Doug Safford is a vice president in the Allstate Technology & Strategic Ventures group of Allstate Insurance Company. He leads the company’s Technology Innovation department, and CompoZed Labs, the enterprise’s agile efforts on cloud foundry.

In his current position, Safford is focused on using innovation and technology to quickly bring to life the ideas of his business partners.

Safford took his current position in October of 2015, and most recently was VP and Chief Architect of Allstate. He has a long track record of creating and building high-performing teams in the most complex technologies. Prior to that, he had been the Chief Architect for Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience technology. Under his leadership, the team developed the strategy that led to the selection and acquisition of eAgent, which evolved into the foundation for Allstate’s Relationship Management System.

Safford joined Allstate in 2004 after eight years designing and developing a wide range of applications while working as a consultant for Sears, Allstate and other well-respected firms. He has contributed to articles and books as co-author and technical editor and also has been a speaker at a number of industry-related events.

A native of Rochester, New York, Safford studied at the State University of New York and is a graduate of the Naval Nuclear Power Program and spent eight years in the U.S. Navy, six of them stationed on a nuclear submarine.