WHO WE ARE.
Courage, Resilience and Discipline—Adapting to the Civilian Workforce
Lisa Kopitzke values the skills and experiences she gained in the military and the meaningful career she’s built at Travelers. As a U.S. Army Medic, she sharpened her courage, resilience, and discipline — strengths that have guided her through 15 years at Travelers. Now a Lead at the Advanced Analytics Information Technology Center of Excellence, Lisa is proof that the skills gained in the military can translate into a thriving career in insurance.
As an Army Medic, Lisa was stationed in Augsburg, Germany and Fort Hood, Texas. In Germany, Lisa said she was privileged to help soldiers, their families and military retirees at a local medical clinic. Her time as a medic not only gave her technical skills but also shaped her mindset, which carries into her work today.
“In the active military, I was in the medical field. And there isn’t a day at Travelers that goes by that I don’t draw upon that skill set of helping others and growing in my servant leadership skills,” she said.
Throughout her career at Travelers, she has held several key positions, including Sr. Architect and Risk and Security Officer. She also serves on the Technology and Analytics Training Advisory Board. In her current role as Director of the Advanced Analytics Information Technology Center of Excellence, Lisa leads multiple employee working groups focused on enhancing the value of software and strengthening support within the analytics community. She attributes “connecting with such great colleagues” as something she likes best about working at Travelers.
Lisa’s servant leadership was also evident when she provided assistance to hurricane victims in 2017. Team Rubicon was seeking veterans, medical personnel and civilians to provide boots-on-the-ground support, and she was prepared to answer the call. Since that experience, Lisa has continued to volunteer with various youth organizations in the community, such as scouting, coding, and robotics programs.
Throughout her experience at Travelers, Lisa has found her own support through the Military/Veterans & Allies Diversity Network (MVADN). Through this diversity network, our military professionals and allies can connect, celebrate service, share insights on transitioning to civilian roles and support those navigating deployments. “I’m also proud to be a member of our MVADN and can feel the immense backing of such a large, caring community.”
Lisa’s military experience, volunteer efforts and work at Travelers show that military veterans can build meaningful careers in insurance. “As a large company, Travelers excels in guiding with warmth, leading with respect, and cultivating a culture of thoughtful collaboration. It’s a place to thrive.”
Fifteen years ago, when Lisa came to Travelers she said, she was “thrilled to be recruited by such a supportive team that acknowledges the discipline and focus that she cultivated in the military.”
With her experience in mind, she offers this advice to anyone in the military considering a transition to Travelers or the civilian workforce: “People are people wherever you go. The main difference is in how we communicate and what we expect from others. Be adaptable and you’ll find your footing.”
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WHO WE ARE.
Life at Travelers Podcast Ep.4 – Community and Volunteerism at Travelers
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to the Life at Travelers podcast. Another great episode for you here. Today, we are diving into community. And so, I have a couple of guests here with me today, Rita Ortiz and Lisa Cameron. Here to talk all things community and volunteerism and philanthropy here at Travelers. So, I’ll kick it over to both of you. Do you want to introduce yourself and tell us what you do here?
Rita: Want me to go first, Lisa?
Lisa: Yes, sure.
Rita: Alright. So, I serve as Senior Director in Community Relations for the Travelers Company and Assistant Vice President of the Travelers Foundation. I help to manage the company’s giving portfolio in Minnesota and I’m also responsible for the management of Community Connections employee field office grants, which support volunteerism in the field, matching and volunteer rewards, which we’ll talk about in a little bit, and I also serve as a consultant for our international offices.
Kim: So, you’re bored, really.
Rita: A little bit. Yeah.
Kim: Excellent, Rita. No, that’s amazing. Thank you. And Lisa?
Lisa: Yes, I’m Lisa Cameron. I am the Vice President of Enterprise Billing and Receivables Management, which is a very fancy way of saying I lead the team that collects almost all of the money that runs through Travelers.
Kim: Gotcha. Excellent. Well, thank you both for being here. I’m super excited to get into this today. So, Rita, I’ll start with you. Can you share some insights into the Travelers approach to philanthropy?
Rita: Absolutely. So, Travelers believes that strong communities are sustained by educational and economic opportunities, and we’re dedicated to assisting our communities in actually generating those opportunities. We focus on inclusion, and we target our giving and our volunteerism to help advance academic and career success, develop thriving neighborhoods and create culturally enriched communities.
Kim: That’s great. Okay. And can you tell us a little bit about your team, the Community Relations team here at Travelers and, kind of, some of your strategic tactics that you use?
Rita: Sure. So, we have a great team. We consist of seven members. Marlene Ibsen is our leader. She serves as the CEO and President of the Travelers Foundation, and Vice President of Community Relations. Then, we have our operations team, which is led by Tara Spain and Kelly Fournier and Kim Tallard, and their additional efforts include post-secondary education and attainment, which includes our Travelers EDGE® program, Empowering Dreams for Graduation and Employment, which I’ll talk about a little bit later, our small business support programs and the culturally enriched initiatives such as Art Speaks. And Roxanne Ringuette serves as manager for our national and local employee involvement programs and other efforts. And Erin Haberman leads our Hartford partnerships and our disaster relief, resilience and response efforts, which include a focus on affordable housing, and our Travelers fortified communities initiatives.
We’re driven by our strategic pillars, which include business alignment. We’re always working to align to the business. We have signature programs, which also connect back to the business. We provide thought leadership in different arenas such as attending conferences. We promote inclusion and aligning with ED&I’s [Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion] efforts. And we’re always working to drive impact relating back to the company, maybe tying back to the brand as we have employees going out to volunteer. They have the Travelers branded T-shirts on. So, we’re showing our good efforts there. And lastly, our business integration strategy. Our team serves as liaisons and consultants to all Travelers business lines and the Diversity Networks.
Kim:
Wow. Amazing. And just seven of you are doing all of that.
Rita: Yes.
Kim: It’s wonderful work and thank you for sharing that. And you mentioned matching gifts, volunteer awards program.
Rita: Yes.
Kim: What does that entail?
Rita: Sure. So, we help amplify our employees’ generosity with matching gifts and volunteer rewards. So, from 2014 to 2023, we matched our employees’ gift of time and treasure with $21 million. That is nothing to…
Lisa: Amazing.
Kim: Yeah.
Rita: …laugh at. Our program offers an annual cash match of up to $500 per employee for donations made through our online portal. And employees are also eligible to earn volunteer rewards at a rate of $20 per hour logged, which then they can designate to eligible charities in our system, and employees can earn up to $1,000 annually. So that’s $1,500 that employees have in benefits to support organizations that they care about.
Kim: Yup, I know, I can say, personally, I’ve logged my hours in years past. I know we talked before the podcast episode, I have to do mine for this year.
Rita: Yes, please.
