Meet Mike Williams, EVP, Manufacturing Industry Practice Leader
Supply chain disruption, weather events, evolving technology, and other factors have greatly impacted the manufacturing landscape over the past five years – not to mention the types of insurance coverage manufacturing businesses require.
Mike Williams, EVP, Leader of Chubb’s Manufacturing Industry Practice, explains why Chubb is well-positioned to respond to emerging challenges and meet the evolving needs of the manufacturing industry.
Lightning Round
Years in the industry: 36
Years with Chubb: 31
Hometown: Vancouver, WA
What you never leave the house without: Reading glasses (ugh!)
The best advice you ever got: “If you try to please everyone you please no one.”
Favorite travel destination: Hawaii
Favorite book: Anything by Tom Clancy
Get to know Mike
How did you get involved with Chubb’s Manufacturing Industry Practice?
I’ve worked for Chubb for more than 30 years. I was initially drawn to our organization when I learned that our underwriters were responsible for their own marketing and sales efforts, which was really appealing to me as someone who wasn’t interested in being chained to a desk. As I rose through the company, I moved around quite a bit and gained exposure to lots of industries related to manufacturing – from food to plastics to technology to metalworking. I built up a very diverse background that gives me some pretty unique insights into the manufacturing industry. In 2018, I began leading the Manufacturing Industry Practice.
What makes Chubb’s Manufacturing Industry Practice successful?
The breadth of our capabilities and the depth of our expertise. I may be a little biased here, but I believe the Chubb team is second-to-none in these areas, across all of our Industry Practices. And the way we are all able to work together – agents, brokers, risk engineers, and underwriters – to comprehensively serve customers with multi-line needs sets us apart. We have a deliberate and cohesive approach that makes the entire process go smoothly, even across international borders. We have a global network, but we have a local presence in 54 countries and territories. This really helps our team navigate complicated and severe exposures in a way that many of our competitors cannot.
What trends are you watching most closely?
This isn’t so much a trend as a fact of life – we are keeping a very close eye on how weather is impacting our industry. It’s a challenge because how do you stay ahead of Mother Nature? I work very closely with David Blevins, our North American Middle Market Property Leader, to try to figure out which areas are going to be most impacted over the next few years. Manufacturing plants are certainly not immune to weather-related events like wildfires, tornados, and flooding. We need to be able to maintain a book that is able to evolve and operate profitably in these ever-changing weather conditions.
