Reflecting on a Career's Arc

David Findley '68

Sometimes nice guys do come out on top. Take for instance, the case of David Findley '68. At the end of December, Findley retired from his position as senior vice president and chief operations and information officer for St. Paul Travelers Insurance. At the end of his career, he led a part of the organization consisting of 4,900 employees in more than 130 locations with an annual budget of $402 million and revenues of $24 billion, servicing 1.2 million customers. Those who worked for and with him—from the mailroom to the board room—enjoyed and respected Findley so much that they gave him five separate retirement parties.

"I never realized that people felt that way until I left the company," Findley says, "and then all the accolades kept coming." He said that all of them mentioned the same things: "My Christian character, and how I treated people—people could see the difference in the way I looked at life and the way I looked at issues, trials and challenges."

Don't get the wrong idea—Findley is not taking the credit for this. Instead, he used his retirement parties, including the one with the Traveler's most senior executives, to send a message. After presenting him with "all this stuff—of life," he says they asked him to say a few words. His message? "All that I've achieved in the business world, I have to give back to my Lord and God, because He has blessed me beyond measure."

Those blessings started "at my mother's knee," Findley says, recalling his Christian upbringing. He went to a Wesleyan church in Ottawa and heard of Houghton through the denomination. He applied, but recalls that his SAT scores were too low. He credits former registrar, the late Wesley Nussey, for opening the door. Nussey arranged for Findley to matriculate at the college while taking English and American History from Lindol Hutton '57 at Houghton Academy.

He "wasn't the smartest guy in the college—by a long shot," Findley admits, so it was a good thing that Ken Nielsen, vice president emeritus for finance, gave him a job in the kitchen (in the basement of Gaoyadeo), where Findley "fell in love with this woman, Helga Jensen '68, who made sure that I went to the library every night." Findley also remembers "falling in love with history," for which he credits Kay (Walberger '43) Lindley, professor emerita of history: "She was a fantastic teacher," Findley says, "The sun just rose and set on her."

He also enjoyed English professor Jim Barcus '59 and professor emeritus of business administration Arnold Cook '43 and the late Ed Willett '39. "We just had so much fun," says Findley. One time a campus business club called the Young Administrators Organization (YAO) had a guest speaker from the Traveler's come down from Buffalo. "When I transferred to New York City with Traveler's, the first person I met was that same man! He could not believe it! It's a small world."

But we're getting ahead of the story. After graduating from Houghton, Findley considered several offers, then accepted a position with the Traveler's because of their management training program. After completing that course, he returned to Houghton to marry Helga and bring her back with him to begin their married life in Ottawa. After two years, she convinced Findley to ask for a transfer back to her hometown— New York City—where they stayed for two years before he was promoted to company headquarters in Hartford, CT. Along the way he earned his master's degree from Pace University.

During his years in Hartford, Findley grew to appreciate the liberal arts education he had received at Houghton. Often, he recalls, people would ask him where he had gone to college, expecting him to name a "brand name" college or university known for its business school. He would enjoy the opportunity to tell them about Houghton.

He made it a point when reviewing résumés—"and over the course of 40 years I've looked at a lot of résumés," he notes—to look for somebody who had a well-rounded education and outside interests. "Then I know that they can speak and write and do the kinds of things that a liberal arts education prepares you to do," he says. On the other hand, he said, were the candidates "who did nothing but study accounting" and didn't get involved in outside activities. "Those I tended to fly over," he says, "because I saw so many of them."

What difference did studying liberal arts at a Christian college make? "The obvious thing is that, from a Christian standpoint, ethics was very important back when it wasn't," Findley says. Perhaps less obvious, "[God] has blessed me," he says, "with a career that has been very rewarding financially and from an ego standpoint and from a level of achievement. You cannot count them [the blessings] up." but certainly no less important—especially to Findley—is that "we treat people right, because that came out of our teaching—we were to treat people fairly. I'm not sure that we get enough of that. I see too many people in the business world that, frankly, are bullies." It bothers him greatly that many organizations tolerate them, even look up to them. "I don't think they become the best leaders at all," he says, "These people roll over other people."

That certainly wasn't Findley's way. Consider this excerpt from his official Traveler's biography: "His endearing leadership style, coupled with intensive ongoing coaching and mentoring, has allowed him to develop a highly respected leadership team and ensured its continuity by extending key opportunities to the company's next generation of leaders."

As Findley pointed out at his retirement, the Lord has blessed his willingness to be different. "Over and over and over again, He has blessed me," he says, "with a career that has been very rewarding financially and from an ego standpoint and from a level of achievement. You cannot count them [the blessings] up."

In retirement, Findley intends to pursue his interest in HAM radio (call sign KB1WR) and ride his new BMW motorcycle in the Appalachians. He will continue to teach Bible studies and Sunday school—he "loves the Gospels and the letters of Paul"—at the Valley Community Baptist Church in Avon, CT, where he and his wife are founding members and he has served as elder and chairman.

"At the end of my career, looking back on it, I could never have predicted it," Findley says, "I was fortunate. I don't look back and say that happens to everybody, but when I look back on it, I have to say to myself, there's only one person that I can give the honor and glory to."