Kim: And yeah, I’ve been able to get those rewards back and give them to charities, I mean, I get to hand select the ones that mean so much to me and it feels really impactful. You know, it feels like the work we do matters. So, I love that we have that.
And, Lisa, I want to talk with you a bit about your volunteering experience. I know that you have a plethora and I know you’re logging your hours, too, right?
Lisa: Yes. Although, I am a little behind this year, so I will get it done before the end of the year.
Kim: We have to-do’s, Rita. Lisa and I have takeaways.
Rita: You have to do this. Our goal this year is 120,000 volunteer hours and we’re almost there.
Kim: Amazing.
Rita: So, please, ladies.
Kim: You got it.
Lisa: I have it on my calendar to do it before the end of the year, I promise.
Kim: So, Lisa, tell me about your volunteering experience.
Lisa: Sure. So, I am a lifelong volunteer. I started out young in life doing service projects and it carried into my adult life. And I try to do things that are meaningful to me, personally, and also can tie into my own life. So, some of the things that I’m focused on right now, I’m on the board of my daughter’s Montessori school because she’s important to me and I want to give back in that way…
Kim: Definitely.
Lisa: …but I also focus in the greater Hartford area, primarily on food and shelter stability. And so, I’ve been on the board of one charity in particular, Hands on Hartford, which that is their core mission. They help individuals that are experiencing homelessness either find housing or give them supported services. They also help feed families through their food pantry and other services and also help feed the community in a dignified way through their “pay what you can” contribution-based restaurant. So, I’ve been on their board for nine years and that definitely helps fill my cup as well.
Kim: Oh, thank you for sharing that. And I’m curious through your experiences and Rita you as well, you know, any interesting volunteering stories, you know, experiences of giving back that have touched you, touched the people you’ve served? I’m curious.
Lisa: So, I would say, you know, as I do my work with Hands on Hartford, sometimes I get to come face-to-face with the clients that we’re serving, and sometimes it’s conceptual. And so, one evening I was at a fundraiser at Hands on Hartford’s office over in Parkville area, and coming out of there, I saw someone on a street corner who appeared to be experiencing homelessness. It may have been temporary, I’m not sure. Very young man. And he had a sign up that he was hungry. And while I don’t personally feel good handing money out of my car window, I did realize that I had not eaten my lunch that day and so, I had an apple and a protein bar and some other snacks in the car. So, I rolled down the window and I went to hand them to the young man, and before he even had his hand out of the window, the apple was already in his mouth. And it was so impactful to me to see firsthand someone experiencing that, and also know that I could do something very small to help them. But then, I also educated him about Hands on Hartford, which was less than a half a mile away, and let him know that that was there as a resource for him and that he should potentially connect with them and see what they could do to support him. So, it just really reinforced “the why” for me and put it in a very real and tangible way for me.
Kim: Of course. That apple for him will probably translate into a much bigger thing. So, thank you for sharing. Rita?
Rita: Yeah. I can think of many examples but the one that comes to mind is through our Empowering Dreams for Graduation and Employment program, EDGE, that I mentioned earlier. It’s our education signature program where we’re supporting students in a variety of ways – introducing them to insurance and financial services, especially at Travelers, and supporting them with scholarships and, hopefully, internships. And we’ve had a number, hundreds of students go through the program and some come to work at Travelers, ultimately. We’ve had some of those students that have, in turn, now become mentors for the next generation of Travelers EDGE scholars coming through the program. And I think that just says a lot.
Kim: Yeah, it’s a continuous loop, almost.
Rita: Giving back.
Kim: And now I know we are talking a lot about employees volunteering, right? And so, when folks are potentially interested in coming to work for a company, apply for a position, you know, with Travelers, for example, right? They want to volunteer, but they’re wondering, am I using sick time for that? Am I using, you know, PTO or… How does that work where folks want to volunteer, they want to take some time off of work to go do that. What is the Travelers policy?
Rita: Yeah. So, we definitely believe that volunteering, or even serving in a civic capacity, offers opportunities for professional growth. And we believe that it can also provide opportunities for team building. Right, Lisa? Like, we’ve had a lot of teams come together and do things, even internally, at Travelers. A great way to build teamworking and networking and some bonding. So, our policy suggests that employees must seek approval from management, from their managers in advance, if they require time off from work to participate in activities, for both volunteering and civic service. And it’s primarily for company-designated opportunities. So, it’s pretty flexible, I would say.
Lisa: Yes, for sure.
Kim: That’s great. Yeah, I know on my team, we do, we try to do multiple times a year, we all get together, right? Because we’re all in different states. And, oftentimes, you know, my leadership will say… I’ve worked with you, Rita, oftentimes about, you know, we want to do something all together. We want to go out in the community while we’re all together and do something outside, get out of the office. And it’s true, the team building aspect is huge. We have some of our best memories from those times together. Times of laughing, right? And times of being very touched and impacted. It’s so important and I can say, you know, as an employee at Travelers, I so appreciate that flexibility. It’s so important.
Rita: It’s been great working with you and creating some of those opportunities with your team.
Kim: Yeah. No, it’s been really fun and I look forward to the years to come, you know.
So, thinking about candidates, right? Thinking about Travelers as a potential employer, still keeping that lens, what would you tell somebody who might be interested in working at Travelers? It’s a question I always ask my guests because I’m so curious, from your different perspectives, what would you tell somebody? Either one of you.
Lisa: So, I’m a newbie here. I’ve been here just over four years. A newbie in the terms of Travelers tenure. And I will say, it was very refreshing to come into a company that was similar-minded to me as far as my approach to philanthropy and giving back to the community. It was just so refreshing to know that I did have that ability to serve on boards or take my team out and do an activity. So here, I would say, it’s a place that values that and creates those opportunities throughout the year and it’s just a wonderful thing to experience.
Rita: Yeah, it’s so cool to share that, last year, Travelers, teams hosted more than 300 events and fundraisers out of Travelers’ Community Connections platform, it’s our internal platform, and that’s compared to 156 in 2022, which is a 96% year-over-year increase. That’s quite an accomplishment. And I know that this year we topped that number even more. So, we haven’t finalized those numbers, but there’s no doubt in my mind. And again, last year, we logged 103,000 hours and we’re approaching 120,000 hours.
Kim: Wow.
Lisa: Amazing.
Rita: I’m just blown away. You know, before COVID, and we always talk about COVID, in conversation COVID always comes up.
Kim: I know.
Rita: We were well above approaching 150. So, the fact that we’re back to 120, I think, says a lot about our culture.
Kim: Yeah. Excellent. Thank you for doing that. And yeah, it’s embedded in the culture. You can feel it. You know, it’s not just, oh I, you know, I go home in my normal life and I do my volunteering as an individual. No, I’m in Diversity Networks and we’re volunteering together. I’m in my own business unit and we’re volunteering together. I’m a Leadership Development Program participant and we’re doing it. You know, it’s embedded in the culture. You can feel it. And so, I’m not shocked we’re bouncing back. It’s great to hear as far as the number of hours.
