The 2021 Executives to Watch: Liberty Mutual’s Tracy Ryan

Tracy Ryan steps into the role of president of Global Risk Solutions (GRS) North America for Liberty Mutual.
By: | November 4, 2020

Promoted in January to president of Global Risk Solutions (GRS) North America for Liberty Mutual Insurance, Tracy Ryan looks forward in 2021 to further capitalizing on Liberty’s 2017 acquisition of Ironshore Inc. and the subsequent creation of GRS as Liberty Mutual’s global commercial and specialty lines (re) insurance division.

“We have a ton of opportunities. When we came together, it was a perfect and natural fit,” said Ryan, who from 2016 to 2019 served as executive vice president and chief claims officer for commercial claims and was responsible for $8 billion in annual paid loss and 500,000 new claims annually.

The company has integrated the commercial lines of Liberty Mutual and the specialty lines of Ironshore, taking the best from each to better serve customers and brokers. It has adapted its regional model and operates with six regional territories throughout the U.S..

“We’ve built out a regional operating model, because our broker-partners and customers transact business locally,” she said. “The challenge and real opportunity for us is to make this large $7 billion business -with over 20 specialized underwriting segments -feel small and feel local to the people we do business with.”

Ryan expects one focus in 2021 to be on technology.

“We’re operating now in a much more agile way,” she said.

“So you’ll see less of the really big technology roll-outs and more continuous deployments, which this approach supports.”

She foresees the seamless integration of AI and focus on data to continue to improve processes and help customers and brokers more easily access information.

“We’re making investments in digital portals so brokers and customers can have access to information in a more effective and efficient way,” she said. “We want to meet our customers in the way they want to transact business.”

Injured workers, for instance, have access to important information about their benefits, upcoming appointments and the status of their claim with an enhanced self-service portal. The pandemic-related shutdowns and slowed economy have prompted Ryan to closely watch the needs of customers, especially as the future remains uncertain for many businesses.

“We’re thinking about how our customers’ businesses and operating models are changing and what their needs are going to be from us in the future,” she said.

As the industry strives to become more diverse and inclusive, Ryan is passionate about playing a role in that effort. The company has established employee resources groups, mentoring programs, and other diversity and inclusion initiatives to help all employees advance and feel welcome.

“We need to have open, honest and challenging discussions around race, equity and justice,” she said. “We need to be talking about these issues and make sure every voice is heard throughout the organization.”  &


For the full list of Insurance Executives to Watch in 2021, view here.

Annemarie Mannion is a freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

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