Run Time: 35:16
Fun with Financials
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What could an insurance company finance guy bring to the On Point Podcast table? Turns out a lot of insight about the business… And some fun as well. We chat with Rob Looney, Westfield’s CFO. Rob grew up destined to be a numbers whiz—his mom was an insurance exec herself and his dad a banker. He is rooting for his peers around the insurance business to be more strategic, analytical and long-term focused—versus just crunching numbers. Finance professionals “are no longer in silos,” Rob says. “We used to just audit what happened in the past. Now we really require a focus on next year and the year after that.” He says an ideal state is for insurance leaders to be “calling finance before they make a decision… instead of just asking about last year.” Rob sees his leadership role as helping people do their jobs better and faster. “It’s very important to make decisions with sometimes imperfect information and stay calm under pressure,” he says, adding: “I tell people I want to hear about bad news right away. I’m not going to kill the messenger. I learned early on that clarity matters. I cannot possibly micromanage people who work for me, so I need to know what matters and teach them to make decisions and take risks—as long as they can back it with reasoning.”
