Yafit Cohn is Travelers’ first Chief Sustainability Officer, responsible for leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts across the company. Under her leadership and through extensive research and comprehensive conversations with investors and senior individuals across the company – we identified 16 drivers of sustained value, which are discussed on our sustainability website. Each driver contributes to our long-term value, and each is essential to our ability to remain competitive and deliver on the Travelers Promise.

What does sustainability mean to Travelers?

Travelers takes a holistic view of sustainability; we believe that a company’s long-term value creation depends not only on its financial strategy but also on the way it manages various economic, environmental, and social factors.

We recognize that our long-term success requires that we do three things successfully:

• Perform today
• Transform tomorrow
• Make good on the Travelers Promise and fulfill our promise to our customers, communities, and employees – take care of each other

Why is it important for Travelers to put a greater focus on these efforts?

Customers, employees, and prospective hires have been showing greater interest in sustainability-related information. For us, it’s a no-brainer. Showcasing our drivers of sustained value is key to explaining our core belief that our long-term success depends not only on our business strategy and competitive advantages but also on keeping our promise. Only by faithfully keeping the Travelers Promise will we earn the support of key stakeholders essential to creating shareholder value. And only by successfully creating shareholder value will we earn the resources we need to keep the Travelers Promise. One is not possible without the other.

How will Travelers track and quantify the success of our sustainability efforts?

Our success will be apparent when our stakeholders appreciate Travelers’ deeply rooted recognition that long-term success depends on a commitment to all stakeholders. For us, sustainability is not a branding exercise — it’s how we conduct business and create shareholder value.

Kimberly H., Senior Sales Executive at Travelers, went in for a routine colonoscopy in January 2021 and left the appointment with the news that she had stage 4 colon cancer.

“I remember waking up and finding out,” Kimberly said, “I was shocked. These things always happen to someone else, never to you. I had been healthy my entire career.”

In 2019, Kimberly’s doctor had recommended she get the scan the following year as typical proactive health protocol. With the COVID-19 pandemic in full force in 2020, Kimberly pushed the appointment off. When her doctor found out, he urged her to go in 2021. “I called my doctor right after I found out the news and thanked him,” Kimberly explained, “If he hadn’t been so professionally demanding, I probably would’ve put it off for another year.”

Doctors quickly discovered that the cancer had already spread to Kimberly’s lungs. She underwent two surgeries to remove as much as possible and was assigned six months of chemotherapy post-op. “I was fortunate to only have to go through six months of chemo,” Kimberly said, “I saw stage 4 patients who were assigned 12 months ongoing. I had bought two wigs thinking I’d lose all my hair. I didn’t. I was lucky in many ways.”

Kimberly was on medical leave for nine months during treatment and is now in No Evidence of Disease (NED) status, also called remission. She is back at work, assisting Travelers’ agents and doing what she loves.

When asked how she stayed resilient during that time, Kimberly smiled. “My team and insurance industry partners were amazing,” she recalled, “They sent me cards, flowers, emails, prayers, meals – an overwhelming amount of support. Halfway through my chemo treatments my husband said we needed a bigger refrigerator to hold all the cards!”

It wasn’t just the emotional support that assisted Kimberly during this difficult time. It was the financial support as well. “Long-term disability is a benefit that you never think you will use,” Kimberly said, “I was so grateful that I had it. I didn’t have to worry about my job or my income while I was out. I could just focus on my health.”

Travelers’ comprehensive benefits program offers short- and long-term disability coverage, medical, dental and vision plans, paid time off, 401k Savings Program with company match and so much more. “The company has been great to work with,” Kim reflected, “During my leave, they reached out and helped me understand the LTD process, file paperwork, and even connected me with cancer support groups after treatment. I am one of the biggest advocates for our benefits package. I’m so thankful for my colleagues, my agents and for Travelers.”

In this Power of Travelers Is Us video, you will meet Jhavier L., a Software Engineer at Travelers.

While he understands and values the importance of sharing his authentic self at work, it has been a journey to grow his comfort level. He attributes his Travelers managers and mentors for guiding him along the way.

