Guiding Careers, Building Connections: Hina Bennett’s Story of Mentorship

Since 2010, Travelers has partnered with American Corporate Partners (ACP), a national nonprofit dedicated to helping returning veterans and military spouses transition into the civilian workforce. Through one-on-one mentoring, networking, and online career advice, ACP empowers veterans to discover their next career. Together, we’ve supported over 900 life-changing mentorships for post-9/11 veterans. Hina Bennett, an AVP in Business Transformation at Travelers, is one of the experienced ACP mentors making an impact. In her role, she oversees transformation and information technology projects while leading a team of more than 100 people. She’s also a dedicated career coach, committed to helping veterans succeed.

Hina shares her perspective on mentoring, the meaningful connections it creates, and how her own experience has shaped her professionally.

Guiding Careers, Building Connections: Hina Bennett’s Story of Mentorship

By Hina Bennett
AVP, Business Transformation, Travelers

I have had the honor of mentoring service members, military spouses and veterans through Travelers’ partnership with American Corporate Partners for the past 14 years.

When I initially decided to sign up for the ACP program, I had little to no knowledge of what I was getting into or how my efforts would impact someone’s life. I’ve always had an affinity for social work, community connections and giving back. This opportunity was intriguing and just…different, so I figured I should give it a shot and see where the journey took me.

I started reading all the materials ACP provided as guidance and familiarized myself with the process in anticipation of my first mentorship. Admittedly, I was somewhat nervous about the engagement, wondering what I would possibly say to an active military member or a Veteran. What could we possibly have in common, and what would we talk about – me having spent double-digit years in insurance and tech in an office setting, while my protégés were coming out of combat, a battalion or marine forces? I learned very quickly that the valuable experiences we were sharing in our conversations were a two-way street to learning.

Fast forward to multiple years of mentorships, I found these relationships so utterly rewarding that no matter how busy my work schedule or personal life got, I kept picking up new protégés. Each protégé offered something unique in their profile, whether it was helping them refresh their resume and navigate the job market, helping translate military experience to civilian life or simply assisting in organizing their thinking through upcoming changes in their personal life and career path. Proud moments of immense achievement for me were when, under my guidance, my protégés landed jobs at companies like Microsoft, Meta, Oracle and other Fortune 100 companies. Owing to the immaculate discipline and work ethic military personnel possess, this was no surprise.

All these conversations were fully virtual, as none of my protégés were in close proximity to Minnesota or Connecticut, which would be convenient meeting places for me. One such mentorship started when my protégé was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. We would need to meet either very early in the mornings or very late in the evenings to accommodate time differences. As a Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Expeditionary Strike Group-7 – US Navy, my protégé was nearing retirement after 20 years at age 41. Based on his senior military experience and top-level security clearance, he was looking to launch into a full corporate career in a related field and needed guidance on career paths in organizational leadership with a strong link to technology and cybersecurity. Originally from Guam and with a Japanese wife, he really hoped he would land a job in Hawaii so he could be close to family and the mainland U.S. as well.

He managed to land a role in Honolulu contracting through Peraton as a Senior Naval C4 Planner, consulting to re-org Marine Forces Pacific. We continued to connect throughout his relocation and transition out of the military into the new role.

After 14 years of mentoring Veterans, I had the surreal experience of meeting him recently in Honolulu while I was vacationing with my family in Hawaii. We arranged to meet at a local quaint Hawaiian coffee shop and chatted for a couple of hours about kids, family, life in Hawaii, and where he would go next in his career. I had previously introduced my husband (who is an Aerospace engineer) to him as well to help him network within the Aerospace industry while job searching. So I brought my husband along, who was also very eager to meet him. They both had a lot in common!

Words cannot describe the joy I felt shaking his hand in person and thanking him for his service. As we parted ways, we also assured him that we would host him and his family any time he wants to experience snow in the North! I will be sure to keep in touch.