The Travelers Cos., which has major operations in Hartford, has gathered a team of current and former company directors, Washington insiders and public policy experts to shape its voice on public policy issues and regulations in the nation’s capital.
Based in Washington, the Travelers Institute is run by Executive Director Joan Woodward, who joined Travelers in 2008 as executive vice president of public policy. Woodward is a former staffer on the House Budget and Senate Finance Committees and spent a decade at Goldman Sachs as founding executive director of The Global Markets Institute.
Travelers spokesman Jennifer Wislocki said the institute is not a lobbying arm.
“We hope to contribute to solutions on a wide range of issues that face our customers, our agents and brokers, and the communities we serve,” Travelers Chairman and CEO Jay S. Fishman said in a statement.
Woodward will coordinate with the public policy advisory committee of the Travelers’ board of directors, which includes Janet Dolan, Kenneth Duberstein, Cleve Killingsworth Jr. and Blythe McGarvie.
The institute also has an advisory board comprised of public policy and industry experts. They include Alice Rivlin, former vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board and ex-White House budget adviser; lawyer Richard I. Beattie, a former aide in the Clinton and Carter administrations; Leslie Disharoon, a former Travelers director; and Richard Herring, banking and finance professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Travelers remains part of the Insurance Information Institute and the American Insurance Association.
