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The flexibility of the industry is what drove Robert Rochelle (pictured) to seek a career in insurance.
Rochelle entered the insurance space in 2009, taking a business analyst role at San Antonio Indemnity Company where he served as a liaison with managing general agents to assure that their programs were profitable. He started his underwriting and broking career at Quirk & Company, where he specialized in marketing and underwriting wholesale commercial property and casualty risks insurance.
In 2014, Rochelle joined TCOR Management, taking the role of a commercial insurance advisor. With this position, he focuses on oil & gas clients, commercial contractors, developers, and manufacturers.
Outside his insurance career, Rochelle has been active in social and civic activities. He is a member of the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas and Young Texans Against Cancer.
In this exclusive interview, Rochelle tells Insurance Business what he thinks is the biggest challenge the insurance industry is facing today. He also shares how his previous experiences and volunteering work are helping him in his career.
Please share with us how you got into the insurance industry, what led you to this career?
My dad has been an insurance agent for 40+ years on the captive side. He, and others I’ve known on the independent side, were the guys that were there coaching our little league teams, having lunch with us and volunteering at schools and still keeping the lights on. Having become a dad myself recently, I enjoy the flexibility this industry provides so I can do the same for my son. All the while, I still get to work with clients and colleagues I genuinely enjoy.
Tell us briefly about your company and its role in the insurance industry. What makes it different from other companies in the same space?
TCOR Management is a risk management consulting and insurance firm specializing in the energy, construction, real estate development and manufacturing sectors. We work with our clients to develop enterprise-wide risk management plans and provide various risk control services in support of those plans tailored to meet the client’s strategic and budgetary objectives. These risk control services include HSE consulting, DOT consulting, information and asset security plans, contractor management for compliance with service contract requirements, HR consulting, and benchmarking of client total cost of risk and total cost of human capital.
We believe our comprehensive and coordinated risk management approach gives clients better understanding of the cost of controlling, avoiding or accepting risks, better knowledge for making strategic business decisions, better ability to manage margins, and competitive advantage through long-term control of the costs associated with risk in their business.
What or who do you think has been the secret to your professional success? How do they motivate you?
Great mentors. Any professional success I can claim is due to the great mentorship I’ve been fortunate enough to receive.
What do you think are the most challenging issues facing the insurance industry today?
Perpetuation. On the agency side less than 8% of employees are 30 or younger with the average agency owner now 59 and 54% of US agency employees are over 50. Many agencies without a plan for continuity will be forced to sell and more premium will be consolidated to fewer larger brokers. Clients will have fewer options and the service provided to them will suffer as a result.
Describe a world without insurance.
I’d guess there would probably be far fewer lawyers for one. Two, there’d be fewer Super Bowl commercials and it might take you more than 15 minutes to save 15% or more on your car insurance. Discount double check – forget it! Outside of that, there would be a massive slowdown in global economic development as every industry, in both developed and underdeveloped countries, depends on its availability to manage their risk in deploying capital. Without insurance, the entrepreneurial fire that breathes life into our world would dim to a meager flicker. I’ll pass on that world.
We've learned that you have worked for Quirk & Company and San Antonia Indemnity Company before. What have you learned from those experiences?
My time with Quirk & Company and San Antonio Indemnity Company exposed me to a depth and breadth of the insurance industry that very few have while in their early 20s. With San Antonio Indemnity Company, a privately owned Texas based personal lines carrier, I had the opportunity to work directly under our CEO, the late Bob Quirk. Under Bob’s mentorship, I had operational responsibilities ranging from managing, tracking and trending aggregate exposure to ratemaking and filing with the department of insurance to negotiating reinsurance treaties to marketing and managing our MGA distribution channels and working with reporting bureaus and rating agencies. Bob was a great mentor and friend and I will always cherish the time I had with him.
Please tell us about your volunteering work at Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
I was inspired to volunteer as a Big Brother while watching the movie Role Models. How could you not after seeing how funny Little Rodney was? Since becoming a Big Brother to Michael (now 14) in 2012, I also joined the board of directors in 2014 to help further the organization’s mission of providing children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. Our company, TCOR Management, also participates in the Workplace Mentoring program. It has been a great experience and I honestly think the mentors get just as much out of the program as the kids do.
If you are given the chance to time travel and witness any event in the past or in the future what would it be?
To have been present with Francis Scott Key during the Battle of Baltimore while he composed the Star-Spangled Banner.