We’ve talked about a lot today, but I’m wondering if there’s anything we haven’t touched on that’s important to, that either of you would want to circle back to.
Lisa: So, I would just say, if you’re someone that maybe hasn’t made the time to volunteer yet or you’ve been thinking about volunteering, you should absolutely do it. Find something that is meaningful to you that hits close to home or warms your heart and do it. Because, even though it feels like you’re giving as part of that volunteer process, you’re actually going to receive far more than you give and it is the most rewarding thing that you could possibly do.
Rita: Yeah, Lisa, I couldn’t agree more. I think, volunteering also helps to build some skill sets that you might be looking maybe to, that next job promotion within Travelers. Go out and find a nonprofit that could help you build that skill set.
Lisa: I would agree with that 100%, because early in my career, I had a significant fear of public speaking, I didn’t have an opportunity to manage people right away, and I didn’t really work on projects that often. And through my volunteer work, I was able to get some of those skills and work towards overcoming my fear of public speaking. Although, it’s always a little bit of a work in progress, I feel a lot more comfortable now than I did back then.
Kim: Yeah. No, you seem like a natural in front of the mic.
Rita: Absolutely.
Kim: I would say, too, thinking about it while we’re talking, and it’s growing your network and connections, too, right? I, and right, here comes the pandemic again. But during the pandemic, I had signed up for delivering groceries to an elderly couple and, I think we were months into this going on, and I ended up finding out that the woman was a Travelers retiree. And it was this really, you know, spur of the moment, you know, spontaneous thing that I got connected with them. They ended up being in my Travelers community and now I get Christmas cards, birthday cards from them, you know, it created a real friendship. And, yeah, like you said, Lisa, you get back what you give and more. So, I would echo both what you’re saying. It brings a lot. It brings a lot, too.
Well, thank you both so much for being here. This was really fun.
Lisa: Yes. Thank you for having us.
Rita: Thank you so much.
Kim: It’s such an important topic. And, like Rita said, if you want to learn more about our community involvement, you can check out our website and thank you for listening, as always, and we’ll be back, very soon, with another episode. Take care.
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Steve Shiring’s Journey: From the Military to an Insurance Career at Travelers
Steve Shiring, VP of Personal Insurance, Product Management, is also a U.S. Navy veteran. His inspiring military career helped him to acquire many skills which helped him pivot to and sustain a 20-year career at Travelers.
Steve began serving at 22 years old, stating, “I always had a strong desire to serve and be part of a greater good, a mission.” He started his military journey on the USS West Virginia Gold Crew, a U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine.
After completing 15 months of training—including six months of Nuclear Power Officer training and six months of on-the-job training—he began working as a Divisional Junior Officer aboard the submarine. In this role, he was responsible for maintaining the vessel, ensuring it operated properly, and repairing its mechanical systems.
“During my tenure on the submarine, I was in charge of a wide variety of machinery in the engine room, throughout the ship, and the nuclear weapons onboard the submarine,” Steve recounted.
In his subsequent role as a Weapons Officer, Steve oversaw the submarine’s weapon system. He routinely performed quality assurance checks, repaired weaponry, and managed the equipment procurement process.
“Coming into the military, I was thrust into a situation at 22 years old, leading a division of eight sailors. I knew very little about my submarine—they were experienced, and I had never spent a day at sea. Yet I was expected to lead them. I also had to rely on their expertise so that together, we could accomplish the mission.”
After serving three years at sea, Steve transitioned to a shore duty role at the Navy’s submarine research and development facility. During his time there, he assisted in developing equipment that is currently onboard the next generation submarine. “It was a true test and learn. We would build prototypes in the laboratory to identify what might work out on a submarine.”
Steve’s seven years in the military, along with the skills, knowledge and experience he acquired, have served him well as he joined Travelers in 2004. He began his career as a Product Managing Director in Pricing Support and over the course of two decades, ascended to his current position of VP of Personal Insurance, Product Management. “As I think about how the military prepared me for Travelers, I think of the accountability, discipline, leadership, teamwork. All of those are transferrable skills to Travelers that tie to power decisions, win together, and test and learn.”
In addition to the military qualities Steve brings to his work at Travelers, his strong collaboration skills also translate seamlessly into his civilian career.
“The submarine force is a very diverse organization. People from all walks of life step onboard that submarine and we learn to work together. I tie that closely to things at Travelers. We get faced with obstacles every day, a weather event, a storm or whatever. You have to support that, support our customers and agents in a similar way.”
Our veterans and service members, and military spouses, are a valued part of our team at Travelers and we recognize the challenges these professionals face when transitioning into the civilian workforce. Through several partnerships and programs, we work to ease that process. Programs, such as our Military/Veterans and Allies Diversity Network (MVADN), which includes over 3,000 Travelers veterans, service members, military spouses, and allies who are dedicated to building awareness, offering support, and creating opportunities for learning and volunteering.
Steve’s dedication to our country as well as the skills he’s developed in the military continue to impact his work and teams at Travelers. His journey demonstrates how military veterans can translate their strengths into fulfilling insurance careers under the umbrella.
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Life at Travelers Podcast Ep.3 – Claim University
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the Life at Travelers podcast. Today, I have my guest Chris Day here with me to really dig into what is, at times, an unknown treasure of Travelers. That is Claim University.
And so, we’re going to talk all about Claim U, what’s there, what happens there, and some of the really, behind the scenes, look and information that our expert Chris here is going to chat about with us. So, let’s get started.
Chris, why don’t you just introduce yourself to our listeners?
Chris: Sure. Thank you very much and thanks for the opportunity to be here today. Yeah, my name is Chris Day. I currently am the Assistant Vice President for Catastrophe Response. And I work at Claim University.
Kim: Awesome.
Chris: I’ve been with Travelers since 1999. I spent all of my time in claim, most of it in catastrophe. I’ve had a chance to go to a lot of different places around the country for catastrophe response and do a lot of different roles. Before I was with Travelers, I was, I spent ten years in the military.
Kim: Thank you so much for your service.
Chris: Thank you. But I had a great opportunity to learn a lot after college. I went into the service after college. And, maybe a little bit more about myself. Away from work I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife and I have a very active seven-year-old…
Kim: Alright.
Chris: …and when I’m not, sort of, chasing her around, I stay busy with a lot of activity in sports. I swim for the Connecticut Masters Swim Program, represent Connecticut at the Masters swimming level. I swam in college and have continued that on through, throughout the time since I was in college.
Kim: Awesome. So, you’re reveling in the chaos at home, at work…
Chris: Always.
Kim: Alright, awesome. Alright. So, let’s talk about Claim U and why we’re here today. Can you tell our listeners, you know, what is Claim University? What happens there? Who works there? Just give us that inside look.
