2019 Executive Outlook | Heather Masterson, Travelers Canada

Canadian Underwriter approached Canadian P&C industry executives with two questions:

1) What is the single most important change the industry must make looking forward into 2019?

2) How might this change be brought about?

Their answers, featured in our 2019 Executive Outlook, may provide you with insight as you set your own agenda for change.

Heather Masterson, President & CEO, Travelers Canada

Our industry must embrace change and take the lead in digitally transforming our businesses to meet the evolving needs of brokers, customers and employees. We’ve seen a total of $1.7 billion in global insurtech investment dollars raised in 2016 alone, doubling since 2014, mainly from outside the insurance and reinsurance industry. We cannot afford to wait and let new entrants from other sectors, such as the technology sector, become the drivers of innovation in our own backyard. We have an incredible opportunity to seize, because we have the in-house expertise built over decades of serving brokers and customers in the field of risk protection.

It’s not only about investing in technology. True transformation starts with facing the unknown and using an adaptive mindset to explore and re-imagine all aspects of how we do business. At Travelers Canada, we embrace a “test-and-learn” culture to unearth new ideas, pilot those ideas, and measure the potential for market success and scalability. We aim to accelerate this cultural shift by enabling our employees to transition into this new way of thinking and working. However, change of this nature will take time. This is where leadership is critical; not only within our own organization, but within the industry at large.