Still waters run deep at Crawford
Greg Smith is something of a contradiction.
“The lesson learned over the course of my career is that, despite your best efforts, nothing ever goes according to plan,” he says.
It seems an odd statement for a person who has had one of those smooth career arcs that make things look very simple.
Smith has the rare distinction of having spent his entire working life at just one organization – Crawford & Company (Canada), starting out as a trainee claims adjuster straight out of university 25 years ago and steadily progressing to appointment as president in 2022.
Early experience in the marketing and communications section helped him build a strong knowledge of the organization, as well as valuable exposure to both issues of the day and how they affected clients in the marketplace – his delivery of the Crawford message doesn’t miss a beat.
Like athletes at the top of their game, Smith makes it look like an easy matter to run the second-largest international Crawford operation by revenue outside of the US for the leading global provider of claims management. But dig a little deeper and it becomes clear that underlying the mailroom-to-boardroom story are skills that were honed through a lifetime of adapting to constant change.
Smith has taken some unexpected turns, but smoothed them out effectively enough to gain the confidence to lead the company. In a sense, it is similar to what insurance itself does every day.
“We talk about a corporate purpose of restoring lives, businesses, and communities. And we do it hundreds of thousands of times a year. But it really hits home when you understand the impact that one claim has on one individual's life … it is really important to remember that,” he says.
Rolling with the punches is as important to a great career trajectory as it is in dealing effectively with insurance claims.
“It's an industry where you really have to continue to learn and adapt and evolve as you're trying to keep pace and keep ahead of the market.”
Smith has personal experience in how important handling a claim well can be for those who suffer a loss.
After a lightning strike burned his friend’s cottage to the ground, Crawford ended up being the adjuster for the case.
“He was literally faced with just a pile of ashes and didn't know what to do.”
Smith needed to tread gently and avoid getting involved in a loss that an employee was handling, but the friend called after the assessment with a glowing report. The Crawford adjuster had spent two hours walking the site, explaining the process and comforting the insured and his wife that while the situation was traumatic and devasting today, there would be a day when the cottage would be rebuilt, and they could enjoy life in it again.
“It was pretty gratifying a couple of years later for me to be invited up to that cottage and see, in real terms, what it was like, for a good friend’s life to have been restored and brought back exactly the way his insurance company said it would be.”
Each week, Smith gets dozens of letters and emails from policyholders and customers heaping praise on Crawford employees who have done exceptionally well and have positively affected their claims experience. But he always keeps the lightning-strike experience top of mind to remind him of what a difference the claims management process can make.
“We're trusted to help shepherd [insureds] through that process and get their lives back to the way they were before the loss happened.”
Over his career, Smith has worked in the majority of the functional areas inside the Canadian organization, giving him an insider’s view of how each cog plays an important part in the broader machine.
“That really helps me make decisions as a leader of the organization, and also share resources with those teams to recognize the work that has to happen and the effort that has to go into delivering the service to our customers,” he says.
But one experience that stands out is a relatively short period leading a special project that didn’t quite go to plan.
“[It gave me] the practical experience of not just building a business unit, but also managing through setbacks, adversity, and the change that comes with trying to build something new and not getting it right the first time,” he says.
Some of the most valuable lessons of his career came out of that period of discovering what wasn't working according to plan and thinking through how to adapt and achieve goals via a different path than planned at the outset.
Spotlight
The velocity and size of claims in the Canadian market has accelerated of late, making adaptability an even more essential skill.
“Anyone who works in claims will tell you that no two days are the same, and that has rung true over the last five or six years in the Canadian industry. We're absolutely dealing with a pace and size of catastrophic events that aren't typical for the Canadian marketplace.”
He points to such areas as cyber claims related to issues in the global supply chain or claims around traditional lines like water, fire, and wind as examples.
“The entire insurance claims supply chain, whether it's repairing cars, restoring homes, or even taking contentious claims through litigation – every aspect of the industry has faced some challenges and created some obstacles that we, as claims professionals, have had to overcome,” says Smith.
Against this background of rapid change, consumer expectations of the insurance carriers in Crawford’s stable have never been higher. Smith sees this as raising the stakes for the importance of fulfilling the promise in the insurance contract.
“It's really important for us as an organization and as an industry to bring in the expertise and the talent and the know-how that it takes for us to continue to keep ahead of the changes and keep pace with the industry as it continues to evolve.”
Bio
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Years IN THE INDUSTRY
25
CAREER HIGHLIGHT
Traveling to the UK to visit Crawford's team in London and touring the famous Lloyd's building
Favourite quote
Greg Smith
President at Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc.
The president of Crawford & Company (Canada) has spent a career learning and adapting to market change, delivering through challenges thick and fast as insurance evolves at an ever-quickening pace
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“It's an industry where you really have to continue to learn and adapt and evolve as you're trying to keep pace and keep ahead of the market”
Greg Smith, Crawford & Company (Canada)
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An accelerating pace of change
Published 06 Nov 2023
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Copyright © 2023 KM Business Information Canada Ltd
When lightning strikes
– Winston Churchill
"When you are going through hell, keep going"
“Focusing on a great employee culture means we're able to attract really top-tier talent to the organization and keep that talent”
Greg Smith, Crawford & Company (Canada)
The path to success can take many detours
Giving employees something concrete to hold on to
Smith sees the intangibility of insurance as a product as one factor that makes building a strong culture in the organization essential. Focusing on employees and giving them rewarding careers with growth potential allows Crawford to build a team that adds value inside its client organizations and to retain valuable staff.
“Focusing on a great employee culture means we're able to attract really top-tier talent to the organization and keep that talent,” says Smith.
Smith himself was a person who never imagined a career in insurance, much less one that spans 25 years at one firm. Yet he has thrived.
“Not really having it on my radar when I was pursuing my degree, it's been a pleasant surprise to see how much opportunity and how much growth there has been for me in the industry over such a long and fulfilling career.”
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Appointed to the governing council of the Insurance Institute of Ontario
2019
Crawford wins IBC award as an Insurance Industry Employer of Choice
2020
Completed acquisition of edjuster, a contents valuation and service platform
2021
Appointed president, Crawford Canada, responsible for leading operations across all business lines nationally
2022
Completed the Rotman-ICD Directors Education Program
2023
Milestones
Insurance Business Canada Award for Excellence in Claims Service
2019
Insurance Business Canada Insurance Industry
Employer of Choice
2020
HRD Canada Best Places to Work
2022
Achiever's 50 Most Engaged Workplaces
2023
Accolades
Find out more
Find out more
75%
proportion of women in executive leadership roles (in Canada)
35+
number of offices across Canada
USD$97,766m*
revenue from Canadian operations
1,000+
number of employees across Canada
1966
founded and incorporated
Solving claims challenges through innovation and expertise
For more than 80 years, Crawford has led the industry through a relentless investment in people and the innovative tools that empower them. This unique combination enables us to provide unrivalled claims-management solutions to insurance carriers, insurance brokers, and corporations worldwide.
• loss adjusting
• third-party administration
• managed repair
• on-demand services
• catastrophe response
Company Profile
*Canadian revenues before reimbursements for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, as reported in the Crawford & Company Form 10-K filed on March 6, 2023, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission
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