“Being earlier in my career, I don’t want to overstep or make anyone feel uncomfortable and I’m trying to kind of like find the space between which parts of myself should I leave at home,” Jhavier says in the video.  Throughout his career under the umbrella, his membership of the Travelers Pride and Allies Diversity Network facilitated mentor relationships that encouraged him to be more open with his team.

“[My mentor] is teaching me that you bring your entire self to work. So I think the true benefit of Travelers as a whole, even outside of the diversity networks, is that you still have spaces on your day-to-day job with your main team where you can feel comfortable and share who you are.”

Within an inclusive community and with the guidance Jhavier has received, he has found Travelers to be a company where he can grow his technology career and a workplace culture that invites all unique ideas, perspectives and people to the table.

“[My mentor] has helped me to understand the importance of being seen and visible so that people would have more respect for your identity in different spaces.”

Watch the full video to hear more about Jhavier’s journey.

For working parents and other caregivers, finding a balance between the priorities of work and family is a constant challenge. Over the past couple years, many working parents and caregivers have been particularly challenged to keep up with their personal and professional responsibilities. Employees with young children may still face issues finding childcare due to current health concerns or limited availability.

During these challenging times, having the support of colleagues and access to resources has never been more important. Our Working Parent and Caregiver Resource Group provides a forum for employees to network, share tips and resources and show support for each other as they strive to balance their personal and professional commitments. Some of the support and resources include:

• Live, Hosted Events – covering a broad range of topics and activities, from quick coffee chats, to kids’ dance parties, photo shares and panel discussions.
• Real-Time Open Forum – using Microsoft Teams, this forum was created so members can collaborate with other working parents and caregivers to answer real-time questions as they arise.
• Homework Helpers on Demand – employees willing to share their time virtually with a child of a Travelers employee who needs help with homework.

The Working Parent and Caregiver Resource Group was established in September, 2020 as a result of the pandemic and currently has over 1,300 members. This voluntary resource group is led by a team of selected employees to foster a supportive environment for parents and caregivers. All Travelers employees and temporary employees are welcome to join.

A Connecticut nonprofit that helps women build businesses has presented Tara N. Spain, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Travelers Foundation and Assistant Vice President, Community Relations for Travelers, with a 2021 Impact Award.

The Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) recognized Tara for “fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion and social change at Travelers and beyond.” The organization recognized honorees at its annual luncheon in October.

Travelers has partnered with WBDC for a number of years. Last year, Travelers helped launch its Equity Match Fund, which was designed to bring equitable resources to women entrepreneurs throughout Connecticut during the pandemic.

“The decision to establish a relationship with WBDC was easy because their mission to support economic prosperity for women aligns well with the values of Travelers – and my own personal values,” says Tara, who has worked at Travelers for 16 years. “WBDC is driving a collective effort to reduce the barriers that women business owners face, and I am proud to partner with them and be recognized by them.”

Watch Tara’s remarks [34:44] in the video below.

The company has made significant progress in reducing its carbon footprint, cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions* by more than 40% between 2011 and 2020. Over the next decade, Travelers will achieve carbon neutrality by reducing or offsetting an additional 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of eliminating the impact of about 125 million vehicle miles. In this way, Travelers will be doing its part to align with the target set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit the global temperature increase in the 21st century to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

This initiative is the latest in a series of enhancements Travelers has made in recent years to make its operations more eco-efficient. These include, among others:

• Cutting energy consumption in half at its largest owned campus (in Hartford, Connecticut).
• Increasingly relying on renewable energy sources to supply electricity at its owned facilities.
• Ensuring all of its owned campuses are ENERGY STAR® certified.

In addition to minimizing Travelers’ carbon footprint, the company’s climate strategy includes providing risk management products and services to alternative energy businesses through its Global Renewable Energy Practice, thereby facilitating the transition to a lower-carbon economy. In 2020, the company grew this business by approximately 40%.

More information about the company’s eco-efficient operations and climate strategy is available at sustainability.travelers.com.

Reforestation Commitment

For years, Travelers has supported American Forests, the country’s oldest nonprofit conservation group, to protect the nation’s forests and promote reforestation. In April 2019, Travelers launched an important and impactful initiative with American Forests, committing to fund the planting of one tree for each Personal Insurance billing account converted to paperless billing. Since then, the company has funded the planting of 1.5 million trees in areas most in need of reforestation while lowering its paper consumption by tens of millions of pages.

