How this insurance leader is navigating the industry's changing tides

How this insurance leader is navigating the industry’s changing tides | Insurance Business Canada

Insurance News

How this insurance leader is navigating the industry’s changing tides

“It’s an industry where you really have to continue to learn and adapt”

Insurance News

By
Mika Pangilinan

Amid the ever-changing landscape of the insurance industry, Greg Smith stands out as a testament to resilience and adaptability.

With a career spanning over two decades, Smith has risen through the ranks of Crawford & Company (Canada) to be appointed the organization’s president in 2022.

Smith’s story may seem smooth sailing, considering that he has spent his entire career at Crawford. But his time at the claims management provider has brought him a wealth of experience and an ability to navigate unexpected twists.

Smith initially joined Crawford as a trainee claims adjuster. He also took part in the marketing and communications section of the company, which he said provided him with a deep understanding of the organization and the issues affecting its clients in the marketplace.

Recounting his time on the marketing side of the business, he said he was able to really comprehend Crawford’s corporate purpose of “restoring lives, businesses, and communities.”

“We do it hundreds of thousands of times a year, but it really hits home when you understand the impact that one claim has on one individual,” he said.

Now that he’s leading the second-largest international Crawford operation by revenue outside of the US, Smith said the adaptability that he has learned plays an important role in his work.

“It’s an industry where you really have to continue to learn, adapt, and evolve as you’re trying to keep pace and keep ahead of the market,” he said.

This focus on adaptability has become even more crucial in recent years due to the accelerating pace and size of claims in the Canadian market.

“Anyone who works in claims will tell you that no two days are the same, and that has rung true over the last five or six years in the Canadian industry,” Smith said. “We’re absolutely dealing with a pace and size of catastrophic events that aren’t typical for the Canadian marketplace.”