Chris: Sure. Claim University is a 200,000 square foot multi-use facility. It’s out in Windsor, so, a little bit north of Hartford.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: It houses both our flagship training facility…
Kim: Yup.
Chris: …for Claim University, where we train our claim handlers, our claim team. It also, it has a world-class conference center. It houses one of four Customer Service Centers, where we, you know, take first notice of loss calls from the customers. It houses our Catastrophe Management Center and also houses our brand-new Risk Control Lab.
Kim: Okay, so a couple of things going on there.
Chris: Lots of activity, always, with a bunch of different people from a lot of different disciplines.
Kim: Yeah. And I know my first time over at Claim U, I was, shocked, amazed, right, because the facility is so… Can you talk about, like, the Auto Lab, Property Lab, even the Workers’ Compensation Lab there?
Chris: Yeah. So, yeah, starting with Claim University. First, a couple of really cool statistics. So, Claim University hosts more than 250,000 hours of training…
Kim: Wow.
Chris: …in a year, 7,500 annual onsite learners, so, people traveling in to take classes. So, a lot of classes online, but a lot there. And more than 80,000 total enrollees into Claim University-lead classes, both virtual and live. I talked about… Maybe I’ll start with the Risk Control Lab, too.
Kim: Yeah. Sounds great.
Chris: That’s the newest facility right there.
Kim: Yup.
Chris: So, industry-leading space, really a world-class bench-top laboratory space. They do claim investigations and risk control. So, they’re helping out our customers keep their employees safe…
Kim: Yup.
Chris: …and also investigating claims, you know, cause and origin, fraud investigations with just an array of scientific and technical expertise. Then, the laboratory spaces. So, you’ve got an auto lab with dozens of cars and heavy equipment that have been in actual accidents that are used as learning resources for the auto trainees that move through and claim handlers who are advancing their career as they move up. And then the same thing for property, not only full-scale, live mock-ups of equipment, but building components that they can train on, but three full-scale buildings that are fully functional. So, two houses and a commercial space. And all of those have full electrical and mechanical services. And they have a bunch of different types of damages and different finishes displayed and the claim handlers are able to train on actual hands-on, live equipment.
Kim: Yeah. It’s on-the-job training at school. Yeah. That’s excellent. And, as far as, you know, you mentioned digital forensics. For folks who might not know what that is, you know, what are they working on in there? What is digital forensics?
Chris: This is the space in which they’re investigating all aspects of digital risk management and digital claim handling, or claim responses. So, increasingly, our customers’ risks are virtual and they’re digital and they’re computer driven. And so, they have the ability to take computers, compromised computers, or do investigations where they’re, they can, what’s called, air gap the computer from any of our networks and they can investigate any malware that might be on there, or they can find damaged computer files and restore computer files for an investigation, a whole bunch of different, sort of, technical or computer investigative techniques.
Kim: Yeah. They’re digital detectives.
Chris: They really are.
Kim: That’s amazing. Okay. And I know there’s also a lot of chemists over there, right? There’s a whole, kind of, chemistry lab? You know, what would I call that?
Chris: Well really, I mean, there’s, so, there’s a couple of different spaces. I talked about the bench-top laboratory space. So, that’s, yeah, your traditional, if you think about like the world’s best college chemistry class, right? I mean, this is. You’re talking, so, gas chromatographs, scanning electron microscopes, you know, really, sort of, world-class chemical analysis that they’re doing for multiple different things. Plus, there’s rooms where they can do, sort of, live event reconstruction. So, they can do fire investigations where they, where they’re actually looking for cause and origin and actually causing or trying to reproduce fires live on site. And they can do, they have a wet room where they can investigate water damage and valve failures and a bunch of different stuff as part of the claim investigation process.
Kim: And are these labs used for training as well?
Chris: Yeah, for our risk control folks, too. So, keeping in mind, so, there’s claim handling training and then there’s the risk control professionals who are out there learning all of those techniques, you know, for risk control training as well.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: But that lab is probably more focused on the actual work that we’re doing for customers and for the claim investigations.
Kim: Okay. So, if I’m coming in as a new hire, as a claim trainee, right? I’m entering into this program. What can I, kind of, expect? What does the layout of the training program look like?
Chris: So, I think coming in, as you mentioned, I think most people would be blown away with the hands-on technical. The layout, the spaces are enormous. There’s, I think, nine large classrooms. We’ve got multiple breakout rooms. So, there’s a lot of really one-on-one or small group training. You see these classes going through. They’re working, you know, in the lab and then back in the classroom, really advancing their careers, you know, starting from the very beginning, learning the basics of insurance and insurance damage investigation and, you know, estimate writing for auto and property and, you know, medical management training through the workers’ comp labs. But then as their, as folks’ careers advance, they’re working on more technical. They’re working into more commercial buildings or heavy equipment, larger heavy equipment in the auto space and more complicated losses and, you know, income losses. Things that evolve through the higher complexity claims that our claim handlers take on as they advance their careers.
Kim: Okay. And you’re a perfect example, right? You started as a claim rep at Travelers, correct?
Chris: As a front-line auto and property claim rep in the Denver office. Yeah, that was where I got hired. I moved over to the catastrophe team about a year later and was a claim handler and unit manager on the CAT team for about six years and then, spent some time in the Midwest region as a regional manager before coming out to Connecticut in 2006. And I’ve been at the Claim U facility Or, at the CAT Center facility since then.
Kim: Okay, so let’s dig into catastrophe because I know that’s your whole world. So, how does it work? You hear of an incoming disaster and then you sound the alarms and we go from there? Or…?
Chris: It’s a lot like that. So, CAT response is the most important thing that insurance companies do.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: Well, kidding aside, it’s certainly one of the most important. And it’s one of the most complicated. So, if property insurance, and auto insurance to a lesser extent, were a little more, like, more predictable, like some of the other lines of business are, it would be easier to manage the response. So, you know, for most lines of business, you write a certain number of policies and you can expect a certain number of claims, you can work the staffing model. And if we only had to insure for washing machine hoses and kitchen fires in property, we could do the same thing. But we’re in the weather business. And so, we have to be able to manage all of those day-to-day claims and also, be able to shift gears for the entire claim department in order to handle events that might produce a year’s worth of claims or two years’ worth of claims in just one or two days. Traditionally, the way the industry has always done that is that they have outsourced that to independent adjusting firms. And we don’t do that and we think we’re unique in the industry in doing that. We handle all of our catastrophe claims with our own staff. We don’t contract for any independent adjusters and it’s really for that reason that we actually locate our CAT Center at Claim University, because the first step is to make sure that our people have the right expertise and specialization to handle every claim. But we also build, and this is what we do on a day-in and day-out basis, is we build and manage a scalable model that allows us to respond to any size of event. So, we have our CAT team, so about 400 people total. About 250 of those are the field CAT team and they go to all events. They’re, sort of, the front line, the tip of the spear. They’re deployed up to 220, 225 nights a year away from home. And they’re going to every office maybe five or six people at a time, or three or four, or 200 or 220 at a time for a large event like we’ve had this year with Hurricane Helene. And then, as events get a little bit larger, our Workforce Management team, that’s co-located with the CAT Center, calibrates the capacity of every one of our offices all the way down to the individual claim handler level every day. So, we always know exactly when an office is going to need help, but also, at any point in time, which office might be able to assist the CAT team if we reach their capacity to handle larger events. And then, what really makes us different is our enterprise response strategy. And that’s where we’ve cross-trained literally thousands of claim professionals from other lines of business…
Kim: Okay.
