An Industry Unique in its Generosity

From the late 1970s to the early ’90s, the National Association of Life Underwriters (now the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors) was led by the legendary Jack Bobo.

He was a relentlessly genial, buoyant, and constant apostle for the institution of life insurance, regularly extolling its power in a column for National Underwriter magazine. To him, life insurance was love, translated into currency.

I compare that to most of my own columns in this space, where in the last year I have spewed my contempt for trial lawyers, third-party litigation financiers, profiteering specialty drug executives, polarizing politicians, and non-transparent pharmacy benefit managers. I’m good at snarling.

As I tried to channel my inner Jack Bobo (who passed away a couple of years ago at age 96), I came across an item in my inbox from my friend Mitch Andrews of Chicago-based insurance advisory firm Plexus. Mitch and Mike Pesch of Gallagher serve on the executive committee of a golf event that had just raised $2 million for the American Cancer Society. He wanted to know whether Leader’s Edge could highlight the industry’s strong support for this effort, from carriers to brokers, from property and casualty to health.

So, Mitch, here is the well-deserved shout-out to the insurance industry and the companies that particularly supported this worthy event: Chubb, Travelers, Zurich, Blue Cross, UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Lincoln, MetLife, and Aflac.

Honestly, we could fill this entire magazine with the exceptional charitable endeavors of our member executives and employees at all levels. As someone who rattles the tin cup myself for The Council Foundation and other causes, I find that the commercial insurance sliver of the business community is exceptionally generous. I believe this has something to do with the fact that the products we sell are a promise that someone will be there when life takes an unexpected turn. That core mission is a short distance from charity.

This has been front of mind in recent months as I’ve engaged in a strategic review of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF). As the organization changed leaders, its governing board contemplated an IICF 2.0. A special committee of the board tasked me and Brady Kelley of the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association to assess and help define the mission of this renewed organization. (Brady has done the bulk of the work.) We have confidence that the IICF board will implement terrific changes to propel the organization forward in the coming months.

Most striking about this review has been the realization that, in addition to the tens of millions of dollars that the IICF has raised to address food insecurity, homelessness, disaster relief, and other issues, insurance industry professionals have contributed hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours over more than three decades.

When we were asked to assist this project, our first job was to compare the IICF against charitable foundations in other industry sectors. How do we compare on expenses and programmatic costs? How do we underscore the value of thousands of volunteer efforts by industry employees? How focused is our mission?

Turns out there are no direct comparisons where competitors in an industry come together for worthy causes. Not in the financial services world, not in the business sector generally. Our sector is unique.

There are so many examples of this unique generosity. Many philanthropic efforts come to mind.

NFP CEO Doug Hammond and his wife Trish recently established the Hammond Family Center for Breast Surgery at Northwell Health in Manhattan. Thanks to Trish’s early detection and intervention by Northwell, the Hammonds were inspired to make her exceptional treatment much more widely available. They seeded the center with $5 million and have raised an additional $5 million.

Brown & Brown President and CEO Powell Brown has raised massive awareness (and more than $6 million) as one of the founders of the Shifting Gears on Brain Health initiative. Their cycling of the French Alps supports organizations working in the areas of brain and mental health research, education, prevention, and treatment.

Peter Krause, Southeast region president and CEO at the Marsh McLennan Agency, is a longtime volunteer leader within the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. His MMA Charity Classic has raised more than $4 million for the cause since 2018.

Mike Christian, founder of Risk Strategies, supported his wife Diane nearly 20 years ago in establishing Someone Else’s Child Foundation, dedicated to supporting youth causes in education, the arts, living with disabilities, economic justice, and collective action.

Frank Nutter, recently retired from leading the Reinsurance Association of America, has served as the board chairman for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, now the largest nongovernment funder of childhood cancer research grants. Founded by three reinsurance executives in 2000, St. Baldrick’s has deep industry support. Frank has had his head shaved on six occasions (including once in The Council office) to raise dollars for this cause.

The brokerage and carrier community has been the cornerstone of the success of the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne, which has raised tens of millions of dollars for research in the quarter-century since I founded the organization with my wife Dana. I am deeply blessed to be surrounded by such a giving community.

Several years ago, I was asked to speak at an IICF gala. I wanted to give the audience more than my usual bland observations about insurance public policy and politics. I found inspiration just below the windows of The Council’s office in Washington, D.C. On Pennsylvania Avenue stands a statue, more than 100 years old. The pedestal is engraved on its sides with these three words: Faith, Hope, Charity.

Anyone who ever attended a Christian wedding has heard the words from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “These things abide: faith, hope, love. And the greatest of these is love.” Growing up Methodist in the South, though, we used the King James version of the Bible: “These things abide: faith, hope, charity. And the greatest of these is charity.”

I always thought that charity seemed so much lesser a word than love. Charity is what you often feel compelled to support, maybe for a tax deduction.

Having seen (and benefited from) the kindness and generosity of others, especially in our industry sector, I now see it differently. Charity is love. And even more.