What Happened?
Chicago, IL-based CNA Insurance has Appointed Brian Pendergast as Chief Information Officer
About the Company
Since 1897, CNA has been providing outstanding service and an ongoing commitment to building long-term relationships, earning us a reputation for being a carrier that inspires trust. At CNA, we take pride in our ability to offer innovative products and services that meet the evolving needs of our customers and business partners alike. As the 8th largest U.S. commercial insurer and the 13th largest U.S. property & casualty insurer, we provide insurance protection to more than one million businesses and professionals in the U.S. and internationally. We understand the importance of being where our customers are. Headquartered in Chicago, CNA has offices throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. In these locations, we work with highly professional independent agents and brokers to ensure our customers receive the personal service and attention they look for in a carrier.
About the Person
Brian Pendergast is a business technology leader with over twenty years of experience in the manufacturing, legal, media information and software solutions industries. With an emphasis on managing the operational and organizational change associated with disintermediation, accelerated growth and acquisition integration activities, Brian has been actively involved in the technology transformation of over fifteen companies throughout his career. As a business technologist and operating manager, his experience encompasses start-up, turnaround, high-growth, multinational and multi-divisional operations. Brian has a proven ability to combine advanced information technology in developing and implementing strategic business goals. His experience includes recruiting, retaining and developing high-caliber teams in data security, critical infrastructure, systems and operational support and software product development. Having started his career in 1986 at Digital Equipment Corporation, Brian spent ten years as a consulting engineer focused on high volume transaction processing systems (HPS), structured and unstructured data sets, advanced ETL methodologies, Natural Language Processing and imaging science based in Maynard, MA, New York, NY and Santa Clara, CA. In 1996, Brian moved to The Nielsen Company (VNU Inc.), the leading global media and marketing conglomerate based in the Netherlands, where he led several critical technology based integrations for the business as they acquired multiple industry leading corporations. During the late 90’s he held several key leadership roles, many of which encompassed dual functions and responsibilities for the US and international properties. Principle roles included the Senior Vice-President of Applied Technology for the US and European ICT operations and Chief Technology Officer for VNU’s Media and Marketing Information Group based in New York City. In addition to these roles, Brian had primary responsibility for the advanced research and development organization including the leadership of the emerging standards in mobile data collection (RFID passive code), mobile electronic payments (RFID readers), Media Metrics audience measurement (PPM) and global data XML standards for extensive data-centric properties. Concurrently, in 2000, Brian also held the position of interim CEO for Marketing Resources Plus (a leading media research software company) based in Redwood City, CA which was acquired in the mid 1990s. In 2001, following completion of the acquisition of A.C. Nielsen, Brian left and, together with another senior executive, formed The Red Rock Consulting Group, LLC - positioned to work with corporations and private equity investors focused on technology sourcing and retooling. In addition to advising and mentoring on a variety of start-up and early-phase ventures, his efforts have encompassed consulting activities in: strategic planning and business development, intellectual property evaluation and consulting, due diligence activities, business investment plan development, process engineering, and direct operational technology leadership for several multibillion dollar corporations. In 2006, Brian was recruited to be a founder of Inference Data by the former CEO of Lexis-Nexis and private equity bankers. In this role Brian was responsible to architect and develop a vision for a premier analytic review tool and portal for the litigation support marketplace. Over the next three years the business grew to nearly 9M dollars and became cash positive, eventually being sold to a strategic consulting firm in May 2010. Following the transition of Inference Data, Brian joined CNA National Warranty Reinsurance, a division of CNA Financial, the reinvestment arm for the fifth largest insurance underwriter in the world. In this role Brian is responsible for business technology governance for the warranty and automotive product lines and is based out of Scottsdale, Arizona. Brian is a graduate of the University of Arizona and has studied engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology and technology leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Business, Executive Education.
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