Chris: …to handle lower severity personal insurance property claims and that frees up our property staff to handle the more severe losses and the business insurance claims. And that scalability is what allows us to handle every event.
Kim: Yup.
Chris: And then the way we execute the strategy is, we monitor the weather out to as far as 16 days in advance.
Kim: Okay.
Chris: We look for potential future events. We track those over multiple days up to the event and we start to game plan three or four or even seven days ahead of time. And then the event, if the event happens, then we aggregate just literally millions of data points from across the footprint of the event to, sort of, diagnose what happened, figure out how many claims are going to come in, and then we build a claim response package of claim handlers to meet the needs of the customers, and then we issue deployment instructions, and then within 24 hours, those claim handlers are on the ground helping the customers. And we do that process for every single storm that comes up. Most of the time they actually don’t happen, like, we do all the planning and then the storm misses. But if it does, we have all of that pre-planning under our belts and we execute that multiple times a year, as many as 80 or 100 times for different storms.
Kim: So, you’re always ready. Whether it happens or not.
Chris: I would say, always ready and always responding. So, we’re always responding to the prior events, we’re prepping for the next events and we’re off and handling, you know, five or six or even ten events simultaneously.
Kim: Yup. And I know from my side of the house, right, working in social media, a lot of the times the disasters hit, you know, we’ve posted online before saying, ‘Hey, our CAT van is located, you know, at X parking lot, you know, if you need service, if you have a claim.’ Can you talk about the CAT vans and and what happens there, for folks who are unfamiliar?
Chris: Sure, and about our shared services more broadly, too, there are dozens of groups across the enterprise. There’s your social media group, you know, teams from subrogation, corporate security, corporate real estate, other communications teams that all have responsibilities within our CAT response. We have a playbook and we have hundreds of tasks, about 250 tasks for a large hurricane, where different groups and all of our leadership team are executing all of these plays that we’re running. One of those, you might take it as a good example, is the CAT van. So, we identify a need, an operational need for a CAT van, or maybe an insurance department is setting up a place where customers can meet. We can deploy one of our eight different CAT van units to that. We have four large mobile claim office units. They’re big RVs, RV-based units, and we have four quick response vehicles that we can use on smaller events, or smaller venues, or we can get really close to claims and we’ll deploy those out, with claim handlers or unit managers, and we can be right there, where our customers need us. Maybe there’s a big disruption to the cell phone infrastructure or power. They can turn in a claim, they can meet with their claim handler, we can use it as a platform to, you know, do something as simple as get out of the rain and do inspections over multiple days at, like, a large claim event. We’ve used the small CAT van for that. But it’s a great resource tool. It really gives customers access into the response and that’s one of the critical things, whether it’s giving our agents access in, or customers access into the response so that they can get the information they need from us.
Kim: Right. And immediately.
Chris: Immediately.
Kim: Yeah, yeah. Amazing. And I know, right, with a lot of catastrophes and it is the property claim, kind of, damages, you know, responses that we’re doing here, I have heard at Claim U there’s drone school, correct? Is that… That’s a skill that our property reps have.
Chris: It is.
Kim: Yeah. Can you talk about that? Are they becoming drone certified pilots?
Chris: It is. So, you have to be certified by the FAA to fly a drone commercially.
Kim: Yup. Okay.
Chris: And so, we have a training curriculum, a program, by which our claim handlers and risk control professionals can go through and become certified to fly drones commercially and then they’ll take the test. They get licensed by the FAA, or certified by the FAA, and then they follow, they have to file flight plans and they, when they’re using drones in the field. We do hear about some of our competitor drone programs. You know, I think, probably, our thought is, they may be more like a drone team or a drone vendor. I don’t think anyone is doing what we’re doing, which is really replacing, or augmenting, the ladder in the trunk of the car with a drone for individual claim handlers and risk control professionals to use on claims. We don’t think anyone is in large-scale doing that. And we think it, quite frankly, makes us the leader in that space.
Kim: So, if somebody is interested in working in claim at Travelers, right, they’re thinking about becoming an auto rep, a property rep, you know, what would you tell them? You know, what advice would you give to somebody who might start at Claim U?
Chris: Yeah. I think it’s interesting. So, you know, I think, I think our investments in facilities like Claim U, the Risk Control Lab, our CAT response, are really tangible examples of our commitment to the Travelers Promise, right? To be there for our customers, for our communities and for each other. Right? It’s a, you know, when we respond to catastrophe events, it’s really, we’re supporting the offices, we’re supporting our customers and the communities impacted. And because that promise is woven into the entire enterprise, our claim handlers that have gone through the classes at Claim University, you know, hundreds, maybe thousands, of them have moved up through the ranks of the teams in the field, the claim teams in the field, and at home office and really to all corners of the enterprise. And so, I’d say that it really is the doorway to any career that you would want at Travelers. So, you know, handling, you know, front line, customer-facing interactions, learning to deliver on that promise in face-to-face or over the phone with the customer, and that’s what you learn at Claim University, I think is the foundation for really any career that you would want at Travelers.
Kim: Yeah, yeah, a lot of space to go from there. Yeah. Now, personal question for you, Chris. I know we were talking before this episode, and you had mentioned our Military/Veteran & Allies Diversity Network (MVADN). I know you used to be Chair, correct? And you have that past military experience. Can you talk about the MVADN and, kind of, your involvement there and, kind of a follow-up for how military might fit into the catastrophe world. I have an idea.
Chris: Okay. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up. I was honored to serve multiple years in the leadership team of the Military/Veterans & Allies Diversity Network and was the immediate past Chair, Co-Chair, or Chair for the organization. The MVADN is, it’s a big organization. It really does help a lot of people. We have 82 leaders, more than 3,000 members in 43 locations across the country. And I’m going off statistics that are probably a year old at this point. So, I’m sure it’s bigger than that, right? As you see that. And we have found that there is a real ability to translate the skill set, the professionalism, the empathy that we see in a lot of retiring or transitioning service members who are coming into the private sector and identifying really terrific career and job opportunities for them as claim handlers and as investigators and, you know, across the board, risk control engineers, you know, as they develop and develop new skill sets or build on the skill sets that they learned and the leadership skills that they had in the, that they learned in the military. I feel, you know, personally, for me, that a lot of the, you know, sort of, self-discipline and the leadership skills I had, you know, Were, they’re really, you know…
Kim: Transferable.
