Chu Resigns SVP & E-Business Position at The Hartford

John Chu has resigned from his position of senior vice president, e-business & technology at The Hartford's property/casualty company. According to a memo circulated internally at The Hartford, Chu has chosen to spend more time with his family. According to sources, Chu's contract with The Hartford had expired and he declined to renew it.

Observers familiar with The Hartford say that Chu's resignation comes at a time when the company is looking to appoint an enterprise CIO to manage the carrier's P&C, life and corporate IT but a spokesperson for the Hartford says that the company will seek a permanent replacement for Chu. Currently The Hartford has CIOs in place for both its P&C and life insurance IT operations. Gary Plotkin is CIO of the P&C company and Brian O'Connell heads IT for Hartford Life.

Chu joined The Hartford in 1999 to manage strategic business development for the company's personal lines unit, of which he later became chief financial officer. He took the job of senior vice president of e-business & technology in 2003. In that role Chu instituted an enterprise-wide approach to The Hartford's P&C IT organization. As the organization sought to meet the demands of the emerging realities of e-commerce and an increasingly customer-oriented business environment, Chu emphasized IT's role as a strategic partner rather than a support organization. He helped to reshape the IT organization's skill profile through the establishment of a dedicated IT HR office, and he drove greater IT investment rigor through enhance governance procedures and an IT CFO office. In 2004 Insurance & Technology recognized Chu's accomplishments by naming him one of that year's Elite 8 senior technology officers.

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