The Ambassador

When asked about perceptions of her upcoming year as president of the Canadian Independent Adjusters Association, the gregarious Marie Gallagher is forthright about her role.

“I am an ambassador; I love this industry,” she says. “Whether it’s attending monthly CIAA meetings or CIAA’s annual general meeting, which I’ve been going to for over 20 years now, I really feel like our members have something in common – a bond. We are all competitors, but we are still part of the same family.”

Gallagher is, in fact, an actual ambassador for the Insurance Institute of Canada’s Career Connections program. For years, she has volunteered to serve as a career mentor and presenter, and to establish positive relationships among youth, teachers and the insurance industry. As an ambassador, she has had the opportunity to share her career and education journey in classrooms and at secondary, post-secondary and community career events across Southern Ontario.

“We already know from surveys done by the Insurance Institute that that our workforce numbers are declining,” Gallagher observes. “This is a huge overall industry concern – how do we recruit people into our industry, train them and move them up? Through the ambassador program, we inspire and enlighten younger people and career changers about the wonderful opportunities in the insurance business.”

For Gallagher, the affinity with loss adjusting was felt at an early stage of her career. She started in an administrative capacity with Markham, Ontario-based brokerage CG&B Group in 1983. Gallagher was moved into a claims role at the brokerage, “and I knew right away claims is where I wanted to be. It felt comfortable to me, helping people at a time of need. I enjoy investigating and settling claims.

As a Lloyd’s of London coverholder, CG&B used independent adjusters to manage claims. One of those firms was Ponton Coleshill Insurance Adjusters.

“They were one of the few adjusting firms handling claims for that account,” Gallagher recalls. “I was reading the reports and asking a bunch of questions: what does subrogation mean, what does salvage mean? The adjusters at Ponton Coleshill who were reporting to me took the time to explain and never made me feel embarrassed for asking.”

Three years later, Gallagher went to work for Ponton Coleshill (now Granite Claims Solutions), in Toronto. Then in 1990, on a whim, she suggested starting up a branch office in her hometown of St. Catharines, where she had been commuting from for over four years. Shortly after, the principals came back and said yes. “I knew they did it for me,” she says. “That is the kind of company they are; they put their people first.”

In fact, long-term employee retention is something that Gallagher says is a key aspect of Granite Claims Solutions’ corporate culture. “People who join us tend to stay with us. I know that I have benefited a great deal from some mentors who have been with us for a long time, such as Lee Axt and Doris Jones. That employee commitment, development and loyalty is something that I am proud of.”

Today, Gallagher is the branch manager of Granite Claims Solutions’ St. Catharines office, where she manages a team of five adjusters and support staff. She is still active in day-to-day adjusting and manages a steady volume of claims files. Licensed in all lines of business, Gallagher says she had to take a leap of faith when moving to the branch office to handle a wider variety of losses, away from her specialization at the time in automobile claims.

“As an adjuster, it is really about being thrown into the deep end and sink or swim” she says. “But I thrive on that.”

The learning curve for Gallagher was complemented by some personality traits that have served her in good stead as a loss adjuster. One such characteristic is a natural curiosity.

“My mother used to tell me that I am too nosy for my own good, and I ask too many questions,” Gallagher says. “What I learned as an adjuster was that what I then perceived as a liability is actually an asset. I’m not afraid to ask questions. Many clients will hire me because they know I am not afraid to dig, seek information and get to the root of the problem. Now, there may not be a problem, but when there is I will go after the information. I have had private investigators ask me how I got information on a file, and my response was simple: I asked for it.”

Another important quality for adjusters is empathy, Gallagher says. “You have to have a good read or sense of people – do people trust you, can they share information with you?”

She relates a personal incident where her home was broken into, and several Royal Doulton figurines (gifts from her father) were among the possessions stolen. “Until you experience it, it is hard to put yourself into their place,” Gallagher notes. “You learn what peoples’ priorities are; what they are dealing with at the time and their ability to cope. You have to meet people on the level they are at. I think a big part of our job as adjusters is to determine where the person is at, what they need at the time and to respond accordingly.”

These traits will allow loss adjusters to face many of the key challenges in the current insurance industry environment, she comments. And one of the main concerns is time management.

“Today, we have so much coming at us, so fast, all at the same time,” notes Gallagher. “We are expected to be available 24x7x365 – we are on call much more than most professions. We may have a bit of a reprieve when it is someone else’s turn to take the pager, but you can’t really ever truly get away from the demands of our job.”

The rapidly changing pace of technology is another factor pushing adjusters to adapt. “Information technology is a huge issue for adjusters,” Gallagher says. “Keeping up with technology is a big expense that directly impacts the bottom line, especially for some of our smaller members. They have to comply with insurance company systems, online reporting and constant requests for feeding and availability of data.”

Independent adjusters have to work on partnerships with insurance companies on far more than just technology, Gallagher observes. “We work with various insurance companies and different corporate philosophies and how they choose to use independents, whether as regular partners or as overflow in a catastrophic event,” she says. “To some insurers, we are a necessary evil, but I think we should be seen as a valuable ally. We are there when they call us and we are able to hit the ground running with our response and expertise.”

Those insurance companies that only use independent adjusters for major disaster claims may be penny wise and pound foolish, Gallagher contends. “As one of our former presidents said, you can’t just use us for CAT losses,” she notes. “We need constant support to train our people and let them gain experience on the smaller claims we all cut our teeth on. If they don’t give us that work, we will not be there for those bigger losses.”

Gallagher sees the CIAA as having a leadership role in strengthening the independent adjusting profession. She notes that the strategic direction of the association will continue in the same direction, but one of her key goals for the upcoming year is to focus on member recruitment to ensure the widest reach possible.

“We are professional loss adjusters who require a lot of education and are licensed by the government,” she asserts. “Any other profession, whether that is engineers, architects or chartered accountants, are proud to belong to a their professional association. I don’t understand why we still have independent adjusting firms in Canada who have not embraced the opportunity to belong to our professional association. I believe there is something more we can do as an association in this area.”

The emphasis on a wider reach will also extend to volunteers within the CIAA, according to Gallagher. “I am hoping that in this upcoming year I can instill in all of our volunteers just how important
their ongoing and dedicated participation is,” she concludes.

“It is not just the executive committee, but all those people carrying on efforts behind the scenes to help move CIAA and our strategic initiatives forward. Our volunteers matter. They may not perhaps get a lot of recognition, but we need their input, thoughts and ideas, especially younger people. There are a lot of members I think who just assume they can’t make a difference, but they can if they get involved. I guarantee there is always something to volunteer for.”

Spoken like a true ambassador.