Chris: I built a foundation on that in the military and have been able to build on that you know, in the private sector. It’s different. You know, managing people is different in the military than it is in the private sector. But there’s this, sort of, core that you can build on and I think that we see that in a lot of the leaders who have prior military experience. You see that sort of foundation.
Kim: Yeah. So, claim provides a lot of those, kind of, opportunities to transfer skills from the military over.
Chris: We definitely have seen a lot of that. Yeah. And had a lot of success.
Kim: Yeah. Amazing. I mean, you’re a prime example. You’ve been at Travelers a little while. I think you might like it. Excellent. Chris, we talked about a lot today. Is there anything that we didn’t talk about that you think is important to mention? Whether that be about, you know, military background, Claim U, anything else that we didn’t touch on?
Chris: You know, I think you hit on it a little bit in the last question, too. And that’s really how truly fortunate, you know, I think I have been, you know, to have had a career. You know, I found it rewarding, challenging every day. I think one of the great things about our industry, and maybe about claim in particular as well, is that because we insure every part of the economy there is a never-ending need to learn and grow and develop and learn more and be curious and challenge yourself to learn more. I find that I like to think that I challenge myself to learn something new every single day. I think it makes it interesting. It, you know, it keeps you coming back, you know, every day, even on the days that are difficult. But that real reward, I really do feel honored to have been able to, you know, develop and have such a, you know, such a broad, you know, career and been able to help so many customers or help people develop, really, really feel honored.
Kim: That’s awesome. And I’m honored to have you on the show. So, thank you for being here. You know, when I think of Claim U, Chris, I’m like, if Claim University had a sports team, Chris Day would be the coach, the GM and maybe the mascot. I’m like, you are the guy.
Chris: Well, I’ll definitely volunteer to be the mascot, to do that. No, thank you.
Kim: Well, thank you for being here. You know, if, if listeners are interested in learning more about Claim University, our claim roles, visit us at travelers.com/careers. Chris, if we tag you on the social post on LinkedIn, can folks connect with you?
Chris: Oh, they definitely can. Yeah, I’m on it.
Kim: Okay. We’re going to make you an influencer out there.
Chris: Excellent.
Kim: We’ll tag you. Well thanks, Chris. Thanks for being here. And thanks to our listeners for tuning in and we’ll be back soon with another episode for you. Take care.
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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.
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Travelers Awarded Code Platoon’s 2024 Partner of The Year
Travelers recently had the honor of being named Code Platoon’s 2024 Partner of the Year, an award given to a company whose leadership significantly advances Code Platoon’s mission to empower the military community to transition into civilian careers in software engineering.
It’s no secret that military veterans and spouses often face challenges transitioning into civilian professions and finding lasting careers. With the help of Code Platoon—a coding bootcamp that teaches software development skills to veterans and their spouses—Travelers has helped bridge that gap.
Over the past year, Travelers has hired several Code Platoon graduates who went on to complete the Travelers Engineering Development Program (EDP), equipping them with the tools and confidence to find meaningful roles within Travelers’ Technology & Analytics department.
The EDP offers four distinct engineering tracks: Software, Cyber, Data and Infrastructure, and Cloud. Upon completing each track, participants hone their technical and self-leadership skills, preparing them for successful careers in technology.
“I think the EDP is a good fit for Code Platoon graduates because it provides a robust, structured training approach,” explained Bruce Soltys, VP of Emerging Talent and Talent Acquisition at Travelers. “Within your assigned track, your experience includes a combination of hands-on opportunities, immersive learning accelerators, and a mentoring program to prepare you for a dynamic career at Travelers.”
With over a century of experience helping veterans transition into the workforce, Travelers recognizes the unique talents these professionals bring, which are highly transferable to civilian careers. “I believe that transitioning out of the military brings a sense of uncertainty—and Code Platoon helped me adjust, to say the least,” shared Suhail Hameed, EDP Software Engineer at Travelers, US Marine Corps Veteran, and Code Platoon alum.
At Travelers, more than 1,000 current and former military professionals have found meaningful, lasting careers. Since 2020, increased hiring initiatives have resulted in the employment of over 300 military spouses in portable careers.
“I work with Travelers now because I started at Code Platoon, and the sky is the limit for me,” stated Chris Rances, EDP Software Engineer at Travelers, US Army Veteran, and Code Platoon alum. “I’m really glad that I am here now, and it all started because I went with Code Platoon.”
Watch the full video to learn more about Travelers’ Code Platoon 2024 Partner of the Year Award.
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Life at Travelers Podcast Ep.2 – Career Development
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to our second episode of the Life at Travelers podcast. I’m here today with my guest, Ellen Vyce. She is a career development expert and we’re so excited to have her. I’m going to pick her brain all about career growth at Travelers and what that means. Ellen, why don’t you introduce yourself?
Ellen: Yeah. Great. Thanks, Kim. My name is Ellen Vyce, and I’m a Senior Consultant in Enterprise Talent Management.
Kim: Awesome. Well, thank you for being here.
Ellen: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Kim: And talking all about career development with me, but before we get to career development at Travelers as a whole, I want to talk about you.
Ellen: Yeah.
Kim: So you have, kind of, quite the journey from starting, you know, as an intern at Travelers all the way through to, you know, working here full-time and working in Enterprise Talent Management. So, how did you first find out about Travelers?
Ellen: Yeah. Good question. So, my dad has actually worked at Travelers for about 23 years now.
Kim: Wow.
Ellen: So, growing up, you know, it was always a household name. So, I have always been familiar with Travelers, the Travelers Championship, the red umbrella was everywhere. So, when it came time to thinking about, you know, potential first jobs and careers, Travelers was at the very top of my list from early on.
Kim: That’s great. And what did you major in in college?
Ellen: I majored in industrial organizational psychology.
Kim: Wow. Okay. What does that mean?
Ellen: Basically, workplace psychology, very closely related to human resources, but more so the behavioral side.
Kim: Gotcha. Okay, so, so when you interned at Travelers, what did you focus on for project work?
Ellen: Yeah. So, the majority of my internship at Travelers focused on building out the career path and job family for the agile deliveries job family. So, I was working on putting together the experiences and the different career options for that job family specifically.
Kim: Yep.
Ellen: So even as an intern, I was working on career development focused work.
Kim: That’s awesome. Okay and so that was just agile delivery but this was happening across every job family?
Ellen: Primarily tech and ops, but yeah, throughout all of Travelers, a lot of job families were going through some restructuring at the time, and that was the one that I was tasked with, kind of, re-orging and figuring out. Let’s see, if I’m a scrum master, where should I go next? What are the skills and experiences needed to help me get there?
Kim: Yep. And did you feel like your internship at Travelers, did it bring your education into the experience? You know, did you walk away feeling like that real-world experience was valuable?
