Scalable Cross-Selling

Going from enterprise CIO to divisional CIO may sometimes be a step down, but that's far from the case for former Zurich Life technology boss Russ Bostick. Hard on the heels of Bank One's acquisition of Zurich Life in 2003, Bank One was in turn swallowed up by an even bigger fish, JPMorgan Chase (New York; $1.1 trillion in assets), in July. When it was all over, Bostick found himself at the IT helm of a new entity, Chase Insurance, which combines the former Zurich Life with agency operations from both Bank One and JPMorgan Chase.

In carrying forward the business channels and traditional products of all three companies as CIO of Chase Insurance, Bostick now leads an organization with what he calls a "double personality," controlling both manufacturing and distribution technology. At Zurich Life, Bostick says, "We never really sold other companies' products, but in [the Chase Insurance] environment, in order to have a full product shelf for the bank's very diverse set of clients, we sell many products for other carriers as well."

Among the advantages of the union of the three insurance entities, Chase Insurance enjoys a leadership position in three lines of business: term life, fixed annuities and debt protection, Bostick says. And, he adds, "We have the investment capital to make those businesses we choose to be in very scalable, which on our own the three of us might not have been able to do as effectively."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio