PEOPLE
INDUSTRY ICON
ADVOCATING FOR PEOPLE Andy Barrengos honed a people-first approach early on in his career, taking it with him to his current position as CEO of Woodruff Sawyer
IN 1986, while studying at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Andy Barrengos walked into an on-campus interview with Chubb and unknowingly took his first step into a decades-long insurance career. “They said, if you want to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer, don’t waste your time with us,” Barrengos recalls. “But if you don’t know what you want to do and you’re interested in understanding not only how different kinds of businesses work, but how to understand those businesses through the lens of risk – and risk mitigation and risk assumption – we’ll teach you about all of that over the next year.” Soon enough, Barrengos found himself in an office in New Jersey, starting a 12-week training program alongside 50 other trainees from across the US. Eleven months later, his work with Chubb took him to Silicon Valley, where he got his first taste of the intersection of insurance and technology. After several years working in a variety of underwriting and management positions at Chubb in California and Maryland, Barrengos decided he wanted a role that put him closer to the customer. A position with multinational broker Sedgwick fulfilled those needs, but it still wasn’t as customer-focused as Barrengos wanted. “I wanted something smaller where I could see more of the impact that I was having, for
18
better or worse,” he says. “So, I joined this 75-year-old brokerage firm in San Francisco that I had both serviced as an underwriter at Chubb and competed with as a broker when I was at Sedgwick. And that firm was Woodruff Sawyer.” When Barrengos joined in 1996, Woodruff Sawyer had a team of 60 and around $11 million in revenue. Barrengos was brought in to run the technology and life science business, and his trajectory for the next 23 years involved developing the business, taking care of clients
sound trite because we operate in a crowded field that can be mediocre, but a cornerstone of our job, with a capital A, is to advocate for our clients.”
A declaration of independence A significant component of Woodruff Sawyer’s success has been its private and independent ownership structure. Before 2008, brokerages often sold to a handful of big brokers, but after the financial crisis, private equity became the dominant buyer, thanks to favorable interest
“It may sound trite because we operate in a crowded field that can be mediocre, but a cornerstone of our job, with a capital A, is to advocate for our clients” and assuming key leadership roles, including joining the board in 2008 and becoming CEO in 2016. His people-first approach continues to this day. “If you ask me what business we’re in, it is to help people – our Woodruff colleagues and our clients,” he says. “We do this by providing the best people, advocacy, advice and service to a variety of decision-makers – CFOs, heads of HR and general counsels. It may
rates, as well as the business’s low cost of entry and strong renewal rates. “This has absolutely transformed the business,” Barrengos says. “If you look at the list of the top 50 brokers in the United States in terms of revenue, there are five or so public firms, a handful of larger private independents like us and many private-equity-owned firms. [Their involvement] isn’t bad, but one of the consequences of any new owner is a change
www.ibamag.com
18-20_Industry Icon-SUBBED.indd 18
22/11/2019 4:19:16 AM