The company announced that it is extending its support of American Forests and expects to plant an additional 1.5 million trees by June 2022.

“Ensuring the vitality of our forests is critical to minimizing the effects of changing climate conditions,” said Michael Klein, Executive Vice President and President of Personal Insurance at Travelers. “We are excited and extremely proud to deepen our relationship with American Forests, and we look forward to making an important contribution to the reforestation of some of the country’s most endangered ecosystems.”

“Through our partnership with Travelers, we have made a substantial impact on some of America’s most essential natural landscapes – helping to grow forest resilience in the face of a changing climate and create a better, healthier environment for everyone,” said Jad Daley, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Forests. “We are grateful for Travelers’ generous continued support and look forward to achieving this new goal together.”

Customers can opt in to paperless billing, manage their accounts and access online claim resources by visiting MyTravelers.com.

*Scope 1 emissions include those that are directly generated by the company’s activities, and Scope 2 emissions include those that are indirectly generated by energy purchased by the company.

How long have you been with Travelers?

I’ve been fortunate to celebrate 35 years with the company. I started at Travelers as a Medical Case Manager, acting as liaison between our claim representatives, doctors, employers, and injured employees to ensure the proper medical care was in place to get them back to work.

What is your career background? How did you discover Travelers?

I have degrees in nursing and started my career in insurance. To be honest, I never knew that insurance companies hired nurses. It was 10 years after graduating that I was looking in the newspaper to see what was available for nurses if I moved back to the city I grew up in. I saw a Travelers job ad in the Sunday paper. It sounded interesting and I was one of four nurses hired for the claim department to pilot a new team to handle medical malpractice and Workers’ Compensation cases. The rest is history – 35 years later.

What has kept you with Travelers?

I found over the years there have been 2 key factors that have kept me here.

First, the opportunities. You truly own your own destiny. After my first role as a Medical Case Manager, I went on to serve as a Workers’ Compensation Claim Professional, an HR Manager, an Underwriting Development Program Director, a Talent Acquisition Manager, and more. In total, I’ve held 12 different positions across Underwriting, Claim, and Human Resources during my 35 years at the company.

Second, the people. Travelers encourages a diverse workforce of people who bring many ideas, skills and experiences to the table. This collaborative environment allows each of us to contribute to the success of Travelers while we grow and develop. It’s this and the leadership balance that helps drive the innovation which sets us apart.

Can you tell us about any stand-out moments you have had?

While I have had many unique and challenging opportunities over the years, one that I think about often is being given the once in a lifetime opportunity to create, develop and run the Underwriting Development Program for 7 years. It afforded me the career satisfaction of bringing the next generation of underwriters into the insurance industry.  It was deeply gratifying to see how Travelers’ leadership took a vested interest in the programs and kept in contact with many who completed the programs.

What would you tell someone who was thinking about exploring a career at Travelers?

The opportunities are endless. Remember, it won’t be easy, but you must start somewhere. This is just the first step on the stairwell, so don’t give up, and know that the best is yet to come!

By Mojgan Lefebvre
EVP, Chief Technology & Operations Officer, Travelers

This post is featured as an article on Mojgan Lefebvre’s LinkedIn profile page.

As a talented software engineer or data scientist, when you imagine your dream job, you may envision working in a thriving “startup” culture of innovation. You may look for a place where you can learn and work on a diverse set of technologies, from internet-connected devices and deep learning models to intelligent process automation, blockchain and machine learning.

Maybe insurance doesn’t immediately come to mind. But if you knew the extent of technology’s impact on the industry and the really cool work we do at Travelers in the Analytics and Tech organizations, you wouldn’t look further. I’ll share with you a few reasons why you should seriously consider a career in technology at Travelers, a leading provider of property casualty insurance for auto, home and business.

As a new computer science graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1990, I couldn’t have predicted a career path leading to my current role. I’ve always been drawn to opportunities that balance the transformative benefits of technology in people’s lives with the practical business outcomes that enable companies to grow. I recognize that same spirit of purpose-driven career choices in many of our Travelers’ technologists today.

