Travelers Vice Chairman Jay Benet to receive 2019 F.I.R.M. Award
The University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business will honor Jay S. Benet, vice chairman and member of the Management Committee and the Operating Committee of The Travelers Companies, Inc., at its second annual Finance, Insurance, Risk Management, and Manufacturing (F.I.R.M.) Executive Leadership of the Year Award Dinner. The dinner will take place on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, at 6 p.m. at the Hartford Marriott Downtown in Hartford, Connecticut. Proceeds from the event will benefit scholarships, career development, and programming at the Barney School of Business.
Benet has spent almost all of his career as a member of the Hartford business community. Prior to his current position, he was chief financial officer of Travelers, a leading provider of property-casualty insurance for auto, home, and business, from March 2002 to August 2018. Previously, he was worldwide head of financial planning, analysis, and reporting at Citigroup, and chief financial officer for Citigroup’s Global Consumer business. He also served in various senior executive positions with Travelers Life & Annuity and as a partner at Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC) prior to joining Travelers.
“The F.I.R.M. Executive Leadership Award honors and celebrates an industry leader who has made significant contributions in the finance, insurance, risk management, and manufacturing sectors,” said Amy Z. Zeng, dean of the Barney School of Business, “and Jay Benet is an excellent selection. While the leadership award event brings together current and future leaders in the major industry sectors and offers a major networking opportunity for the greater Hartford business community, it also raises much-needed scholarship and student-development funds for our talented young business students.”
“It is truly an honor to receive this award,” said Benet. “While being recognized as a leader in the finance and insurance industry is highly gratifying, I am even more pleased to know that the event helps the Barney School develop a new generation of leaders.”
With a long legacy of programs focused on finance, insurance, and risk management, along with other classic business disciplines and fast-growing new trends such as business analytics, the Barney School of Business has prepared leaders who now work at prominent insurance, financial services, and manufacturing firms across the world, including in Hartford, New York, Boston, London, and Bermuda.
The inaugural F.I.R.M. event in 2018 raised $410,000 in proceeds that will provide over a dozen students with annual partial scholarships, and create numerous career-development and leadership programs for Barney School students.
A F.I.R.M. Advisory Board serves as the award selection committee. As was the case in 2018, this year’s event is co-chaired by Richard H. Booth ‘69, chairman of Somerset Reinsurance Co., Ltd., and John F. Byrnes, chairman of People’s United Insurance Agency. Don Allan Jr. ’86, EVP and CFO of Stanley Black and Decker, who is both a Barney School of Business board member and a University regent, will serve as the emcee.
For more information about the award or to purchase seats or a table to attend the event, please contact Margaret Lawson, marketing and event consultant, at 860.558.5026 or specialgifts@cptv.org.