NEW YORK & WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) today announced it has
established The Travelers Institute as a means of participating in
public policy dialogue on matters of interest to the property casualty
insurance sector, as well as the financial services industry more
broadly. The Travelers Institute will draw upon the industry expertise
of Travelers' senior management and the technical expertise of its risk
professionals and other experts to provide information, analysis and
recommendations to public policy makers and regulators.
"Travelers is committed to being a constructive participant in the
public policy dialogue with regard to important issues facing our
industry," said Jay S. Fishman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Travelers. "We hope to contribute to solutions on a wide range of issues
that face our customers, our agents and brokers, and the communities we
serve."
Based in Washington, D.C., The Travelers Institute will be led by Joan
Woodward, who joined Travelers in 2008 as Executive Vice President of
Public Policy. With a career that blends Washington policymaking
experience with financial services expertise, Woodward served for a
dozen years on Capitol Hill on both the House Budget and Senate Finance
Committee staffs, before beginning nearly a decade at Goldman Sachs
where she served as the founding Executive Director of The Global
Markets Institute.
Woodward will coordinate with the Public Policy Advisory Committee of
the company's Board of Directors, which includes Janet Dolan, Kenneth
Duberstein, Cleve Killingsworth Jr. and Blythe McGarvie.
In addition, The Travelers Institute has convened a separate Advisory
Board comprising distinguished public policy and industry experts, whose
perspectives will assist in framing and guiding the work of the
Institute. Inaugural members of the Advisory Board are Richard I.
Beattie, Leslie Disharoon, Richard Herring and Alice Rivlin.
Richard I. Beattie, Chairman of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, has a
long record of public service that includes serving as a Special
Presidential Emissary to Cyprus under the Clinton administration and as
General Counsel of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare
during the Carter administration. In 1980, as Director of the Transition
and Counsel to the Secretary of Education, he led efforts to organize
the U.S. Department of Education. He is also Chairman of the Board and
founder of New Visions for Public Schools, a not-for-profit organization
that develops and implements programs to improve public education in New
York City.
Leslie Disharoon, former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
of Monumental Corporation, served as Chairman of MSD&T Funds Inc. and
Johns Hopkins Health System Endowment. He is a Director of AT&T
Government Solutions Inc., Aegon USA Inc. and MSD&T Funds Inc., and a
former Director of The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Richard Herring is Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking and
Professor of Finance at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
where he is also Co-Director of The Wharton Financial Institutions
Center. The author of more than 100 articles, monographs and books on
financial regulation and international finance, Herring serves as
Co-Chair of the U.S. Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee and was a
member of the Group Thirty Study Groups on the Reinsurance Industry and
on Global Institutions, National Supervision and Systemic Risk.
Alice Rivlin, former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, founding
Director of the Congressional Budget Office and former Director of the
White House Office of Management and Budget, serves as a visiting
professor at the Public Policy Institute of Georgetown University. She
is a Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings
Institution, where she directs Brookings Greater Washington Research.
Rivlin also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the New York
Stock Exchange.
Travelers has a long-standing tradition of corporate responsibility and
community involvement. For example, in 2008, Travelers partnered with
other industry leaders to develop a plan to provide stable, affordable
and private market-based catastrophic wind insurance to residents along
the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts. In 2009, as part of its first
initiative, The Travelers Institute has partnered with The Heinz Center
and Ceres to develop the Resilient Coasts Blueprint for Action. Details
on both initiatives are available at www.travelersinstitute.org.
Travelers is a leading provider of property casualty insurance for auto,
home and business. For more information, visit www.travelers.com.
Source: The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Contact: The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Media:
Jennifer Wislocki, 860-277-7458
or
Erin Haberman, 860-277-3617
or
Institutional Investors:
Gabriella Nawi, 917-778-6844
or
Andrew Hersom, 860-277-0902
or
Individual Investors:
Marc Parr, 860-277-0779