Travelers 2007 Annual Report Download - page 6

2007 Annual Report
4
2007 marks inaugural year
of Travelers Championship
In 2007, the inaugural Travelers
Championship marked a new opportunity
for the company to support the Greater
Hartford community and to enhance its
brand recognition.
The 55-year tradition of the PGA TOUR
event at the TPC River Highlands was in
jeopardy with no title sponsor when
Travelers stepped in to save the tournament
and create the Travelers Championship –
a move that was viewed as being good for
business and good for the community.
Primary beneficiaries of the Travelers
Championship are The Hole in the Wall
Gang Camp, serving children facing serious
illnesses, and the Greater Hartford Jaycees,
a leadership development community
service organization. In the inaugural year
of the Travelers Championship, the tourna-
ment doubled the previous year’s charity
donation, generating more than $650,000
for charity and producing millions of dollars
in economic development for the region.
The June 18 – 24 tournament drew 240,000
spectators who viewed golf greats such
as Vijay Singh and returning champion
J.J. Henry. Travelers offered hospitality
for more than 2,800 agents and received
extremely positive feedback from them on
the experience.
Also, the Travelers Championship was
nationally broadcast on CBS and the Golf
Channel and drew strong media coverage
with more than 3,000 stories that high-
lighted Travelers’ sponsorship.
The 2008 Travelers Championship will be
held June 16 – 22.
with claims. In 2007, in addition to launching our new Claim
training facility, we continued to expand our highly-rated
auto claim service facilities, opening seven new locations,
for a total of 45 in 15 states.
Another Claim initiative significantly reduced the time
from an automobile accident to an inspection to repair.
This has improved the quality of our customer service while
simultaneously reducing associated costs. We handle tens
of thousands of auto claims every year, and the extent
to which we can improve the process even slightly results
in significant savings. The success of this initiative can be
seen in our personal auto claim severity results, which are
better than industry trends.
We also have implemented an internal claim adjuster
program that will provide us with a very real competitive
advantage following catastrophic events. In 2005, during
Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, we and other insurers
were heavily reliant on independent claim adjusters. As
the industry reached out to outside adjusters, they were
in incredibly short supply – one of the challenges we and
others faced in responding to those storms. To address this,
John J. Albano*+
Executive Vice President –
Business Insurance
Bruce A. Backberg
Senior Vice President &
Corporate Secretary
David E. Baker
Senior Vice President,
Chief Compliance Officer
& Group General Counsel
Scott C. Belden+
Senior Vice President –
Reinsurance
D. Keith Bell
Senior Vice President –
Accounting Standards
Jay S. Benet*+
Vice Chairman &
Chief Financial Officer
Diane D. Bengston+
Senior Vice President –
Enterprise Human Resources
Andy F. Bessette*+
Executive Vice President &
Chief Administrative Officer
William A. Bloom*+
Executive Vice President –
Insurance Operations
and Systems
Kathleen L. Bolduc*+
Executive Vice President &
Chief Marketing Officer
Shane K. Boyd+
Vice President –
Communications & Branding
James W. Chapman+
Senior Vice President –
First Party Business Group
Charles J. Clarke*+
Vice Chairman
John P. Clifford Jr.*+
Executive Vice President –
Human Resources
William E. Cunningham Jr.
*+
Senior Vice President –
Business Insurance
Irwin R. Ettinger*+
Vice Chairman
Jay S. Fishman*+
Chairman, Chief Executive
Officer & President
Management