USAA Names Al Rankin Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
SAN ANTONIO--Feb. 1, 2001--USAA announced today that R. A. (Al) Rankin Jr., an executive with broad experience heading corporate public relations in a number of industries, has been named senior vice president and chief communications officer, effective Nov. 6, 2000.The financial services company said Rankin is responsible for corporate communications activities, including member and employee communications, public affairs and communications design. He reports to Robert G. Davis, president and chief executive officer, and serves on USAA's Executive Council.
Rankin's career spans nearly 30 years leading corporate communications, primarily at New York Stock Exchange companies. He comes to USAA from Columbia Energy Group, a diversified energy services company based in Herndon, Va., where he was vice president of corporate communications. Before joining Columbia, Rankin was chief communications officer of Trigon, a regional managed-care company headquartered in Richmond, Va. Rankin previously headed corporate public relations for 15 years at Marriott International Inc., a global hospitality company based in Washington, D.C. He led public relations and advertising at Zapata Corporation, a diversified, multinational natural resource firm in Houston, before going to Marriott.
Early in his career, Rankin was associated with two public relations agencies in Dallas, and worked in public relations for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in St. Louis. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and served as an Army intelligence officer in Vietnam.
Rankin has been involved in a broad range of professional and nonprofit organizations. Currently, he is a member of the Public Relations Seminar, the Arthur W. Page Society and the Vice Presidents Forum, all national groups of communications leaders chosen by their peers, and the Public Relations Society of America. While in the Washington, D.C., area, he was a director or trustee of nine local and national civic, cultural and human services groups, and was instrumental in the formation of the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities.
He and his wife Kathy have two children in college.
USAA has been serving military families since 1922 and has become one of America's leading financial services companies. The association, well known for its exceptional service, offers its 4.5 million members a comprehensive range of insurance, banking and investment products and services designed to help them meet their financial needs. Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with offices throughout the United States and Europe, USAA owns or manages assets of more than $60 billion.
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