TRICIA GRIFFITH-PRESIDENT & CEO OF PROGRESSIVE CORP. - INTERVIEW WITH BUSINESSWORLD MAGAZINE

TRICIA GRIFFITH was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and elected to the Board of Directors in July of 2016.

Prior to being named CEO, Griffith served as Personal Lines Chief Operating Officer since April, 2015, overseeing the company’s Personal Lines, Claims, and Customer Relationship Management groups.

Tricia joined Progressive as a Claims Representative in 1988 and has served in many key leadership positions during her tenure. She held several managerial positions in the Claims division before being named Chief Human Resources Officer in 2002. In 2008, she returned to Claims as the group president, overseeing all claims functions. Prior to being named Personal Lines Chief Operating Officer, Tricia was President of Customer Operations, overseeing claims and the customer management group, which comprises the company's contact center group (sales and delivery), as well as the customer experience, systems experience, and workforce management groups.

Tricia has a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University and is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business’ Advanced Management Program.

One of the best indicators of economic activity is how many miles Americans drive, and as CEO of Progressive Corp., one of the largest U.S. auto insurers, Tricia Griffith keeps a careful eye on the nation’s coming and goings. Since the pandemic began, people are both driving less—miles driven plummeted by 40% in April—and getting into fewer accidents.

Griffith has spent her career at Progressive, starting as a claims rep, and is a rare CEO who previously served as her company’s head of HR, a background that she credits with helping make Progressive the top-rated corporation for diversity and inclusion, according to a ranking by the Wall Street Journal.

Griffith, 55, joined TIME for a video conversation from her home outside of Cleveland. Griffith shared her views on humor in insurance advertising (comedian Stephanie Courtney has been appearing in Progressive ads as Flo since 2008), the “sophomoric” state of the nation’s leadership, and how to build a diverse and inclusive corporate culture.

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