5 Questions: Alan Ogilvie, president, Church Mutual

March 16, 2023 11:55 AM

Church Mutual headquarters in Merril, Wisc.

Alan Ogilvie was named president of Church Mutual in January 2023. He spoke with Digital Insurance in February. The following is a partial, lightly edited transcript of that conversation.

Can you tell me about your background in insurance?

Alan Ogilvie

I've been in the industry for more than 30 years, born and raised in Wisconsin in a small town about an hour from our home office facility in Merrill, Wisconsin. I'm one of those probably few people who actually have my undergraduate degree in insurance – one of my majors is risk management and insurance from the University of Wisconsin, and immediately after undergrad I went into law school at the University of Wisconsin. My thought was always really to move to more of the business side of the equation rather than private practice. After law school I went right into the insurance industry, with a company called Watson. I was there for more than a decade, and with a few additional companies, most recently before Church Mutual I was with Allegheny Group. And for the last seven years, I've been with Church Mutual.

Church Mutual has a strong reputation in using next-generation digital technology, like sensors, effectively for its core customers. How do you encourage this wide range of organizations to adopt digital?

We view it as important to kind of weave it into the fabric of our organization, rather than viewing it as a project or an initiative. You mentioned, for example, our sensors, that was one of our early plays in that space. And we're incredibly pleased – we've got over 16,000 locations deployed. These sensors can detect anything from temperature extremes to water leaks to power outages. And that's certainly very much on our mind. If you think most recently about the polar vortex that affected a good portion of the United States. In 2022 we had, I think, it was over 9000, water alerts and over 6000 temperature alerts. Particularly with the niches we operate in, it's incredibly valuable to help them and avoid the disruption, not to mention for us to avoid the losses.

If you think about certain religious institutions, they can have relics and historical objects that, frankly, are irreplaceable. And so no amount of money is going to replace some of these historical relics. To help them understand how technology like this can help them avoid the loss of some of their most prized possessions is important.

How are you able to leverage that network for other parts of the organization?

The benefit of some of this is the ability to collect data that helps us analyze all situations better. Let's again take the most recent polar vortex – between sensor data and other data that we have access to, we are able to really do a granular analysis of what drove polar vortex claims. Was it a type of building? What are the particular geography? To be able to look at it in a very robust way to better identify what drove the cause of loss, which then, of course, better informs us as we work with our policyholders on whether they should be placing the sensors in a different place. Maybe they put some sensors by a water heater, which is great in the event you have a failed water heater. But is it beneficial to also place some sensors up in piping that might be in your roof and more exposed? The sensor doesn't stop it, but what it does is it immensely mitigates the amount of damage because of the notifications that are given.

How are you building the data capabilities at Church Mutual?

We've actually hired some data scientists so we've made a real economic commitment to building out that capability within our four walls. And we'll continue to do that. From our perspective, it's a natural progression. It's great to put in place some of these tools, but then how do we leverage the data to provide the next iteration? Because as excited as we are about sensors, there's always the next thing.

Data scientists are in demand everywhere. How do you sell them on your company?

The reality is we are in a talent- and information-driven industry. Our greatest assets walk out at the end of the day, and you hope they come back in the morning. Of course, we have to have competitive compensation and benefits. But how do we distinguish ourselves in the marketplace? I'd say one, it's our mission. Because I think particularly a newer generation is looking for more than just compensation and those components in their career, they're looking for a fulfillment of their "why" – they are looking for why they want to be a part of an organization. And I think our mission sells very well to people who are looking for something more. And if you combine that with the fact that while we may be a 125 year old company, we feel very good about the value proposition we can give employees in working on innovative things on helping to transform our business and delivering positive results for our policyholders. So we love the ability to sell our company to people because we think we've got a great story.