By Denise Perreault
PBN Staff Writer
When John Brown, Moses Brown and Samuel Slater, among others, organized the Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Co. in 1800, it is doubtful they could have envisioned that one day, a woman would be in charge.
Yet 200 years later in October 2000 Sandra Glaser Parrillo, CPCU, was elected president and CEO. She’s the first woman to take the helm of the fourth oldest mutual insurance company in the nation.
Based in Warwick, Providence Mutual serves eight states (all of New England, plus New Jersey and New York), with 70 employees, 300 independent agents and 70,000 policies.
Under Parrillo’s leadership, the company has gone from $28 million in premiums collected in 2000 to $65 million at the end of 2007. She’s quick to credit her board of directors and staff for the improvement.
But there is no doubt that Parrillo’s own passion for the insurance business have helped in her own success and that of her company.
“There’s tremendous satisfaction in pursuing a career in insurance.” she said.
When she was in school, studying for dual bachelor’s degrees at Rhode Island College, she had no idea what she would do with her life but knew she enjoyed “anything to do with mathematics.”
She began working at Providence Mutual as an intern 31 years ago, hired by an “old-school” gentleman “who never thought I would stick around,” but who later became one of her strongest advocates. After she graduated from college in 1978, a job opened up in underwriting and she took it.
She soon found that she loved the insurance business.
She served in several underwriting and management positions, and was named vice president and secretary of the company in 1995. Four years later, the board elected her senior vice president of underwriting and marketing and, a year later, president and CEO.
Parrillo finds that working for a mutual insurance company, is a significant advantage in today’s competitive atmosphere. “It allows us to take a very long-term perspective, she said. “We can operate in a way we think is appropriate.”
Her employees can attest to some of the advantages. Providence Mutual was named one of the Best Places to Work in Rhode Island last year by Providence Business News, a recognition based in part on confidential surveys that employees complete.
Parrillo does not feel she has encountered much, if any, gender bias during her journey to the top. “If there ever was a glass ceiling, it’s gone,” she said, calling her colleagues “very welcoming and very gender-neutral.”
She does acknowledge that a woman “has to work a little bit harder, you have to build your credibility.” She continued her education so she would have the professional credentials to prove she is capable, earning the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 1986, a master’s degree in business administration with high honors from the University of Rhode Island in 1992, and the designation of Certified Insurance Counselor in 2000. •
