Employee Stories: Anna Tan

Stepping into the role of a Global Specialty Underwriter at The Hartford means exciting work on a variety of specialized, often complex accounts. It means leveraging data science and analytics to bring cutting-edge specialty solutions to market. It means genuine collaboration with high-performing teammates that value new ideas and encourage different perspectives, all in an environment where team members help one another – and have fun doing so.

 

It also means challenging yourself to continuously grow your skills and career, to operate with a start-up mentality inside a company with more than 200 years of proven expertise and award-winning customer service. It means being valued and celebrated every day for your specialized expertise.

 

Global Specialty provides insurance solutions for businesses around the world that require specialty coverage or that face complex, hard-to-place risks. In wholesale distribution channels, this is done through Navigators, a brand of The Hartford.

 

One of the dedicated professionals who joined The Hartford with Navigators in 2019 – bringing her deep underwriting expertise – is Anna Tan, head of Excess Casualty. Her Excess Casualty team within Navigators, a brand of The Hartford, provides America’s leading wholesale brokers with creative umbrella and excess solutions that focus on construction, manufacturing, real estate, retail and more.

 

Anna is a strong leader known for her expertise and passion for the industry and has recently been promoted into a larger role. She recognizes the importance of working for a company that fosters a culture of innovation, specialized expertise, career mobility and teamwork.

 

One important factor in the success of Anna’s team is collaboration.

 

“Knowledge-sharing is encouraged across the organization, regardless of geography,” says Anna. “Every transaction is a team effort, with the end result being an intricate collaboration of individual thought leading to an optimal collective resolution.”

 

The team’s willingness to share transcends job titles and levels of experience. Team members are humble and high performing, with a genuine desire to provide creative solutions.

 

This collaborative culture results in a best-case scenario for the insured by providing a solution that meets their unique risk needs, and for the brokers because they can feel confident that a team of underwriters with a diverse set of expertise has worked on the account solution. It’s an ideal outcome all around.

 

“Our daily interactions hinge on the tenets of fairness and respect. This is intentional and it runs bi-directionally from the top-down and the bottom-up,” Anna says.

 

A creative mindset is required to provide the best solutions for the complex, often unique risks of which Global Specialty provides coverage.

 

“We get excited about complex risks and work hard to find creative ways to insure them. We encourage our employees to make smart and calculated decisions; to make bold decisions when appropriate,” Anna says. “Our team feels supported and confident in the decisions they’re making, and that’s how we can drive innovation.”

 

Global Specialty is also investing in data science and analytics, which are incorporated into underwriting decisions and giving underwriters deeper insight into complex risks, and confidence in the solutions provided.

 

The Global Specialty organization is committed to providing specialty solutions and service that is unmatched in the market. However, the organization’s leaders are also committed to something else: the talented specialty underwriters. In fact, a core element to Global Specialty’s strategy is their commitment to talent. This is done in a variety of ways, with access to mentors being just one of them.

 

For example, individuals who are early in their careers are matched with a team member to support them in their development. These mentors help take the stress and uncertainty out of starting a new job or navigating their career by providing guidance, acting as a sounding board and offering encouragement.

 

As an employee grows in their career, they are thoughtfully selected and paired with leaders who provide advice and guidance to help achieve long term goals.

 

At every level and across functions, these mentoring relationships:

 

“To be the best, you need to work with the best. Iron sharpens iron, as the saying goes. The talent level in this company runs deep, and when you work side by side with these individuals, success is inevitable,” Anna says.

 

The organization also deeply values diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

 

Anna recognizes and appreciates this inclusive culture and believes that The Hartford and Global Specialty are taking real actions to bring it further. The organization has a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council that partners with leaders to bring continued focus to DEI. Global Specialty continues to support and invest in its employees both personally and professionally.

 

This support for employee’s goals also includes a commitment to continuous learning, skill-building and opportunities for career-mobility. Global Specialty has programs in place that allow specialists to go deeper in their craft or learn a new skill. New programs are developed and employees have the opportunity to take control of their career by partnering with their managers, mentors and other leaders in the organization to learn about how they can grow at the company.

 

The Hartford encourages skill-building and offers support in the form of tuition reimbursement and more, helping to clear the path for underwriters who want to grow.

 

“I have been fortunate enough to make a career in the Excess Casualty line and I am seeing an incredible growth trajectory in the industry. This is an area where talent can thrive,” says Anna.

 

Learn more about an exciting underwriting career at The Hartford and Navigators, a brand of The Hartford.