First computer was "game changer" for Traveler's Tracey Cournoyer

Tracey Cournoyer got her first computer at 13 and knew she wanted to have a career in technology. “That really was the beginning of my journey.” 

Cournoyer is the chief information and operations officer of bond and specialty insurance (BSI) at Travelers. In 1990, in Hartford, Connecticut, Travelers was recruiting on her college campus. “Did I think I wanted to go into insurance? No. But have I thought about leaving it? No, I’ve been very happy here.”

This is Cournoyer’s second stint at Travelers, she returned to the insurer in 2007 after working at United Healthcare for 12 years. 

Cournoyer really enjoys the work she is doing. “I always joke to people around me that I twirl into work every day because I get to do this,” she said. 

She spent a lot of her career as a data engineer and she says there’s no better industry to take advantage of technologies like artificial intelligence and Gen AI. Cournoyer has played a pivotal role in cloud migration and modernizing data and analytics for the company.

“Insurance has been collecting data about everything for decades. … We could leverage all of that data, plus third-party data to really help us on our Gen AI journey,” Cournoyer said, adding that she finds people within her organization who are technical and sets aside time on a weekly basis to speak with them. “I get to learn a lot about what’s going on and how I can apply the latest technology to what I’m doing everyday but it also gives an opportunity for technical folks lower in my organization to get exposure to leadership.”

Cournoyer is leadership advisor of EmpowHER+, the Travelers’ technology and operations professional business group for women and allies. Cournoyer and Mojgan Lefebvre, EVP and chief technology and operations officer, founded the group. She is also on an industry board for a local technology high school and sponsors junior achievement days at the junior high school. 

“I know that if I can get down to the junior high folks that’s when, especially girls start to really teed around: ‘Do I want a career in STEM or not?’ … Being able to do my job as well as I do affords me a position to give back to my community.”

There are many options within the insurance industry, explains Cournoyer. She tells young people you can do sales, you can be a drone pilot, you can do technology, you can be an underwriter, you can be a lawyer. “There’s so much to be done here.”

For her, when she takes on a new team she talks about her values including honesty and integrity, trust and family.

“When I talk about family it doesn’t mean who I go home to every night. We as a team, our family, and we have to have fun. That’s what drives me every day. We’re doing great work, we’ve got credibility, we’ve got trust, we’re working together and guess what, we’re having fun while we do it.”

Cournoyer added that she is adaptable and she tries to interact with her direct reports in their style. “I try to adapt my style to be able to meet my leaders in my team where they are because I think it’s important. I don’t want to be one of those leaders where everyone feels like they have to change for me.” 

Cournoyer shared she is most excited for the complete technology transformation of the management liability program. Also, Travelers recently acquired Corvus Insurance, a cyber insurance managing general underwriter, for $435 million and Cournoyer highlighted the enjoyment of bringing two technology companies together.

“There’s no place I’d rather be,” Cournoyer said. But she does think ahead: “I also know that I won’t always be here. So I’m working on who my successors are. I’ve been working on getting my successors into this organization, so they can start to learn this business as well. So, when my time comes to be tapped to go somewhere else, and I’m not planning on going anywhere, right now, I’ve got the right people underneath me that continue to forge forward.”

She shared some advice: “When someone asks you to go do a role, even though it might not feel like it’s the right one at the time, the fact that someone is asking you to do it, go out on a limb, do it, just jump in with your two feet. Some of the roles I was a little hesitant about but took anyway were the most impactful for my career. It’s the highway, we’re going to take different exits and come back on but really embrace change. Change is happening faster now than in the history of the world. So, embrace it, because it’s coming.”