I entered the insurance industry in 2010, after working across Asia, Europe and the Americas in the fields of high-tech and health care. I was amazed at the level of investment that the IT organization was making and how heavily the industry relied on data, analytics, risk management and digital capabilities.

In 2018, I was drawn to Travelers’ storied reputation for constant innovation in the world of insurance – especially the way the more than 165-year-old insurer nurtures and supports an openness to change. We’re focused on continuously transforming the way we engage with customers and collaborate with partners while extending our competitive advantage in risk expertise.

This work spans all our major business lines and has made a tangible difference in how well we were able to respond to the pandemic. I am proud of the way our Travelers teams have risen to every challenge over the past year.

Last March, we pivoted to a remote work environment. Our goal was to keep our people safe without compromising the high-quality service we provide to our customers, agents and brokers. To do that, our Tech and Operations teams had to equip 30,000 employees with all the necessary tools. And they did it seamlessly – we didn’t miss a beat.

Our success was the result of sound business continuity planning and the investments we have made in processes, tools and technologies over the years.

For instance, our AI teams quickly spotted unanswered questions related to COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic. Our data science and engineering teams jumped on the opportunity to improve our AI algorithms to quickly recognize COVID-related questions. This ensured that we could improve the customer experience by answering questions more accurately through our chatbot. With the volume of increased queries, the AI models continued to learn and improve over time.

Another example is our expanded Claim Virtual Visit tools, which Travelers’ Claim organization built to help our professionals safely interact with customers, claimants and other third parties and virtually conduct property or auto inspections. We saw the use of these tools multiply during the pandemic. Our cross-functional agile teams also got the opportunity to continually adjust capabilities based on customer feedback.

Across the insurance value chain, Travelers is leveraging advanced technologies, such as geospatial and deep learning models to come swiftly to the aid of customers whose houses are damaged from wildfires or weather disasters. Such solutions not only create a positive experience for our customers but also keep our employees safe as they work with our claimants. These are just a few examples of how our technologists see their work making a difference in people’s lives.

None of the above can happen without the talented technology professionals who recognize the vast career opportunities the insurance industry has to offer. During the pandemic, Travelers hired and virtually onboarded more than 300 employees into our Tech organization, and we remain committed to recruiting great new talent. Our technologists and data experts will continue to play a key role in helping to automate and improve the experiences of our customers, agents and brokers throughout the insurance life cycle.

If what you’ve read sounds like the kind of place where your dream job could flourish, I invite you to discover your career under the umbrella.

Connect with Mojgan Lefebvre and other Travelers technology leaders on LinkedIn.

How does a large company tackle complex business challenges in imaginative ways? One effective method is to tap into the creativity data-driven employees bring to the table, providing them development opportunities and generating outcomes to create the products that best serve our customers.

Bring on the friendly competition.

During the 2020 Virtual Predictive Modeling Competition, 75 companywide data scientists, data engineers and technology-oriented employees formed into 21 teams with one challenge: to develop a new model that helps our Claim organization more swiftly predict the severity of an accident at faster rates and improve payout predictions.

The eight-week competition gave participants the chance to work with new technologies and frameworks that deepened their skillsets and provided opportunities to collaborate across departments. The event was sponsored by Travelers Claim Business Intelligence and Analytics (CBIA) and Enterprise Data and Analytics (ED&A).

Teams relied on their knowledge of AWS cloud technology, graphics processing units, unstructured data sources and machine learning to analyze a range of information to develop and build their models.

According to the competition winners, reviewing data from customer interaction with claim handlers was paramount. “We didn’t reinvent the wheel, but our model predictions were sensible and could predict high severity claims with a high level of confidence,” said Murat Yasar, Analytics & Research, Business Insurance.

“I saw the competition as a great challenge. It was also a great way to network and share knowledge – which is really a precious opportunity, especially during the pandemic,” said Susan Ye, Data & Research, CBIA.

Travelers began these modeling competitions in 2016 with the goal of providing training opportunities around deep learning and image analytics. But the impact of the work goes far beyond training.

“The winning solution from the 2018 competition is still being used at Travelers – it’s like a Swiss army knife for data scientists,” said George Lee, who leads the Data Science team in ED&A’s AI Accelerator. “That’s our hope for this year’s winning solution.”