Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

Windsor location represents our largest site. e region offers an educated workforce as well as a strong pool of talent with financial services experience," he said. Brian W. MacLean, president and COO of Travelers, is also bullish on Hartford and all that it has to offer. He said his company's recent an- nouncement of a 10-year extension to its support of the Travelers Championship — an annual professional golf event that benefits local charities and pumps millions into the local economy — "confirms that we are, and always have been, committed to Connecticut. We have offices all over the world. We have approximately 30,000 employees, and over 7,000 of them live and work in Connecticut. We were founded on Main Street in Hartford. We're a Connecticut-based company. Our roots are here, and we intend to stay here." At the same time, no one seems to be taking the industry for granted. e OIFS, tasked with developing strategies and programs to attract and retain insurance and financial services firms in Connecticut, collaborates with other DECD departments to offer a package of tax credits and incentives. It also offers supportive services to all IFS companies that are already located in the state, or are considering moving here. In addition, the OIFS works closely with the IFS Cluster, established in 2003 by the Me- troHartford Alliance, to provide direct assistance to these companies and promotes the region as a great place for them, and others like them, to do business. Some 30 major IFS firms are mem- bers of the cluster, which fosters collaboration with educational in- stitutions and government to help the sector grow. Recent initiatives include a week-long actuarial boot camp for high school stu- dents, held in Windsor last July, and "Get Hired," the state's largest IFS career fair for college students, held in January 2014. Some people have pointed to recent insurance job losses and divestiture of particular lines of business as indications that the industry is in trouble here. But changes in insurers' areas of focus and employee ranks are really nothing new. Acquisitions, mergers and sales of specific insurance lines have been very common in the industry's history, causing job numbers to ebb and flow. A couple of decades ago, according to Travelers' MacLean, many insurance companies were "big, multi-line organizations. ey did a little bit of everything, and have since become specialized. Now, Aetna is just health and Travelers is just property/casualty." Moves like these, he noted, allow a company to concentrate on its areas of greatest strength. Kreczko concurred, saying, "At e Hart- ford, we have some very, very strong businesses that have been consistent performers for the company. We've recently decided to focus on our four go-ahead businesses and exited some of the other businesses, including individual life and annuities, so we could focus on areas with strong market position and revenues." 54 Doing Business in Connecticut | 2014 Industry sPOtLIGHt › ' e insurance industry has its own supply chain, very much like manufacturing, except that the insurance supply chain is related to services. ' —Barbara Fernandez, Director of the Office of Insurance and Financial Services at the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Insurance & Financial Services Notable Insurance Companies in CT Aetna, Har ord Cigna, Bloomfield The Har ord, Har ord ING/Voya, Har ord Lincoln Financial Group, Har ord Mass Mutual, Enfield Pruden al, Har ord Travelers, Har ord United Healthcare, Har ord XL Group, Har ord Brian MacLean President & COO, Travelers By Carol Latter T ravelers is a homegrown business entity — a prop- erty and casualty insurance firm with a history in Hartford that extends back more than 150 years. Its president and chief operating officer, Brian W. MacLean, also has deep roots in the region. MacLean, who grew up in New York and began his career in public accounting, married a girl from southeast Massachusetts, and the two chose to settle some- where in the middle. MacLean initially got a job at an ac- counting firm in Hartford, but in 1988 joined Travelers. He started out as a director of the corporate financial planning group. "It was a great opportunity to really get exposed to all the different things that were going on at Travelers, and all the different businesses they were in- volved in," he said. MacLean stayed with Travelers through a series of corporate evolutions that started with an acquisition of the company by Citigroup and later, aer a series of spinoffs and acquisi- tions, a merger with St. Paul Cos. in 2003. During those changes, MacLean was ascending the corporate ladder at Travel- ers, becoming president of select accounts in 1999. In June 2008, he became president and COO. Twenty-six years aer he joined Travelers, Brian and Kathy MacLean con- sider Connecticut home, and they still live in Vernon. "It's where we landed when we came here and we never le," he said. And what does MacLean love about Connecticut? "I think it's got a great quality of life. You can live in a nice environment but be close to urban areas, like Boston and New York... In short, it's a great place to live, work and raise a family," he said. ❑ Source: 2013 Connecticut Insurance Market Brief > Continued from page 53 PrOFILE PHOTO/COURTESY

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