Sedgwick : Everything you need to know

Sedgwick may have been established as a regional claims administrator in 1969, but it has since grown into a leading global provider of claims management, loss adjusting and technology-enabled business solutions. The company provides a broad range of resources tailored to clients’ specific needs in casualty, property, marine, benefits, brand protection and other lines. 

Through its 33,000 colleagues across 80 countries, the company takes care of people and organizations by mitigating and reducing risks and losses, promoting health and productivity, protecting brand reputations, and containing costs that can impact performance.

Sedgwick also has several wholly-owned subsidiary companies that are specialty service providers. These include:

• Sedgwick Managed Care Ohio, which offers Ohio employers workers’ compensation claims administration, alternative rating program consultation, web-enabled data management, and consulting services, along with CompManagement Health Systems, an Ohio workers’ compensation managed care organization
• EFI Global, an engineering, fire investigation, environmental, health and safety, and specialty consulting services firm
• The Sedgwick Alliance, the company’s incubator for advancing conversations on key topics affecting industry stakeholders
• Vale Training, which provides training to US professionals in insurance, auto repair, construction, green risk, and claims
• WeatherNet, which specializes in supplying online weather applications, weather data sets, weather reports, consulting and advice, and is based in the UK

Sedgwick in the news

• December 2017: Sedgwick announces that it will acquire Cunningham Lindsey
• April 2018: The acquisition of Cunningham Lindsey is officially completed, and Sedgwick picks up close to 6,000 Cunningham Lindsey colleagues from across 65 countries
• March 2019: Sedgwick announces the appointment of Jane Tutoki as an independent member of its board of directors –  the first woman to be named to the company’s board
• May 2019: Sedgwick launches an expanded portfolio of catastrophe solutions, featuring enhancements that improve the experience for both insurers and their customers
• July 2019: Sedgwick snaps up York Risk Services Group
• February 2020: Sedgwick founder Robert Young passes away
• April 2020: Sedgwick launches support services for organizations resuming business amid pandemic
• August 2020: Sedgwick appoints Mike Arbour as new CEO and promotes Bob Peterson to president
• October 2020: Sedgwick introduces Jim Ryan as chief operating officer for the Americas
• January 2021: Sedgwick releases Drive to Thrive 2021, which examines major industry trends
• April 2021: Sedgwick appoints Josephine Copeland as new leader for managed care division
• October 2021: Sedgwick names Charles Brooks and Christine LaSala as the newest independent members of its board of directors
• November 2021: Sedgwick announces the acquisition of Temporary Accommodations, a company that provides temporary housing and related services to displaced policyholders

Key people 

Mike Arbour – CEO

Arbour was appointed CEO of Sedgwick in August 2020, becoming the third person to hold the position. Prior to this, he served as group president for global operations. He was also the CEO of the Verclaim companies, which Sedgwick acquired in 2014.

Arbour boasts nearly two decades of experience in the insurance services industry, including eight years as CEO of T&H Global, LLC, the company from which Sedgwick acquired Vericlaim, Inc., vrs>Vericlaim U.K., Ltd. and Unified Investigations & Sciences. He also previously worked as a private equity investor focused on the business services, technology and healthcare sectors. Arbour has B.A. from Kenyon College, and a MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern University).

Culture

Major companies in the insurance sector often have social responsibility and community giving goals. Sedgwick, for example, partners with and contributes to organizations that provide sustainable solutions for the social, health, and educational needs of its communities.

“We embrace and encourage every office – and we have nearly 900 of them around the planet – that each of them in their own community with the make-up of their workforce, whether they’re a small office or a large office, whatever they want to get engaged in their community, they should do that,” said North. “We should encourage that, and provide our financial resources and our commitment to allow people to have the time to devote to things that they care about as individuals – that to me is the power of our charitable intent.”

In Phoenix, the company has provided support to the Children’s Hospital, while in Memphis, where Sedgwick is headquartered, the company does a lot of work with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. North was also asked to sit on the Board of Trustees for the University of Memphis, besides Sedgwick’s other involvements with education, such as the sponsoring of that university’s Finish Line Program, which helps students who had to abandon their college degrees get over the ‘finish line.’