Carrier Profile - Nationwide Insurance

Previous ArticleNext Article
undefined

Nationwide Insurance | Covered

Covered is proud to be an independent, unbiased insurance agency that partners with a range of highly respected national carriers. Our Carrier Profile series gives our carrier partners the opportunity to further showcase who they are, what they stand for, and how they’re different.

For our first profile, Covered sat down with Nationwide Insurance Regional Vice President Sabrina Freiberg. Read on to learn what Freiberg had to say about how Nationwide is innovating insurance, what they’ve got planned for the future, and what makes their company and culture unique.

Please describe what you stand for as a company.

Nationwide’s mission is to deliver member value by protecting what’s most important and building a secure financial future for US consumers and businesses. As a member-driven organization, our vision is to be the choice for those seeking an enduring relationship to fulfill their broad protection and financial needs.

What makes you unique as a company? How are you genuinely different from the competition?

There’s no other company like Nationwide. We are the only privately held carrier that offers such a wide range of insurance protection and financial planning products, including auto, business, homeowners, farm, and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities, and mutual funds; excess & surplus (E&S), specialty, and surety; and pet, motorcycle, and boat insurance. No other provider can match our portfolio of solutions.

Who is your target audience?

Our broad portfolio of solutions positions us to meet the needs of a variety of customers. We not only offer standard personal lines protection and commercial lines solutions, but also financial solutions to help our members plan for retirement. And on top of that, we offer a variety of E&S/specialty solutions.

What are you doing to innovate insurance? Can you provide some specific examples that showcase how your policies are unique?

Nationwide’s goal is to disrupt ourselves, rather than face being disrupted in the marketplace. Combining the quickly changing preferences of consumers with the speed of new technologies coming to market, we’re investing in a variety of solutions through our venture capital arm. Our innovation team is focused on developing solutions to delight our customers for needs they don’t even know they have.

We’re focused on four areas as we innovate: mobility, living in retirement, protecting data and digital assets, and meeting consumer needs in novel ways by leveraging digital technology. Our recent partnership with Nexar — to pilot their dashboard/telematics platform with one of our clients — is one way we’re helping protect our members. Our pilot program helped one of our commercial lines partners to provide real-time coaching to their drivers, causing them to engage in fewer behaviors that we know lead to accidents. It was a win-win for everyone. We’re looking to do more like this, and we have some bigger projects in the works.

How are you using technology to innovate?

Technology is an enabler for solutions. We strive to dig for unmet consumer needs and then leverage technology and our expertise to create solutions that no one may be thinking of yet. Nationwide Ventures invests in startups, pilots new technologies, and tests new solutions and business models. The main focus is to accelerate our innovation ambitions, placing bets on key opportunities that have the opportunity to both propel us forward and potentially disrupt the marketplace.

We are an innovation engine focused on investments that will accelerate the digitization of Nationwide’s core and adjacent businesses. We focus on delivering next-generation experiences for Nationwide’s customers by exploring leading-edge topics — from analytics and automation technology to new insurance and financial services platforms. Partnership is key to the success of the Nationwide Ventures model. Our aim is to improve the financial security of Nationwide’s members by co-creating value with startup companies and working with strong investment partners.

Does your company have any short- or long-term strategic initiatives, growth plans, or changes planned within the next five years that they’d like to tell customers about?

Our transition to an all-independent agent distribution channel is our biggest priority. We are looking to grow our independent-agent sales force, leveraging our broad portfolio of solutions as a competitive advantage over other carriers.

How do you describe your company culture?

Nationwide truly fosters a culture of caring. And we extend that culture to our members and partners by anticipating their needs and delivering solutions in a timely fashion.

What do you love about working for your company?

What I love about working for Nationwide is the true feeling of family. People at Nationwide embrace the culture of supporting one another like you would support a family member. Nationwide believes in fostering an environment of growth and development for all of its employees, and I have always felt that. It’s not just a nice thing to say, that someone cares about your growth and progression. Leaders at Nationwide embrace this as part of their value system.

How do you personally live your company’s values?

Our core values at Nationwide are trust and respect for each other’s humanity and perspectives, acting with honesty and integrity, remaining authentic, fair, and ethical, and being member-focused. Everyone at Nationwide, regardless of their title or position at the company, has always made me feel that I can remain authentic. As I have advanced in my career at Nationwide, I have never felt the need or pressure to change who I am authentically. I am a woman from West Virginia that loves country music, working hard, competitive spirit, and a strong work ethic. What makes my company great is that it accepts all of those values and characteristics while never asking me to change who I am to be an effective leader.

If your company were a popular song, what song would you be?

If? Our brand is one of the most recognized in the marketplace. Sing it with me…”Nationwide Is On Your Side…”

Need help determining whether Nationwide is the right choice for your insurance needs? Let us know!