Joel Carnes has been named leader of Nationwide Pet, effective immediately. Carnes will report to Juan Jose (JJ) Perez, leader of Nationwide’s Corporate Solutions business. His leadership, entrepreneurial mindset, operational experience, and knowledge of the pet insurance industry qualify him to lead this business line as Nationwide aims to serve more pet families with valuable offerings and services.

Nationwide is a leading pet insurer and pioneered the product more than 40 years ago. It currently provides protection to more than one million pets.

Carnes has served as Nationwide’s Vice President of Pet’s Operational Excellence team for the past two years, championing a culture of high performance, accountability, and efficiency across operations, claims, underwriting, product, and member care. He brings 20 years of leadership experience to the role with a background in operational excellence and strategy development in various sectors.

“During my time at Nationwide, I’ve seen firsthand the dedication this team has to protecting pets,” said Carnes. “As a proud pet parent myself, I’m honored to lead this group of talented and caring professionals and look forward to furthering the important work we’ve already accomplished.”

Before joining Nationwide in 2022, Carnes served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Alliance for Innovation (AFI), an organization driving innovation in local governments across North America. He has also held executive roles with XPRIZE, SecondMuse, Disney Interactive Media Group, Walt Disney Imagineering, and Activision.

“Under Joel’s leadership, I am confident that Nationwide will continue to build our pet business by expanding our distribution network, establishing new partnerships and deepening our relationship with existing partners like Petco, Unum, Wal-Mart and others,” said J.J. Perez. “The future is bright for Nationwide Pet. We are well on our way to expanding our reach to protect more pet families while partnering to make pet care more affordable and accessible.”

Carnes holds a bachelor’s degree in social ecology from the University of California-Irvine. He obtained his Operational Excellence and Lean Leader Certification from Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business; he also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM).