Anna Daley, AVP, Data and Application Security at Travelers, took risks to find her place in the world, then found her career home protecting others from risk. 

When Anna immigrated from Poland at age 20, she put herself through college by waiting tables. “America was seen as a place where opportunities are endless, and all you need to do is work hard and persevere to be successful in life and have a bright future.”  

Although Anna had never seen a computer growing up in Poland, she instantly discovered joy in technology and found great reward in writing programs that helped people do their jobs. She was hired to write a data loss prevention program for a friend’s company – her first foray into cybersecurity. She took to it instantly, and from there, Anna was hired to create the entire security program for a local start-up company. 

When Anna joined Travelers in claim – she has never looked back. In fact, she only wishes she had found Travelers sooner. 

“I love the work I do. We are using tech to simplify our cybersecurity, making it easier for people to do their jobs. And I love that Travelers is a very caring company, generously giving to the community and invested in employees’ growth and happiness. Diversity is highly valued and supported here, and Travelers puts a lot of energy into developing and promoting women.”  

After creating and implementing a risk and security program for a large Travelers business unit, including a multi-year strategy, she went all-in, earning a master’s degree in cybersecurity.  

Cybersecurity is what truly captured her interest, and her wealth of IT knowledge gave her a unique advantage in understanding and avoiding cybersecurity pitfalls. Fully understanding risks requires an understanding of how web applications are built, how information travels through systems, and how everything is connected and works together.  

“Cybersecurity and technology are evolving at a rapid pace. It’s really intriguing to me – there is always something exciting to learn about. Travelers enables my professional development by providing the latest technologies and tools, whether it is for application development or security concepts.”  

As a leader in Travelers’ Cybersecurity team, Anna is implementing new cutting-edge product development tools that will be used by the entire engineering community to both identify and repair vulnerabilities while simplifying the engineering experience.  

“It’s a great opportunity to make an impact on a large scale, on something very important: preventing security issues. It feels wonderful to give people a tool that they can use every day, to make sure that the product is sound from the time they start writing the code to the time they push it to production.” 

As Travelers transitions more technology to the cloud, enhancing its service offerings, Anna is making sure that its systems and information remain secure. 

“The cloud brings in new areas of focus from a security perspective, but also provides a powerful functionality.”  

To supplement her on-the-job learning, Anna studies tech trends in her spare time and stays closely connected with peers.  

She is also an active member of T200, a national community of women in tech that was co-founded by Mojgan Lefebvre, EVP and Chief Technology & Operations Officer at Travelers.

“It is amazing to work with a team of truly talented individuals who gel together – our team is really close. We genuinely like working with one another, and there’s a level of professional comfort that we have with each other. We can have transparent discussions, give each other feedback and ultimately come up with the best solutions.”  

Anna’s family – her husband and two children – enjoy “outdoorsy” activities year-round; especially snowmobiling, skiing and hiking, which means lots of vacation time in Vermont. You’ll also find Anna outdoors at home, tending to the backyard garden oasis she created – where there are no risks; only peace, tranquility and relaxation and a world away from it all.  

This article is part of an ongoing series to highlight our people by showcasing their path to Travelers, as well as their skills, interests and experiences.

Amy Knowles has built an impressive career at Travelers over the past 22 years, guided by a simple but powerful question: “Why not?”

When Amy joined Travelers as an Account Manager in Commercial Accounts in Phoenix, her manager supported her desire to go back to college. “Why not?” her manager would ask when Amy was unsure about taking on a new challenge. Amy finished her degree, supported by the Travelers Tuition Reimbursement Program, and saw new doors open. She also began to think differently: “If a senior leader has confidence in me, I probably should, too.”

When she had the opportunity to become a Director for Small Commercial in the Denver field office (because why not?), she worked as an Operations Director there for five years. And then, when asked if she wanted to move across the country to take on a different experience – Why not!

In one of her recent roles in Hartford, she was Operations Director for Small Commercial, managing six leaders, spanning four business units and 80 colleagues across the country.

“I like to empower my leadership team to ensure that our front-line employees feel supported and advocated for, removing obstacles, aligning our day-to-day operations with objectives and key results, and meeting our customers’ needs,” Amy says.

While changing roles to grow and advance is one method of career advancement, Amy says there are many avenues available at Travelers for employees to develop in their careers. “Your career path here is not just one single line. There are so many different opportunities in front of you. You really own your career, determining your own path based on how driven you are and how much you want to explore, try new things and continue to grow and develop yourself.”

Amy continued to pursue her “why not” themed career journey when she made one of her biggest career jumps in 2023. After 22 years in Operations, she made the leap to the Business Insurance Business Capabilities Office, where she leads the Process Engineering Team.

Aside from the day-to-day work on her team, Amy is a proud member of every Diversity Network and particularly enjoys events that involve cooking and sampling cuisines from different cultures. She also works with the Tech & Ops Leadership Development program, advocating for, coaching and mentoring future leaders.

“The people I work with across the organization are the best thing about Travelers – there’s such amazing talent. It’s great to feel that others are invested in my career as much as I am. The advocacy and support I’ve had here has been fantastic.”

When it comes to her personal timeline, 2001 was a banner year for Amy: It’s when she joined Travelers and when she married her husband, Trip, who was her childhood next-door neighbor. They’ve since had two children, Zach (19) and Ava (13), and live with their two dogs, Sammy and Maverick. The adventurous Knowles family loves escape rooms, taking cruises and traveling anywhere there’s a beach. Amy shares that she’s “very short” (five foot two) yet played volleyball in college.

Kay Edwards always knew she wanted to work in a collaborative and evolving field like technology, which led her to the Girls Who Code Hiring Summit last fall, where she connected with members of the Travelers Technology Team. The summit welcomed Girls Who Code alums and other women technologists seeking internships or their first professional role in tech.

“What drew me to technology is the collaboration – it’s a field that’s always changing, and you learn more and understand it better by collaborating with others,” Kay said.

“I became interested in tech careers after participating in bootcamps and training courses to expand my experience in software engineering.”

Armed with courses and coding experience, she was ready to bring her dream of a career in tech to life. “As soon as I connected with the team running the Travelers booth, I wanted to apply right away. I immediately felt that the Technology Leadership Development Program (TLDP) would offer a great learning experience with the opportunity for growth.”

Kay joined the TLDP in January 2023 and entered her first technical role in Personal Insurance Technology Compelling Offerings. “I’ve felt a lot of support through the onboarding process. My learning continues through the technical bootcamp I’m in along with other members of the TLDP. I am thankful to the TLDP for their support and investment in me as an employee.”

Kay is one of five women technologists who attended the Girls Who Code Hiring Summit and identified Travelers as a place they saw themselves starting their careers in tech. The four additional hires are slated to start their Travelers careers in June 2023.

Girls Who Code is an organization with the goal of closing the gender gap in technology. Through immersion programs, leadership development and career exploration, Girls Who Code brings technology education to students and early career professionals.

Travelers has teamed up with Girls Who Code since 2020, each year hosting two-week Summer Immersion Programs for high school-aged, aspiring women technologists students to gain hands-on experience and mentoring.

Travelers will host its next Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program in the summer of 2023. Read more about Travelers Technology and Girls Who Code.

Lori Winn, Assistant Vice President in Cybersecurity and Air Force veteran, has a military and technology career spanning over 25 years. Her diverse experience in the military, cybersecurity and as a woman in the technology field helped her gain the valuable expertise that paved the way for her career at Travelers.

In this episode of “15 Minutes with HER,” a podcast hosted by EmpowHER+, Linette Camp, Assistant Vice President, Domestic Operations, Global Operations Solutions & Delivery, sits down with Lori to discuss her transition from the military, technology and cybersecurity today, and what it’s like being a woman in tech, both at Travelers and within the industry.

Before beginning her Travelers career, Lori’s Air Force career provided her with several opportunities for involvement in traditional and non-traditional technology projects.
“I’ve been able to be involved in a lot of exciting things, from traditional IT to missile defense, remotely piloted aircraft – just a variety of different defense-type roles.”

Those roles eventually led her to cybersecurity, and when she was ready to transition her military career into the corporate world, she felt fortunate to find opportunities with ease.

“Cybersecurity is on the top of people’s minds a lot these days,” Lori said. “You see it in the news all the time. The basic element of what we do is to characterize and address any risks that we might be facing.”

Now working at Travelers for over two years, Lori reflected on her transition and current work.

“I’ve got a fantastic team here at Travelers. This made the switch extremely easy. I’m so happy I was able to bring my particular skillset from the Air Force over to Travelers with general ease.”

In addition to providing meaningful career opportunities to military members and veterans, Travelers recognizes diversity and inclusion across all aspects and areas of our business. Lori believes Travelers does an excellent job of providing opportunities to diverse groups but sees the industry overall as less varied.

“The technical side can be intimidating in general, but especially if you’re a woman,” Lori said. “That’s why we focus a lot on upskilling. I think there are more opportunities available to women than they know about. “

Regardless of the team she is on, Lori believes that surrounding herself with the right people for the job and genuinely listening to feedback is the secret to her success.

“I’m not by any stretch the smartest person in the room,” Lori said. “But I know enough to get the right people around me. I try to get their input, which gives people some real vested interest in our success. We put people first; we’ll do amazing things.”

Listen to the full podcast to hear more about Lori’s journey.

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This article is part of an ongoing series to highlight our people by showcasing their path to Travelers, as well as their skills, interests and experiences.

Chi Zhang  started his Travelers career as a Senior Software Engineer for Claim Tech in the Technology Value Stream in April 2022 after working for a software company that did business with Travelers.

“I’ve enjoyed how positive the environment is here – I’m always learning and am allowed to try new things – there’s no better way to grow,” Chi said.

His team, called Momentum, recently rolled out an internal product that analyzes the engineering behind applications different teams are working on to test and ensure best practices and standards are applied to enhance the effectiveness of applications that handle customer and internal information.

“With our team being so new, it was great to see how we were able to experiment and learn as we went when developing a finished product that benefits our team and the larger engineering community. And for some of us, we’re using certain types of technology for the first time, which is both challenging and very rewarding.”

Chi credits the focus on learning and collaboration as one of the greatest benefits he enjoys on the team.

“I got my AWS Cloud certification shortly after joining Travelers, and I’m putting what I learned to use every day. We also have dedicated knowledge-sharing time and training sessions where we learn from each other, which is especially helpful for us junior engineers to learn from those with more experience.”

Chi’s team is working on several projects, including an enhancement to the Application Portfolio Management System that will allow for automation and increased accuracy within the tool.

Outside of work, Chi likes to play tennis and basketball. He has also been skiing for the past few years and goes hiking often in the New Hampshire mountains.

More than 250 Technology & Operations and Actuarial & Analytics employees joined a recent speed networking event hosted by Travelers’ internal professional business groups EmpowHER+ and Women in Actuarial & Analytics (WIAA) for employees across the Tech & Analytics organizations.

The virtual event created a networking opportunity between employees and Travelers’ senior leaders to promote collaboration, while enhancing personal and professional growth through upskilling and continuous learning.

“Learning and development are a crucial part of our culture at Travelers,” said Tracey Cournoyer, Vice President, Data Engineering, Enterprise Data & Analytics. “As a leader, it’s important for me to enable and encourage networking opportunities like this for our employees’ career development.”

Participants joined virtual “round robin” rooms with nearly 40 Travelers leaders from all businesses and disciplines and had the opportunity for introductions and question and answer sessions.

“I appreciate the chance to learn from other Travelers employees and the work they and their organizations do,” said Tracy Patterson, Director, Middle Market Field Operations. “An event like this helps me get a broader view of what is happening around the company. Networking is a very important part of career development.”

Networking opportunities like these allow employees with different responsibilities and duties to connect to gain new insights and a better understanding of how to succeed.

“This event provided access to our most senior leaders, along with an opportunity to meet and learn more about peers and partners,” Steve Palasek, Vice President, Engineering Infrastructure & Cloud Services said. “Networking opportunities like this show that senior leadership is invested in us. They are there to guide, but also learn and listen, which is empowering to the broader organization.”

Misty Kuckelman, VP of Business Insurance Middle Market Operations and co-leader of EmpowHER+, said her goal with this event was to go beyond typical networking opportunities and hopefully open the door for employees to connect with leaders and each other further.“We want to go beyond superficial introductions and into conversations that allow for opportunities to share perspectives outside everyone’s typical business area.”

“Chatting with leaders from across the company helped boost my own happiness as an employee,” said Hakema Hussein, Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics. “It was fun and the experience motivated me to achieve more career goals.”

EmpowHER+ is a Technology & Operations group designed to inspire women to achieve their full career potential and drive business outcomes for Travelers. WIAA is an enterprise-wide professional business group whose mission is to increase the influence of actuarial and analytic women at Travelers by enhancing culture and fostering business development.