PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
2020 President’s message
COVID-19 is making a prolonged and profound impact on our lives. More than 550,000 lives across the country have been lost, including family members and friends of team members. To varying degrees, everyone’s life has been altered, resulting in hardships that were unimaginable pre-pandemic. Our team may not have been face to face during most of the year, but that did not deter us from virtually working hand in hand to fulfill our mission. It has not been easy, but we have persevered and learned much about ourselves and our team that has application well into the future.
The research firm Sentieo discovered the phrase “unprecedented times” to have been mentioned in 2,128 corporate presentations last year, a 7,000+ percent increase over the prior period. Deadly pandemics have occurred throughout history and by no means are unprecedented. The phrase’s popularity likely has more to do with the modern-day shelter response to defeat the virus. The preventative measures dealt severe blows to small businesses that are the backbone of our economy, to the hospitality and airline industries, and created world-wide supply chain issues. Businesses, like ours, which were not reliant on in-person transactions, transitioned rapidly to electronically connect their workers and customers. But that too, brought tribulations that had to be overcome.
From the autumn of 1918 to the summer of 1919, the Spanish Flu, which ironically did not originate in Spain, spread across the globe. Without immunity to halt the new influenza’s path, the pandemic went on to claim three percent of the world’s population.
In the lead-up to the centennial of the world’s most recent deadliest pandemic, articles and television documentaries sprung up detailing the Spanish Flu’s origins, chronology and impacts. Terms like social distancing, flattening the curve, herd immunity and pandemic fatigue were not yet in our vocabularies when PBS, Smithsonian Channel and History Channel aired documentaries beginning in 2018.
Viewers of the programs may question how much we learned from the Spanish Flu. Parallels can be drawn between the past event and today’s COVID-19 crisis, including contention over shutdown orders, mask usage, appropriateness of medications and treatment, and distrust of information and/or withholding of information. With 100 years separating the two pandemics, the list of commonalities is remarkable.
In the midst of the Spanish Flu epidemic, the charter for the company that would evolve to become Penn National Insurance was granted, on January 6, 1919. The grit, determination and feisty spirit of the farmers that founded the company after prevailing in a battle with the Commonwealth to operate their equipment on public roads is well-documented in our archives, but not the epidemic of the times.
Living through the COVID-19 experience offers us greater insight into the farmers’ mindset and resolve in establishing a mutual insurance company to secure affordable protection for its members. That the farmers’ held such bright aspirations for the future in a time of global despair speaks to their spirit.
When tasked with ranking 2020 relative to preceding years on a misery/stress-level index, historians from major universities positioned the year in eighth place. The seven years the historians judged more difficult include: 1862/Civil War; 1929/Stock Market Crash; 1838/Trail of Tears; 1918/Spanish Flu; 1962/Cuban Missile Crisis; 1968/Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations and civil unrest; and 2001/Terrorist Attacks.
As a nation and a company, we benefit from the spirit of our people and their willingness to come together for a common cause, enabling us to rebound from past challenges and emerge better and stronger. Penn National Insurance operated through six of the eight years included on the historians’ list, a testament to our resiliency. We have successfully navigated the challenges of the past, and we stood together in 2020 to handle all that the year bestowed upon us.
The attitude and outlook of our team made all the difference in the world as we navigated remote work, child and elder care needs, home schooling, personal stress from isolation, and family stress from the disruption of turning our homes into our workplaces. As has been quipped, “It’s not that we’re working from home, it’s that we’re living at work.”
In deciding to either rejoice that thorn bushes have roses or complain that rose bushes have thorns, our team chooses the former. Seeing and appreciating the positive does not extinguish the negative, but it sure did wonders for our attitude and outlook in handling the stresses of 2020.
We are especially proud of our team for successfully carrying out our mission this year. There were many bright spots and a select few deserve special recognition.
Keeping everyone safe and well-informed, and continuing uninterrupted operations held our focus from the pandemic's first emergence. Our IT Division had us well equipped and prepared to shift to remote work in February and not a beat was missed. Within days, 800+ remote users were signed on to the network. The foresight and planning required was substantial and it paid off handsomely.
The effective work of our Crisis Management Team permitted us to calmly and confidently make wise decisions and achieve our safety, communication and continuity objectives. Our team is to be commended for having swiftly adapted to changing environments. Teamwork and collaboration have been at all-time highs.
We developed a new strategic plan that fully embraces our mutual structure as a competitive differentiator. Like the farmers who founded our company, we have aspirations and plans for a bright future that we will execute upon.
We generated strong financial performance in a year filled with uncertainty and trying economic conditions. Commercial premium and loss results were strong. In a virtual environment, we opened up new sources of premium growth by contracting with 61 new agencies. In the face of a record number of U.S. weather-related loss events, our claims team repeatedly responded well.
Speedy work was accomplished to adjust personal auto premiums to reflect decreases in miles driven. A robotic processing automation project was completed that led to efficiency gains, enhanced quality and service improvements for the personal umbrella product. A roadside assistance program was newly introduced for auto policyholders.
We took a firm stance and action on the societal issue of racism. We signed the CEO Action Pledge and committed to adhering to a set of best-practice standards. An Inclusion and Diversity Council was chartered and the members’ input will assist us in becoming increasingly intentional in our efforts to foster an environment in which we can engage in difficult conversations, with all perspectives given a voice.
Penn National Insurance and its team members stepped up to support the community. Our United Way Campaign was a success, and pledges nearly equaled the prior year’s campaign, an admirable result given the economic challenges and the loss of individual contributors who retired. We also directed additional corporate giving to respond to the community’s rising basic need challenges.
While 2020 was a grueling year, there were plenty of roses to be appreciated amongst the thorns. I could not be more proud of our team for their outstanding efforts and results. If anyone ever needed proof that our people are the reason that Penn National Insurance is a special company, the team’s 2020 performance can be introduced as Exhibit A. The pandemic did not impede us in fulfilling our mission of helping people feel secure and making life better when bad things happen.
A relatively small number of dedicated individuals working from inside our buildings to support us deserve special mention and praise. Without their contributions, we would not be able to perform our jobs. While most of our commutes have been suspended, theirs have not. We are most grateful for their support.
The availability of vaccines to stop the spread of the virus provides us all hope for a better tomorrow. We have so much for which to be thankful and many reasons to be excited about building an even brighter future.
We are so fortunate to have received tremendous support from our board of directors and all of our independent agents throughout the year. To the board, we appreciate that you backed our commitment to keep everyone safe. Your support from the outset allowed us to make timely decisions in the best interest of all. To our agents, we continue to cherish and value our relationships with you. Thank you for the trust you place in us to meet your needs, as well as the needs of your clients.
Bob Brandon, president & CEO