Dive Brief:
- Factory Mutual Insurance Company tapped Tara Long to oversee technology strategy as SVP and CIO, the company said Tuesday. Long will report to COO Randy Hodge.
- The appointment comes about a month after Srini Krishnamurthy, who served for nearly five years as chief strategy and information officer, was given the role of SVP of FM India. The insurer is building a tech hub in Bengaluru to expand its AI capabilities, develop client risk engineering services and spur regional growth, according to a July announcement.
- Long is an insurance industry veteran who spent more than 23 years with MassMutual, most recently serving as CTO and head of infrastructure services. “Tara brings a wealth of experience in leading digital transformations and driving large-scale operational improvements to enhance the client experience and advance business objectives,” Hodge said.
Dive Insight:
Long arrives at FM amid an industrywide modernization push sparked by the promise of generative AI gains. As insurers look to leverage knowledge management and process automation tools to assist underwriters, speed claims processing and upgrade digital customer interfaces, they are investing in talent and leadership.
AIG recruited HP Chief Data and Analytics Officer Scott Hallworth to its tech team Monday. Hallworth will join the property and casualty insurer as chief digital officer Sept. 1 to advance the company’s digital, data and generative AI strategy.
Genworth Financial and The Hartford Insurance Group shored up their IT leadership teams earlier this year.
In April, Genworth tapped Morris Taylor as SVP and CIO with a remit to accelerate digital innovation within the organization. Taylor previously served as CIO for specialty insurance firm Markel after spending nearly 25 years in IT leadership roles at Capital One.
The Hartford elevated Shekar Pannala to CIO and Jeffery Hawkins to chief data, AI and operations officer in March as it began to reap the rewards of a five-year modernization push.
“We are prioritizing practical, high-impact AI applications that augment human talent and drive productivity to better serve customers and distribution partners,” the company’s Chairman and CEO Christopher Swift said during a Q2 2025 earnings call earlier this month.
Over 90% of insurers are actively testing or using AI capabilities, according to a Roots report published in April. The AI platform vendor surveyed more than 240 insurance executives and IT team members.
"Underwriting, claims management and IT leaders are committed to making AI a pillar of their future success, despite challenges in adoption and deployment,” Roots CEO Chaz Perera said in a release accompanying the report.
The Travelers Companies, which is one of 12 insurers tracked by Evident Insights to have disclosed AI use cases with a tangible business outcome, spent more than $1.5 billion on technology last year with efficiency gains in mind.
“We’re leveraging our industry-leading data advantage and deploying multiple artificial intelligence models to drive underwriting enhancements, including as just one example, automating the process for certain Employment Practices Liability renewals,” Jeff Klenk, Travelers’ EVP and president of bond and specialty insurance, said during an April earnings call.
