Travelers Institute^®: Thought Leadership on Disaster Preparedness

The Travelers Institute, the public policy division of Travelers, has an extensive history of advancing education and dialogue around disaster preparedness. Since its inception, the Travelers Institute has hosted 19 in-person events, as well as 11 webinars, with respect to disaster preparedness.

In 2025, the Travelers Institute launched a new initiative called Risk. Regulation. Resilience. Responsibility.℠ addressing the availability and affordability of property casualty insurance caused by a multitude of factors, including changing climate conditions and catastrophic weather events. Through this platform, the Travelers Institute began hosting events in cities across the United States focused on how policymakers, insurance agents, brokers, carriers and consumers can address these challenges within the insurance marketplace. The programs feature leading experts from within Travelers, such as Travelers Executive Vice President and Enterprise Chief Underwriting Officer Rick Keegan, alongside experts in disaster preparedness, such as Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety CEO Roy Wright. Topics discussed include:

The impact of changing climate conditions on atmospheric perils.
The latest building science and the role of building codes to better withstand extreme weather events.
The state of community infrastructure.
Disaster preparedness for families, businesses and communities.
Actions we can all take to promote resilient communities.

Programs were held in St. Paul, Minnesota; Atlanta, Georgia; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Dallas, Texas, in 2025 and will continue in 2026.

To further emphasize a proactive approach to mitigating risk caused by natural disasters, the Travelers Institute’s Wednesdays with Woodward^® webinar series also took viewers on a three-part, live, exclusive tour of Travelers’ 200,000-square-foot Claim University in 2025. The series included the following episodes:

Live from Claim University: Behind the Scenes at Travelers’ Flagship Educational Hub explored Claim University’s immersive learning labs and showed how we equip our teams with both deep technical knowledge and the professional skills that help ensure that Travelers customers are served by some of the industry’s best-prepared Claim professionals.
Live from the CAT Center: Where Expertise Meets Innovation featured the technology and coordination of the Travelers National Catastrophe Center. Viewers saw firsthand the advanced capabilities that allow Travelers to monitor weather, risk and exposure in real time and how our industry-leading AI and machine-learning tools help us assess damage and assist customers quickly. Viewers also learned that Travelers Claim professionals, rather than third-party adjusters, handle catastrophe claims and took a virtual tour of a Travelers “CAT Van,” a mobile claim office deployed in the event of a catastrophe.
Live from Travelers’ Risk Control Lab: Bringing Science to Insurance Risk took viewers inside our nationally accredited Risk Control Lab, where engineers, scientists and technicians uncover the facts behind losses. Viewers learned how Travelers brings science to claim handling and how our forensic expertise helps us identify loss trends that can help protect customers and prevent future losses.

Related resources

Travelers Institute^® webinar: Wind, Hail, Rain, Fire: LIVE from IBHS!
Travelers Institute^® webinar: The Evolving Property Insurance Landscape: Strategic Response and Agent Participation

Illustrative initiatives

Wildfire Defense Services

Protecting Our Customers from Increased Wildfire Risk

While our commitment to our customers is to make them whole after a covered loss such as a wildfire, we also help our customers avoid the loss entirely or mitigate the loss should one occur.

Travelers Fortifies Communities

Building Strong, Resilient Communities

We partner with Habitat for Humanity^®, SBP, Smart Home America, Rebuilding Together and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety to build affordable, wind-resistant homes to FORTIFIED Home^™ standards throughout the country.