Risk and Insurance Magazine
February 2004

Hitting the High Notes
BY PAULA L. GREEN

Reprinted with permission courtesy of Risk and Insurance Magazine (www.riskandinsurance.com)

Carol G. Barton has been instrumental in strengthening Affiliated FM over the past seven years into an operating unit that works with companies in the middle property insurance sector.

It wasn't necessarily the easiest path toward becoming a top insurance industry executive, but it's the one Carol G. Barton successfully chose nearly 30 years ago. Only 21 years old and armed with typing skills and a business school degree. Barton entered the world of insurance as a secretary in the Montreal, Canada, sales office of the former Allendale Mutual Insurance Co.

Three decades later, at the age of 51, Barton is one of the industry's top-ranking female executives and oversees more than 200 employees on three continents as a manager at FM Global.

With a successful mix of sensitive leadership skills, high personal standards and a strong work ethic, Barton moved steadily through the ranks at Allendale-which, along with Arkwright and Protection Mutual Insurance companies, as well as Factory Mutual-merged in 1999 to create FM Global. Barton assumed her current position as senior vice president of commercial lines in July 2001. Gross written premiums in the division have about doubled from US$287 million at the end of 2001 to an estimated US$570 million for 2003. Barton's responsibilities include direct oversight of Affiliated FM-which targets mid-size companies with annual property premiums of less than US$250,000-as well as Mutual Boiler Re and
FM Global's cargo.

The Montreal native, who is divorced, not only raised two sons as she rose through the ranks in a professional world dominated by men, but took numerous management and technical courses inside and outside the company to hone her management techniques and build her knowledge of the complex insurance industry.

"I worked very, very hard to move to the next step ... but, I have a strong work ethic and I enjoy the challenge" says Barton. "But, it wasn't necessarily the easiest way to do it" She now lives in Cranston, a suburb outside Providence, R.I., USA near FM Global's corporate headquarters in Johnston, R.I., USA.

Barton says she isn't even sure if it would be possible to rise through the ranks in today's increasingly competitive business world, but she believes the process has given her a different view on running a company and a better understanding of people.

"I think I have a good understanding of how people perceive things," adds the soft-spoken executive. "It's an advantage."

Barton also says being a woman in an industry and a company-FM Global is rife with male engineers- dominated by men also has proved advantageous.

"I found that being a woman was an anomaly and it helped ... people wanted to deal with a woman" says Barton, who maintains her fluency in French. "I never felt discriminated against. People were always very helpful." Senior managers at Allendale and FM Global were always very encouraging and supportive of a female employee dedicated to moving up the corporate hierarchy.

The company always provided the room to move forward and to perform and grow in," adds Barton. "FM Global is willing to help people develop. They provide considerable internal training and career development." Barton has incorporated that attentiveness into her own army of management skills and believes it is vital to be involved with people and act as a mentor. "It's important to network and mentor and work with people" she says. "You can learn things through the eyes of others." She says several mentors in her company and in the industry helped her rise to the important position she has now.

A talented musician in her youth who studied piano at the McGill Conservatory of Music and played violin in the Montreal Junior Symphony, Barton says secretarial work was one of the few occupations-along with professions like teaching and nursing-that were truly open to women at that time in Canada. And, when she started in the sales department at Allendale after graduating from Sir George Williams Business School with a business diploma, she knew she enjoyed business and wanted to work on the operational side of the insurance industry. "It took me five years to move into a more significant role," says Barton. "I found the risk engineering component fascinating and, as I learned about insurance, I gained a perspective on what makes the world operate."

One of the turning points in her career, she recalls, was when she convinced a prospective client in Nova Scotia in the pulp and paper industry to invest US$250,000 to guard against potential property threats-prior to writing the account. In 1978, after completing nine courses on a range of insurance subjects, she received an associateship from the Insurance Institute of Canada. The AIIC designation is the equivalent of the CPCU designation in the United States.

Today, Barton is still using that initial excitement about the business world to help expand Affiliated FM's business at home as well as overseas. While FM Global has captured about 42 percent of the U.S. commercial property insurance market, its traditional customer base has been with the large corporate customers-some of them doing business globally.

Barton has been instrumental in strengthening Affiliated FM over the past seven years into a operating unit that works with companies in the middle-market property insurance sector-many which budget less than US$250,000 for their annual property insurance premiums.

Affiliated FM is giving midsize companies what risk executives at large corporations have come to admire about FM Global: finely tuned property loss prevention techniques and risk assessment skills that blend the best of underwriting and engineering expertise.

"There's two groupings of risks ... one is human element, such as how a company is operating a facility and if they're prepared if a loss occurs ... do they have the sprinkler control valves open, for example. And, there's a second set of risks that are specific to that company." she adds. "Our engineering services help customers identify their risks and then we create customized solutions."

The client-sensitive manager is always on the lookout for strategies that make
FM Global an easy business partner. For example, in 1998, while vice president and manager at Affiliated FM, she developed an automation platform that reduces the time it takes for customers to receive their policies. "Our broker partners have told us Affiliated FM rates number one in the timely and accurate delivery of policy documentation." says Barton. "Our proposal is identical to the policy declarations, which eliminates rework for the broker. And, with a two-week turn-around time that is much quicker than the industry average, our brokers can deliver an accurate Affiliated FM policy to their customers promptly and move onto the next transaction." While at Affiliated FM, she also directed a range of functions, including engineering and underwriting for FM Global's commercial property operations.

Barton is now moving Affiliated FM's products and services-which include an enhanced all-risk property policy called "proVision" backed by a complete line of other products-into the international arena. In less than two years, she's set up an Affiliated FM presence in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and Germany. And she doesn't plan to stop there. She has her eye on setting up shop in other European countries. "Our key advantage is offering very broad conservative products that meet our customers' needs," says Barton. "We're responsive in service and provide consistent delivery in all our operations. And, we understand the risks associated with the customer's business. We're very successful because it goes back to the concepts we use: engineering expertise and underwriting know-how."

Over the past year, the introspective business executive has been getting the job done by spending three to four weeks on the road every month. Her travel schedule included dozens of trips that took her from France to Australia to Los Angeles. And, after all, why should anyone be surprised? Trotting around the globe is par for the course from a senior executive at a company by the name of
FM Global.

But, all the work doesn't faze the modest, but driven, executive, who is typically at the office before 8 a.m. and puts in 12-hour days. She relaxes by reading, working out at the gym, playing the piano occasionally and taking advantage of the many cultural pursuits available in the cities she visits.

"I love the challenge, the diversity and the opportunity to meet people from different cultures and all walks of life. And, I enjoy working in a service environment focused on making a difference by providing brokers and customers with products and services that not only help meet their business needs, but sustain their business continuity" says Barton. "I have found the insurance business to be a looking glass at the world."

Paula Green writes regularly for Risk and Insurance. Her last article was on the vice president of risk management at Greyhound. She can be reached at riskletters@lrp.com