David Findley '68
David Findley, 61, is Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for St. Paul Travelers Insurance company. He has been with the company since his career began in 1968 as a Commercial Lines Underwriter in Ottawa, Canada. In his current role, he leads an enterprise wide organization of 5,400 employees in over 100 locations spanning 4 countries and manages an annual operating budget exceeding $350 million.
Mr. Findley was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada. He attended New York’s Houghton College and graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then continued on with his Masters Studies at Pace University.
Mr. Findley has earned a reputation for developing and maintaining extremely well disciplined and metrics-oriented organizations. Early in his career, he was responsible for leading the creation of several foundational insurance systems platforms. Since the early 1990s, he has been credited with successfully implementing six major mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. 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.
A recognized industry spokesman, Mr. Findley currently sits on several insurance industry boards including ACORD, IIAA, AMS Systems Group and the St. Paul Guarantee Insurance Company in Toronto, Canada. He is a founding member of the Valley Community Baptist Church in Avon, CT, and has served as Chairman and Elder. In these capacities, he has been able to influence both his community and industry to move in directions he strongly believes are best. He is also a licensed HAM Radio Operator (KB1WR) and a member of the Harley Owners Group (HOG).
Mr. Findley now resides in Farmington, CT, with his wife Helga, also a ‘68 Houghton graduate. They have two children, Lisa-Brit and Darin, and three grandchildren. When he is not in the office or two-thumb typing away on his BlackBerry, he can be found testing the latest gadgets or ballroom dancing in local competitions. He continues to lead several neighborhood Bible study groups and is an avid reader of any number of books related to his deep interests- government and business.
Mr. Findley was our guest on November 4, 2005. Click here for a short YouTube sample of his remarks.
The monthly Guest Executive Dinner series is sponsored by Houghton's business department for the purpose of increasing student exposure to marketplace professionals from various fields and service opportunities to be both salt and light after college.