Ellen: Absolutely. It really put things into perspective for me and allowed me to take what I learned in grad school and apply it to my internship. And a lot of the terminology was the same. A lot of the concepts were directly applicable to each other. And I felt even more capable and ready to go back to grad school in between my internship and my school time because Travelers had prepared me really well to be able to take that knowledge back and apply it to my degree.
Kim: That’s great. That’s great. And was your, your master’s degree, was that in the same major you had?
Ellen: It was, yeah.
Kim: Alright, so you went all the way through a master’s.
Ellen: I did.
Kim: You loved it.
Ellen: I really did. It’s such an interesting field and so much of what we learn about in industrial organizational psychology is directly applicable to talent management. You’re thinking about, you know, what can we do to retain our talent? What can we do to ensure our talent is continuously learning and growing? And overall, making the workplace a better place to be.
Kim: That’s great. That is awesome and congratulations, all the way through master’s.
Ellen: Yeah, thanks.
Kim: That’s something to be proud of for sure. So, post-grad, found your way back to Travelers.
Ellen: I did.
Kim: What was it about Travelers that brought you back?
Ellen: Honestly, the rotational nature of the leadership development program that I was in, the Human Resources Leadership Development Program.
Kim: Yeah.
Ellen: Knowing that Travelers valued careers so much and a lot of continuous learning, the leadership development program was a no-brainer for me. Through the leadership development program, I got to rotate through four areas of human resources over the course of a three-year period.
Kim: Okay.
Ellen: So I got to spend time in Talent Acquisition, Compensation, Employee Relations and Talent Management, which is where I landed.
Kim: Wow. Okay, so you got a taste of, like, every part of human resources.
Ellen: Indeed. Yeah.
Kim: And leadership development programs, there’s more than just HR. There’s several.
Ellen: There are eight, I believe.
Kim: Wow. Okay. And that was something that you applied directly to?
Ellen: Exactly. Yes. As result of the internship that is through the HRLDP, they also offer the full-time program, so, as soon as I got a taste of the internship, I knew that I wanted to come back full-time as a full-time participant.
Kim: That’s awesome. And I know it has a rotational nature, like you explained, but outside of the experience in LDP, is there, you know, is there work and play? You know, is there networking opportunities, team bonding, like, what happens outside of the day-to-day?
Ellen: Yeah, I think the leadership development programs are, kind of, the best of all worlds combined. You get not only the, you know, rotations and you get exposure to various lines of business, various leaders, but you also get to interact with other LDPs across the place. So, you can interact with Finance Leadership Development Program folks or Business Insights and Analytics Leadership Development Program folks.
Kim: Yeah.
Ellen: And yeah, you really get to put yourself out there and join different committees. And you get to network a lot. So, you know, a lot of us become friends outside of the program as well. So, it’s a really holistic experience.
Kim: That’s great. And then when you join full-time, it’s like you have a whole community already.
Ellen: Absolutely. Yeah.
Kim: Oh, that’s wonderful. And you said you landed in talent management?
Ellen: Indeed.
Kim: Okay, so what do you do now? What’s your day-to-day and what’s your team like?
Ellen: Yeah. So, in Enterprise Talent Management I’m primarily responsible for our top talent practices. So, think talent pools, think talent review, think succession planning in addition to career and leadership development.
Kim: Okay. And is your team small, large?
Ellen: Yeah. Enterprise Talent Management is about 12 to 13 people right now. Yep.
Kim: Yep.
Ellen: My immediate team is three. So, we’re small but mighty. We’ve got a lot going on, a lot of really exciting work.
Kim: That’s great. So, can you talk to me about some of those initiatives that your team works on for career development at Travelers?
Ellen: Yeah, absolutely. Right now, we have a really great platform that employees can use that is driven by AI and it will provide mentorship matches, it will provide available job matches and even some learning courses for employees to take based on employee skill sets, what they’ve entered as an interest or development area.
Kim: Okay and so, so this is geared toward all employees, right? Not just… Like, growing in your area or growing into a different space, it works either way?
Ellen: Absolutely. It’s actually great for both employees, whether you’re looking for a new opportunity or looking to grow in your current role, there’s really something for everyone at all levels.
Kim: That’s awesome. So career development is really a priority at Travelers, you’d say?
Ellen: It absolutely is. We’ve heard from Alan saying that our talent is our greatest asset, which means our people are our greatest asset. So, investing in our people and their career development is 100% a priority for the place.
Kim: Yeah. That’s great. I love to hear it. It’s, you know, it’s something that… You don’t know, you know, where you’re, where it’s going to take you when you start at a company and it just sounds like not only through your experience, but through the work that you do, exposure, right? Exposure to the different places in Travelers because it’s huge. There’s so many places you can go.
Ellen: There really are. And, you know, one way that employees are able to continue exploring what might be available is through our Map Your Career process. Which is the Travelers framework for career development.
Kim: Okay.
Ellen: Those four phases of map your career are explore, identify, plan and act and each one of those phases allows employees to focus on a different piece of the career development journey.
Kim: Yeah.
Ellen: So, you know, that was created to help our employees really explore what’s out there, hone their skills and get ready for whatever’s next.
Kim: Yeah, because I know in episode one, when I was talking to Brianna, she cited, you know, we have pilots, we have nurses, we have chemists. You know, I mean, you and I work in HR, right? And it’s yeah, it’s really amazing. And I think what you just laid out right there, map your career, it sounds, like, structured but simple, right?
Ellen: Absolutely. It’s meant to be a repeatable process for employees. You know, you learn the process once and then you’re able to go back and use it as needed as you continue along your own career development journey.
Kim: Yeah. Yeah. Repeatable, right? That’s a great resource. So, for folks listening to this episode right now who are potential candidates for us, right? They might be interested in working at Travelers. What would you tell somebody who was interested in working at Travelers?
Ellen: Yeah, I’d probably tell them quite a few things. But, the first thing that I tell them is to really invest the time getting to know the job that you’re applying for.
Kim: Yep.
Ellen: Read through that job description, think about the skills and experiences that you have and the skills and experiences necessary for the role that you’re applying for. And, you know, if there’s something that’s missing, think about how you can go about closing that gap and, you know, seek out some mentors to help you close that gap before you apply. And once you get here, we’ve got plenty of resources for you to help grow your career.
Kim: Yeah, I know, it’s like, now we’re at the point, I feel like where somebody could read a Travelers job description and think, okay, this is just where I’m starting, though.
Ellen: Yes. Oh, yes. It’s really just the ground floor and then, the sky’s the limit for employees now. Whether it’s, like I said, growing in your current role or exploring future leadership roles, we’ve got it all.
Kim: Yeah. That’s great. Ellen, thank you so much. Is there anything today that we didn’t cover that you feel is important to say?
Ellen: I don’t think so. I think we’ve covered it.
