Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company Announces New Senior Vice Presidents
JACKSON, Miss. (February 3, 2025) -- Jeffery A. Styres, FLMI, J.D., was recently promoted to Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, and Zach Farmer, CFA, has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer, for Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company (SFBLIC). The SFBLIC Board of Directors, comprised of representatives from 11 states, named Styres and Farmer to their new positions at their biannual meeting.
A native of Talladega, AL, Styres joined the Company in 1998 as a Staff Attorney, holding multiple positions within the Legal Department before leaving the Company in 2001 to return to private practice. Before re-joining the Company in 2005, Styres was in private practice in Mississippi and Alabama, specializing in life, health, disability, and ERISA claims litigation, as well as insurance defense, products liability, medical malpractice defense, and pharmaceutical defense litigation. Styres has served as SFBLIC’s Vice President of the Legal Department since February 2019 and was active in the Company’s litigation and privacy functions, in addition to providing and overseeing legal support to all departments of the Company. He currently serves on the Company’s Investment Committee, Audit Committee, Compensation Committee,
Agents’ E&O Committee, and Enterprise Risk Management Committee.
Styres graduated from Samford University with a degree in Business Administration and
Accounting in 1992. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1993 and a law degree from the Mississippi College School of Law in 1997. Mr. Styres is a member of the Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia state bar associations. He is a member of the Mississippi Corporate Counsel Association (past president, 2009) and received the designation of Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI) in 2002. In 2009, Mr. Styres served as Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice William L. Waller, Jr.’s appointment to the Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions and completed his appointment serving as Board Chair from 2015 to 2018. He has also served as an adjunct professor in the School of Business at Mississippi College and was recognized by the Mississippi Business Journal in 2017 as one of Mississippi’s Leaders in Law. Styres and his wife Belinda have two daughters who attend Mississippi State University. They are also members of First Baptist Church of Madison, MS, where they reside.
A native of Summit, Farmer began his career with SFBLIC as a college intern in 2008 and joined the Company full-time in 2011 as a Securities Analyst. In 2018, he was promoted to Portfolio Manager overseeing the Company’s bond portfolio, Director of Securities Management in 2020, and Vice President of Securities Management in April 2022. As Chief Investment Officer, he oversees the allocation and general strategic direction of the Company’s investment portfolio.
He also serves on several committees, including the Investment Committee, Product
Committee, Asset Liability Management Committee, and Pension Committee.
Farmer graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2009 and an MBA with a finance concentration in 2010, both from Mississippi State University. In 2015, he earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, a globally recognized professional designation awarded by the CFA Institute to individuals demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of investment analysis, portfolio management, ethics, and financial principles. He has served in multiple roles on the CFA Society of Mississippi Board of Directors since 2016. In 2024, he was selected as one of the Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 business leaders.
Mr. Farmer and his wife, Casey, have two children and live in Madison, MS. They are members of St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Madison, where he has served as a member and chair of the church’s Finance Committee.
About Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, chartered in 1946, began operations January 2, 1947, as a capital stock life insurance company. Today our organization has branched into cities and towns all over the South. As a result of our dedication to quality service, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance has grown in strength and stability. Our mission is to be the life insurance company of choice for our Farm Bureau family.
For more information about Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, please visit www.sfbli.com