The Real Story Andy Bessette, Travelers

Ben, good morning. How are you doing?

Yeah, you know, Oz was a great friend and we knew each other for the better part of 20 years. And back in, it went all the way back to 2001 when Oz first came in to head the Metro Hartford Alliance. And back in those days, the corporations in and around Hartford had gotten sick and tired of paying duplicate overhead expenses for the Chamber of Commerce and what was called back then the Metro Hartford Growth Council. And so we worked diligently to put those together through 2000 and 2001, formed the Metro Hartford Alliance as we know it today. And we hired Oz to come in and be the CEO of the Metro Hartford Alliance. And that's where I first met Oz, and you know, he had been a bank executive in this area for six or seven years, and I had met him a few times there. But, you know, the things that we did in the Metro Hartford Alliance in the early days had such an impact on the community. And I became chairman, as I remember, in 2005, 2006. And so Oz and I worked closely together in those years, and I really started to see Oz as the person he is and was. And he was a special guy, and I just think the world of him. And I always will. And, you know, in 2005, 2006, we started something called HYPE, which is the Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs Association. And it's a great organization. You know, back in those days, we had, I think, we had 50 members and we were hoping to get to 200. And now these days it's up over 4,000. And so that's the kind of vision that Oz had. He knew that young professionals would be an important part of growing our region and growing the businesses in the state of Connecticut. And he charged ahead and we worked together to get that done. And then he also was the brainchild behind the insurance and financial services cluster, which to this day exists and is an important part of bringing the insurance companies together and keeping all the insurance jobs here and growing insurance jobs in this region. So, that gives you a little insight as to Oz in his energy, his caring. I never saw a bigger champion and cheerleader for this region than Oz Griebel. Oz is and always will be somebody that I highly respect and cared for. And he did so many good things to grow this area.

Oz had the heart of an angel. He was a terrific man and he cared about people. He cared about Hartford, about the greater Hartford region, about the state of Connecticut. And you can't say more to somebody about somebody than they cared. He cared. He was energetic. You're right, he was 71, but he sent me an email the Sunday before the accident on that Tuesday. And he said, 'Andy, I've got some ideas I need your help on this, this, and this. And I also, let's get together for lunch and we can social distance.' And I said, 'Yeah, okay, we'll figure this out.' And that was Oz. Oz always had ideas. He was always working hard. He had the energy of a 30-year-old. And it's not surprising that he was going out for a run because that was Oz. And, you know, Oz's sports background in baseball and around Dartmouth, but also Worcester Academy where he taught for four years, is legendary. And his relationship with D-Row is legendary. And the list goes on and on for the great athletes that came out of Worcester Academy. But that was Oz. Oz was a great person, great human being, worked hard, cared a lot about our region, our area. And I think the biggest tribute we can pay to Oz is to keep that energy going and push and continue to grow the state, grow the region, grow Hartford, and do good things for all the folks and the people that live in all those areas.

You know, Ben, it was one of those experiences where Nathan and I worked so hard because we had to keep five different scenarios of the tournament working and planning until the end of April when the PGA Tour finally told us that it would be a no fan event. So, no fans would be on site, nobody would be on site except for the players and the necessary people to run the tournament. And I have to tell you, it was so weird. I missed the fans so much. I mean, I was so sad in so many ways, but it ended up being terrific. You know, we had nine of the top 10 players in the world, 18 of the top 20, 30 of the top 50. And Nathan and I laughed and had a shirt made up for saying, 'The Travelers Championship, the World Golf Championship.' Which is one of the top events on the PGA tour. And so, that's right, that's what we aspire to be, but we had terrific success. We have a great champion in Dustin Johnson. And our charitable numbers came in over 1.6 million. 1.6 million. And we didn't sell one ticket, we didn't sell one hamburger, we didn't sell one shirt, we sold nothing. But the support from our corporate sponsors was second to none. They were terrific. They took a portion of or all of their sponsorship dollars and gave them to the tournament as a charitable contribution. And that's what allowed us to be able to give in part over 1.6 million to really important charities in the greater Hartford region.

You know, the Travelers has always been a rather virtual company because of the nature of business. We've got to be able to work and support our insured in the time of their greatest needs, which is disasters, catastrophes, hurricanes, tornadoes, you name it. So, we've always been prepared to do this. And over the last decade, we've done a lot of things to build our systems and everything even more strongly. And so, we've got 30,000 employees working from home extremely successfully. And the company is doing well, the company is working hard. We've got essential workers, you know, probably 1,500, couple of thousand nationwide. Some in Hartford. So, the halls of the tower are not empty completely. And we've gone to great lengths to make sure that our food workers, who are contract workers, stay employed. We continue to pay them, our housekeepers. And so, we care about human beings and we care about the people who are part of our family. And so, you know what? I think we're all waiting for the vaccines to come out and that'll determine, I think, a lot of the future. But we'll have a few people come in start to come back in after Labor Day, but I suspect it'll be further out in the year and into early 2021 as we see more people come back into the workplace.

Yeah, and Ben, you know, you were there and you've seen it all live, but I think it's terrific. The students and the energy to come back into the dorms, get back on campus, get back into class is terrific. Now, I think there'll be a combination of in class and still virtual and there's still going to be a virtual nature to it, but there's so much excitement. I think the students are so excited to come back in onto campus, but we've got to somehow restrict that, too. And you've read about that to make sure that it's safe because that's the most important piece of everything we do. Actually, around the Travelers Championship or at Travelers Companies or at UConn, we've got to make sure it's a safe environment. And, there'll be testing protocols and such. And you know, with sports, we've already announced that our fall schedule now in the Big East will be within conference only, and football still being determined to work on. But I think giving the athletes a chance to compete, even though it may be on a little bit more restricted basis, is critically important. I think giving the students an opportunity to come back is critically important. And the Board of Trustees, I am telling you, I chair the finance committee, and we look at it, we focus on the dollars, but I'm telling you the entire Board of Trustees is so focused. It's we're all engaged in making sure that this is right and that it's going to be a great experience, but also a safe experience. And I couldn't be more proud of all of my fellow trustees and what we're accomplishing in a pandemic and what the administration with Tom Katsouleas and his entire leadership team and the professors, everybody. Everybody is doing their best to try to make sure it's safe, but also give the students a chance to come back on the campus and start to learn and study some more as we left off after the last semester.

I think so. That was a while ago, but you know, it's people like you, Ben, that give me the energy to keep going, and you know, we enjoy so many of the same things, but it's so important, I think, that in these times of this pandemic, the importance of the Travelers Championship is the pride that it brings. I mean, it makes us all feel good. And that was one of the most important things about making sure that we had a tournament this year was making sure that we would have a great tournament. Everybody could be very proud to be a part of what's in Connecticut. You know, Governor Lamont was a terrific partner, terrific. And he was so helpful. And I think the job he's done leading the whole COVID-19 effort has been phenomenal. But the support we get to run the tournament so that we can give pride to every person in Connecticut is so important. And that's what makes Nathan and I proud of all the work that our entire team, our teams collectively do to pull it off. So, pride's an important part. And you know, you're proud of what we do and we're proud of it. And we're just happy we're going to do it again in '21. And I usually do a funny challenge just before the tournament. And I said, 'Next year, I want to break all records. I want half a million people to come out to the Travelers Championship.' And poor Nathan was shaking because, you know, normally we have 200,000 to 250,000. And so, I want everybody to come out and celebrate in '21 as long as it's safe to come out and join the Travelers Championship and be a part of what happened in 2020, but also what's going to happen in 2021.

Thank you, Beth. Thank you for your leadership and all that you do to make this all possible.