Kim: Okay. Good stuff. Alright. Well, well, thank you for being here today. And I’m sure you’ll be a resource to plenty of our listeners. If they connect with you on LinkedIn, is that okay?
Ellen: Absolutely.
Kim: Okay.
Ellen: Ellen Vyce on LinkedIn.com that’s me.
Kim: Alright, alright. Awesome. We will, we’ll definitely tag you in the social post.
Ellen: Thank you so much for having me.
Kim: Absolutely.
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My Travelers Journey – Chris Munoko
Taking care of our customers, our communities and each other is Chris Munoko’s middle name (literally). That name — Mobunda, in Chris’ native Kikongo— translates to “he who puts others’ needs in front of his.”
“I’m a caring person by nature, so The Travelers Promise encapsulates what I love most about this company,” says Chris.
Chris relocated from the Democratic Republic of Congo — where his parents and two of his six siblings still live — in 2016, when he became a student at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. Several of his computer science classmates had internships at Travelers, and Chris noticed how much they had grown and learned over the summer. So when a friend recommended Chris for a job at Travelers just after graduation, he jumped at the chance, and was hired into its Technology Foundational Development Program , which has been renamed the Engineer Development Program.
Now, as an Associate Software Engineer, Chris has helped the CAT Tech Team transform third-party and on-premise applications to internal apps hosted in the AWS Cloud, including the Catalyst Underwriter, which estimates losses from natural or man-made catastrophes. He gained experience with AWS Cloud on the job and went on to get AWS certified.
Day-to-day, Chris provides ongoing support for the workflow automation and catalyst underwriter apps after they launch. “Good is not good enough. I always try to find a way to use customers’ feedback to create features that make the user experience better.”
He also loves sharing knowledge with others; helping people get over hurdles to get into the cloud journey and achieve their goals.
Moving applications to production is a rewarding accomplishment: “It makes me stop and think, ‘Oh, wow, this thing we have been building for two years, it’s working and people are using it!’”
Outside of work, Chris loves spending time with his wife, Kaitlyn, who he met in college. He also enjoys watching and playing soccer, and he’s an anime afficionado, with a particular fondness for Naruto, Dragon Ball Z and Bleach — noting that these hobbies have taught him the importance of teamwork, the will to never give up, and the drive to strive for excellence.
With these values in mind, it’s no wonder that Chris also dedicates spare time to learning more about coding.
“I have always been fascinated by technology and how we can use it to impact today’s society. And, now as a Travelers employee, I get to see how we can use technology to push our business to new heights.”
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WHO WE ARE.
Embracing Accessibility: Kathryn Weber-Hottleman’s Journey of Advocacy and Support at Travelers
The Travelers Promise is to take care for our customers, communities, and each other. One of the best ways to demonstrate this is by sharing employee stories that highlight the work, experiences, and spirit that bring our Promise to life every day.
Kathryn Weber-Hottleman, a Senior Accessibility Lead in Personal Insurance, began her Travelers career over a year ago. In her role, she focuses solely on the digital accessibility of Travelers’ products used by customers, agents, and employees.
“To have an accessible product at the end means that any user with a disability can access our user experiences without needing any additional help,” said Kathryn. “For example, users who may be blind or who have low vision, might use screen readers. Basically, it reads all the text of a site out loud to you so you can hear whatever a sighted user is seeing.”
What makes Kathryn and her position unique is that accessibility is important not only in her role but also in her personal life. Since her late teens, Kathryn has lived with congenital back issues that impact her comfort while sitting and standing, requiring workplace accommodations.
“I spent over a year in physical therapy wearing back braces on pain medication. It was a lot. This kind of thing doesn’t just go away – it stays with you for the rest of your life. And then it still impacted me once I got into the working world.”
Even before joining Travelers, Kathryn built her career in disability services, where she often advocated for accommodations and accessibility for others. Despite this, she found it challenging to advocate for herself and ask for the chairs or desks that would make her work day more comfortable.
“It made me think that how sad is this? That I’m creating this environment for others, and I don’t believe in it for me. So, it made me think a lot about stigma and the stigma that we have around disabilities and asking for the support that we need as individuals with disabilities.”
When Kathryn came to Travelers, she faced the same personal challenge of asking for accommodations, and initially found workarounds. However, when her manager became aware, she advocated on Kathryn’s behalf, ensuring that getting the right chair was a priority.
“It wasn’t just me advocating for myself anymore – it was my manager and she followed up with everyone required until a new chair was sitting at my desk. It was an amazing experience to have somebody else advocating for me so strongly.”
Kathryn’s experience emphasized the importance of being open about her needs and asking for help without fearing stigma.
“Self-identification is the first step in receiving accommodations. In this case was not just me checking that box for H.R. saying, yes, you have a disability. It was also talking to my manager about it and having her on my side,” Kathryn said. “Finding that I had that support not just in my organization but in my own unit and with my direct manager made me feel like this is a natural part of being part of the Travelers community.”
Through her work in digital accessibility, Kathryn embodies the Travelers Promise. She’s also experienced it firsthand through the compassion and support of her team and the broader community.
“I love having time carved out of our day to day to go engage with the people around us. Travelers isn’t something that just separates itself from the whole rest of the community. Travelers really takes time to invest where we are,” said Kathryn.
“We’re trying to develop this community where people can feel comfortable sharing any part of their identity. So, in my case, sharing that I have a disability and finding such strong support to get what I needed to thrive in this environment.”
Watch the video to hear more of Kathryn’s story.
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WHO WE ARE.
Creating Career Opportunities For Military Spouses
Military families often face unique challenges, including frequent relocations, disrupted careers, and the need to rebuild support systems. For many military spouses, these challenges also include difficulty in maintaining stable employment.
“When an employer knows that you are part of a military family, they understand that you’re not going to be staying there long,” said Vicky Egli, Regional Director, Claim Account Executives. “So, they’re hesitant to hire you, which means that the good jobs, the ones that develop into a career, aren’t always available.”
At Travelers, we recognize the unique skills that military spouses bring—such as problem-solving, decision-making, and empathy—qualities that are invaluable in roles involving customers and brokers. Since launching our robust hiring efforts in 2020, Travelers has provided more than 300 military spouses with portable and lasting career opportunities.
Our latest video follows six Travelers military spouses as they share how they have found opportunity, stability, and community across the company.
“It means so much to have a company that cares enough about this community to create a home for us in a world where otherwise we’re kind of just left out on our own and forgotten,” said Lauralee Lambert, Personal Insurance Underwriter.
Travelers’ commitment to military spouses goes beyond providing jobs; it offers the connection of a supportive community of military spouses, fostering camaraderie and understanding both professionally and personally.
“It’s been a privilege to connect with other military spouses throughout Travelers,” said Jordan Reynolds, Senior Insurance Service Representative. “Having that support system has been the best.”
Watch the full video to hear firsthand from Travelers military spouses, Jennifer, Lauralee, Vicky, Ebonii, Jordan, and Maria.
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