When Rohit Verma was appointed CEO of Crawford & Company® in 2020, a colleague had this to say: “Rohit’s passion for clients and employees, combined with a strategic sense of purpose and innovation, is a rare combination to have in a leader in our industry.”
The scope of characteristics found in an exceptional leader is expansive, but if you were to distil it down to its fundamental components, that combination of passion and purpose will likely be what remains.
From an early age, Rohit has had a passion for building things. A child of two scientists, his fascination for technology and his drive to innovate, helped in many ways to create the foundations upon which he has built his career.
“I think that passion that I had from such an early age,” he explains, “has definitely translated into my career-long aspiration to build insurance-focused businesses which are underpinned by new and exciting technology and innovative operational approaches.”
Beginning his career as a consultant at Deloitte before moving to McKinsey & Company, Rohit led several insurance and banking engagements focused on strategy development and operational transformation. Keen to shift from advising to doing, he joined Zurich in 2007, holding executive management positions across almost every division of the company’s North America operations.
“Insurance is a business that has a great combination of the emotional side because you’re working with people, and at the end of the day you’re helping them,”
he says. “But then there’s a whole technical side to it, which is very interesting.”
Joining Crawford in 2017 as global COO, his opportunity to take on a role that would enable him to truly transform an organization on a global level came in 2020 when he became CEO. For Rohit, his time in the CEO chair could not be better timed.
“The claims space is truly poised for transformation,” he says. “The opportunity to lead a global organization was something that I felt would be extremely exciting to do – and over two years into the role, I feel every bit of that excitement.”
Since taking on the position, Rohit has focused on instilling a growth mindset and embedding empowerment within the Crawford culture as he continues to drive the business forward.
“Fostering the sense of empowerment across our teams, particularly those working closest with our customers, is critical to significantly increasing our decision-making efficiency and speed,”
he believes. “It is a key aspect of our ability to ensure we deliver top-quality service promptly at all times for our clients.”
Crawford at its core is a people business as they make the biggest difference to its overall success. The company has invested significantly in the depth and breadth of expertise within its team and strives to ensure that it offers its employees a workplace environment in which they can feel valued, thrive and achieve their true career potential.
“Our vision at Crawford is to create, maintain and enhance an inclusive, diverse and equal environment that is at the forefront of our industry,” he says. “As a global organization, we have a responsibility to elevate inclusion and diversity to the top of our agenda, influencing our own culture and helping to redress imbalances in the wider industry.”
Alongside this, and unsurprising given Rohit’s innovative spirit, has been a major and ongoing investment in new capabilities, technologies, and processes. With innovations ranging from FNOL self-service apps and RPA-based claims triage processes to on-demand networks and the creation of Amazon-like digital service platforms, Crawford has stamped its technology-leading credentials on the claims management sector.
“With each new focus or evolution of the claims management process, Crawford is creating a new, innovative blueprint for the industry as a whole,” he says. “It’s all about delivering better outcomes for clients and making our company more robust and better positioned to keep moving forward at pace.”
It is fair to say that under Rohit’s leadership Crawford has achieved that forward momentum on virtually every front. He has helped to redefine the company’s purpose, envisioned future, brand promise and strategy, uniting the organization to bring value-added solutions to clients that fully deliver on Crawford’s promise to restore and enhance lives, businesses, and communities.
“We’ve looked to achieve an all-round transformation at Crawford,” he concludes. “A cultural transformation, an organizational transformation, a transformation of our go-to-market and a transformation of how we build the business.”
Nearly three years into the role, Rohit has achieved a level of momentum rarely seen in an organization of Crawford’s size and scale – a momentum that can be attributed to that sense of passion and clarity of purpose that drive him to succeed.
