will turn 100 next year.

Cantu helped develop a brand slogan for the historic event, “Excellence at 100,” to combine with the goal of providing “the most empathetic claims experience on earth.”

According to Cantu, “property claims can be rather complex,” but her equation for success is simple: “speed and ease equals empathy.”

Promoted to her current position in 2018, Cantu is accountable for driving business results across all aspects of that division, and she has done so by designing and championing claims servicing technology and by employing analytics in support of product competitiveness.