Ian R. Daunt began his extensive career in the insurance industry in Ireland over 44 years ago. Prior to joining Crawford in 1991 he spent numerous years as a loss adjuster in Dublin where his great adventure in the loss adjusting business began. This included working abroad in Fiji assigned to CAT claims following four cyclones there between January and March 1985.
“I have always worked as a Loss Adjuster. There is no better job and I am very passionate about it."
Ian, who is now in his 30th year with Crawford, currently works as an International Executive General Adjuster under Crawford’s Global Technical Services team in Toronto.
He has handled some interesting files in his time including the theft of valuable papers relating to the 1923 Paris fight (boxing) between literary greats Ernest Hemmingway and Morley Callaghan with F. Scott Fitzgerald acting as the referee.
One of the most memorable moments in Ian’s career that allowed him to fulfill Crawford’s mission of restoring and enhancing lives, businesses and communities was when he adjusted a claim for the Northern Ontario Power Generation plant in December 2012. The cell of a cofferdam had collapsed causing the lower Mattagami River to completely engulf a new construction project. Since it was the middle of winter, the entire construction site was stuck under a 30 foot block of ice. The claim was extremely complex and took approximately two years to settle.
“I must have impressed the general contractor as they asked me to handle their construction claims going forward. Since then I have been adjusting their claims throughout Canada,” he said.
Ian’s favorite part about working at Crawford is having the opportunity to mentor many talented and local adjusters. The Project Management approach to claims allows new adjusters to handle the day-to-day claim activities while Ian oversees the file and acts as a liaison between the insured and the market. He is also grateful to have worked alongside and met so many interesting and diverse people throughout his career.
“I have been particularly blessed with great assistants, without them I would not have been as efficient and successful,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, Ian spent the majority of his week on a plane and working long hours handling complex assignments all throughout Canada and North America with the occasional claim in Europe or Australia. Now, due to his busy schedule and not being able to travel, Ian often still finds himself working long hours to include evenings and weekends.
“I recently did a scene inspection on a new loss, which was the first time I had been in a face-to-face meeting in 12 months. I was so excited, it was like my first day at school,” he said.
Although Ian understands that we are in the ‘age of technology’, he believes the adjusting industry is still a people’s business. In the upcoming years, he feels adjusters will need to continue building strong working relationships with the insured in order to work together and resolve complex claims.
“The Industry will need to nurture, mentor and retain the up and coming talent so we have adjusters with the skill sets to handle those large and complex losses of the future,” he said.
