Ken Van Laar was appointed Chief Risk Officer in January 2011. He came to State Fund with more than 25 years of extensive industry experience. As CRO, Ken oversees Corporate Underwriting, Actuarial, Risk Management and Enterprise Security / Information Governance functions, and also runs State Fund's Enterprise Risk Committee.
Ken began his insurance-industry career in 1983 at Transamerica Insurance Group, and then moved on to Industrial Indemnity in 1988 where he was the Chief Pricing Actuary until 1994. He was Liberty Mutual’s first regional actuary between 1994 and 1999, where he was responsible for developing pricing and risk selection methodologies in seven western states. Ken later became Vice President & Chief Actuary of Liberty Mutual’s Middle Market. In this role, he was responsible for developing Middle Market pricing strategy for the A-rated insurer. Prior to joining State Fund, Ken worked with CompWest Insurance Company as Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer and Chief Actuary.
A Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, Ken has also played valuable roles in several regulatory and research groups in the California market. They include committee positions at the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) and the California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI).
Ken earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1983.
