Jason Fogg was named President & CEO of Wisconsin Reinsurance Corporation and 1st Auto & Casualty after Terry Wendorff’s retirement on December 30, 2021.
Jason joined WRC in 2017 as chief operating officer and was promoted to executive vice president in 2019. He formerly served as CEO of Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company near Orlando, Florida.
As he begins this new chapter in his career at WRC, we wanted to provide an opportunity for you to get to know him better. Enjoy this brief Q&A that touches on Jason’s professional and personal life.
How did your career path lead you to the insurance industry?
“Like most of us, I fell into insurance. After working for a law firm for a couple years, I took a job in the corporate legal department of an auto carrier to represent the company in court as well as manage day-to-day litigation. As time went on and I got exposed to more and more, I discovered how varied and interesting insurance really is. I’ve been hooked ever since.”
What is your vision for The WRC Group?
“I love the fact that we view our clients as partners and strive to help them be the best they can be, which in turn fuels our success. I believe we can maintain strong partnerships while improving our efficiency and profitability.”
How do you see yourself helping the company evolve?
“By pushing the ideas that we need to move on from ‘that’s how we’ve always done it’ and that it’s ok to take risks and fail. We have smart, talented people who care about what we do — my job is to help them excel at what they do.”
Where do you look for inspiration?
“I don’t necessarily look for inspiration, but I think you can see it all around us.”
What is your favorite quote?
“’Done is better than perfect.’ I’ve heard this quote (or something similar) attributed to many, from Benjamin Franklin to Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. No matter who said it, I think it’s an important view in business.”
What is one professional success you are especially proud of?
“Early in my career, I represented two gentlemen who worked at a factory and had been fired from their jobs after complaining about enduring some incredibly offensive workplace harassment. After the case was successfully resolved, they both called me and profusely thanked me for believing them and fighting for their rights. It wasn’t about the amount of money they received, it was that I stood up for them and helped them regain the respect they’d been denied — to this day, that stays with me.”
How do you like to spend your free time?
“Searching for wayward golf balls.”
Where was your favorite vacation?
“With my family, we went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, one year and went whitewater rafting on the Pigeon River, which was a blast. With my friends, my most recent golf trip: four of us went to Bandon Dunes in Oregon and we played nine rounds of golf in five days (we walked about 70 miles by the end of the trip). We had so much fun playing some of the most beautiful golf courses you can imagine.”
What kind of music appeals to you?
“I lean towards alternative music. Smashing Pumpkins, The Shins, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Springsteen, The War on Drugs and Alejandro Escovedo are examples of who I listen to regularly.”
What is the craziest thing you have done?
“That I’m willing to admit to? Skydiving. I had a friend who had a small radio show on Saturday mornings in the Chicago suburbs and he’d regularly have me on (we’d do comedy bits and talk to callers); we decided it would be funny to have me do a stunt and record it for the show, so I jumped out of an airplane, while wearing a microphone, all in the name of comedy. While I survived, the comedy bit was a failure (we discovered you can’t really hear anything as you plummet from 8,000 feet at 120 mph!).”
How do you see the company changing in the next five years?
“I’d like to see us explore how we can begin to incorporate advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence into our operations. Utilizing technology to help us make incremental improvements in underwriting, pricing and claims is a path I believe we must take to support profitable growth.”