My Travelers Journey: Featuring Finance’s David Harris

When David Harris immigrated from Jamaica to the United States in 2015 in search of greater professional opportunities, he had his eye on a career in accounting and finance, his passions. Unfortunately, he discovered a “pesky” roadblock: Only half of his associate degree credits in business studies from Regent College of the Caribbean transferred to the United States. So, David enrolled at Manchester Community College to complete his degree while working full time as an exterminator.

“Working at the pest control company is where my interpersonal skillset really developed. I took the time to listen to customers and they saw how eager I was to help them,” says David.

Given David’s exceptional customer service, a customer thought he would be a good fit at Travelers and recommended that he explore career possibilities there. Following that sage advice, after graduating from community college, David joined Travelers as an intern on the Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis team, where he supported earnings call preparations and delivered key financial information to management.

David then earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Central Connecticut State University and completed another internship at Travelers; this time with the Corporate Audit Claim Operations team.

“Since day one I have felt supported at Travelers and my managers and mentors have helped me grow both professionally and personally.”

David is on his first rotation of the three-year Travelers’ Finance Leadership and Development Program (FLDP) currently supporting Tech & Ops Finance. In August he transitions to his second rotation where he will work in Business Insurance with the National Accounts Finance team.

“I’m incredibly excited to go through the rotations in the FLDP. The program has been helpful in allowing me to explore potential career paths in different business areas early in my career.

David’s work for Tech & Ops Finance also includes supporting multi-year and annual planning processes, workforce planning and reporting, resource cost trend analyses (running monthly reports of software and contractor costs used for providing insights to management) and monthly operating review packages.

“Attention to detail is what got me into accounting, and it is a skill that is put to test every time I work on a monthly report.”

David and his wife have two boys, Caleb and David Jr. He enjoys playing soccer, fishing, hiking and going to the gym. For a taste of Jamaica, he makes traditional jerk chicken and pork dishes on the grill.