Rubino Heads Hartford PMO

Not satisfied with the No. 1 position in group disability sales, The Hartford ($27.1 billion in revenue) is embarking on an initiative to gain on competitors that enjoy greater in-force premium. To manage the initiative, the carrier's Group Benefits division appointed Andrew Rubino to run a new program management office.

As part of the initiative, Rubino will apply what he describes as an improvement on an already strong governance process to carry out about 30 projects over the next five years. "We wanted to create an organizational structure to keep a line of sight on all of the program's efforts," he says.

The work falls into six tracks -- market-segment strategy, customer acquisition and retention, operational servicing, claims processing, information management, and technology architecture -- each headed by a business lead and supported by an IT counterpart. "This way we can leverage both business and IT knowledge," Rubino says. He will oversee the process, managing any issues that arise between tracks, such as cost or resource allocation.

Rubino says the initiative is a refinement of the customer focus that has helped drive the Hartford-based carrier's success. "It's more a matter of meeting the needs of a changing marketplace and, to some extent, driving that change." --A.O.

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