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Established in 2004, Leader’s Edge is the award-winning content platform for The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, covering legal and legislative issues, international business and regulation, management trends and best practices, technology, and more. Leader’s Edge is written and recorded for large and mid-sized commercial insurance and employee benefit executives around the globe.
At the time we couldn't fathom bringing a casino into our town. Our town is about 17,000 people. The energy in this town, I mean, concerts are fun and a major league soccer games are fun, but just the energy, especially when we were winning Super Bowls. We want the the most experienced, the best leaders at the helm of our government.
Zach Ewell:Welcome to the LeadersEdge podcast. I'm Zach Ewell, content producer here at Leaders Edge. It's no secret that the political climate of this year's election has continued to intensify. Many people have been turned off by the bad news and publicity of American politics. In fact, according to a recent Pew Research poll, public trust in government has continued to edge near all time lows in recent years.
Zach Ewell:This leads to one question. How can the polarization that has engulfed our politics and government be fixed? The nonpartisan organization She Should Run offers an interesting solution, increase women's participation in running for public office. Now this answer is an interesting one, As women only holds 28% of the seats in Congress, that figure points to a hefty representation gap when compared to overall American population, which women make over 50% of. To understand the impacts of this gap and how increasing women's participation in public office could possibly lead to better public trust in government, I spoke with Tracy Vasili, senior vice president of client strategy at Verisk, an information services company that specializes in risk.
Zach Ewell:Vasile also holds public office as a member of the planning board for Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the New England Patriots. As I understand it, you serve in elected office in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Can you tell me about why you decided to participate in public service? Was there a specific moment or issue that you wanted to address by initially running?
Tracey Vasile:Oh, happy to answer. So back in, I moved into Foxborough in the 2000 and 1, at the time with my 1 year old daughter and, absolutely loved the the culture, the environment, the small town feel. But in 2020 12, talk began around Steve Wynn, bringing a casino to Foxborough specifically on land that he wanted leased from, the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was also in support of the casino. At the time, we couldn't fathom bringing a conceit, a casino into our town. Our town is about 17,000 people.
Tracey Vasile:We have obviously the stadium there and the various events, including New England revolution games, concerts, and addition, obviously to the football games in the fall. But even with all of that, we were able to still retain the small town feel, and it was very clear early on that a casino would change all of that. Because of that, I became involved with, a group in town called No Casino. And, thankfully, the the woman who pulled tons of folks together, was able to to rally the town, ensure that the residents and the, you know, the voters weren't swayed by wins, a very intense marketing campaign. And the end result was, 2 members of the select board who were elected into office, who were against the casino as well, which helped us secure a majority nay vote on the casino when it effectively died.
Tracey Vasile:And then Wynn went actually and built it right outside of Boston. So it still came to fruition in the state, but not within Foxborough. Following that, I was appointed, to the town's financial advisory committee, known as FINCOM or ADCOM, depending on the town that folks are in and did that for 6 years. Prior to that, paid no attention to town politics whether, you know, whether it was in Foxborough or previous places that I had lived. Over the 6 years, I had the opportunity to be a member then became vice chair, and then, became chair of the advisory committee.
Tracey Vasile:And and then, made the decision when an opening presented itself on the planning board to run for election.
Zach Ewell:With a town so small too, that's a lot to take in, essentially, if a casino was just gonna move in, to a town that's under, 20,000 people.
Tracey Vasile:It was, it was, yeah, it was hard to imagine. It it actually was very scary in in many ways, because the infrastructure wasn't there to support it. And, I mean, with you know, people said, well, you already have a a, you know, an NFL stadium in your backyard, and I think we're one of the only ones, if not the only one, in a small town community like this. But with with Gillette Stadium, we know when concerts were happening. We we know when games are happening or events are happening, And you can plan and we're used to it.
Tracey Vasile:And that's, you know, and that's great. It does and it doesn't change the feel of the town. But having a permanent casino bringing thousands and thousands of people into our town on basically a daily basis would have really altered it. And personally, I didn't feel that and many people didn't feel that would be for the better.
Zach Ewell:So that that that kind of leads into my next question. However, if there's another example, can you give me an example of a time the planning board implemented a policy that you think had a positive change in your community other than, I guess, the one you just gave?
Tracey Vasile:Well, another example, not exactly a policy, but I but I do think it's a good, example of how the the planning board or other boards within any town, really do impact the lives of the of the residents. So we had, we have Route 1 in Foxborough, which is a major road. It's not a highway, but it is a 4 lane road that cuts through as our main artery within our town. And, there was a group of developers who wanted to, and it was actually a women owned totally women owned, company who wanted to build a large warehouse on Route 1, and it abutted a residential area. And I'm all of the belief that we live in the United States of America.
Tracey Vasile:You you know, people can do what they wanna do with their land, and as you make decisions in your life, you need to know you need to make well informed decisions. So these people absolutely knew that they're they were abutting a commercially zoned area. I have never seen, residents get so involved and emotional and be so caring about a topic and you would as this potential warehouse that was gonna come in. And it it just was was amazing. And I wish I could have seen it on the other side of the table, but there were hearings upon hearings upon hearings, and, emotions ran high.
Tracey Vasile:We actually had to have some police presence in our meetings at some point. But we were fully vetting, you know, this organization and what they were gonna do with the building because of the impact it would have on the residential streets around where the facility would be. And they're often used as cut throughs. They're not built for cut throughs. They're very residential roads.
Tracey Vasile:There's been a lot of accidents. They can't make the turns in the 18 wheelers, which we knew we were gonna have in a warehouse. And the the vetting process that the planning board went through, was more thorough and it it really was it exemplified the purpose of why the planning board in any town, not just Foxborough. And, you know, at the we vetted it so thoroughly that we it never even came to a vote of our board because the lawyer and the civil engineer and and this women owned organization, they realized that it was an uphill battle. That if they were gonna build a warehouse, they were it's not wasn't gonna be as large as they had wanted it, which means, of course, you have to rework all the financials on it.
Tracey Vasile:And they ultimately decided to not move forward.
Zach Ewell:That's fascinating. There seems to be so much going on in in such a I mean, it's not a not a super small town, but, you know, it seems like there's a lot. You have your your hands full, essentially.
Tracey Vasile:We definitely do. Very busy.
Zach Ewell:As you mentioned prior, but, Foxborough is, also home to the New England Patriots and has been for a while now. How does hosting the multiyear Super Bowl champions in your hometown play into your role as an elected official?
Tracey Vasile:You can imagine a lot of the boards in town interact regularly with the craft organization. Primarily, a lot of their interactions go through our select board for approval for concerts, fireworks, etcetera. Where the planning board gets involved is, in 2 areas, and, I will provide definitions because if folks aren't familiar with the planning process, it'll be a bit it'll be a bit unclear. So we get involved in site plan review, which means we stat you know, there's criteria that a facility a commercial facility of that type needs to meet from a layout, a scale, appearance, environmental impacts, and to ensure that it fits within the community and addresses, you know, safety, infrastructure, and other concerns. The other one that we do is we allow we, have the ability to grant special permits and that's when, a commercial entity wants to utilize a utilize a plot of land or a building, that would not be appropriate generally or without restrictions placed on it.
Tracey Vasile:But if there there are restrictions placed on it, whether it's, you know, a number of parking spaces, the particular area, how it relates to, the abiding residential neighborhoods, and with the thought that it would promote the general welfare of the town. We have the ability to grant those special permits. So an example of, 2 good examples actually of one of our some of our latest interactions with them is the the craft organization wanted to redesign their, the north end zone at Gillette Stadium. And that involved, you know, taking out basically that whole end of the stadium, including our famous lighthouse and, the jumbotron and all of those things. And it and they now and we had to grant the permit, the special permit to allow them to do that work and see what it looked like in drawings, both technical and visual.
Tracey Vasile:And now we have the largest jumbotron in the NFL, one of our claims to fame besides 6 Super Bowl, trophies. And then we actually most recently and this is when it's really gonna get excite even more exciting in town is we just had a review and provide commentary, hasn't gone to a vote yet for a pedestrian bridge that they're gonna build over Route 1, which I mentioned earlier, in preparation for, the soccer World Cup that's taking place in 2026. Yeah. We're gonna we're hosting I believe we're hosting 5 or 6 games, so, which is gonna be just, you know, concerts, games, and, you know, on steroids. It's it's gonna you wanna talk about an influx of people to this town, but, you know, thankfully, the craft organization and our public safety officials do an incredible job of all of that.
Zach Ewell:No. I didn't even think about the, the World Cup. That that'll definitely impact a lot of cities in in America. Well, specifically North America. But, yeah, I wonder if your town is maybe the smallest that is hosting.
Tracey Vasile:I think there's a very good possibility we are. It it'll it'll be it'll be very exciting here and interesting to see. I think it will will hunker down in our homes, you know, with the days of game just unless we're going ourselves. But, I do believe we are the smallest town. And again, I do think we are the only small town that houses a football stadium, an NFL football stadium as well.
Zach Ewell:Sure. There's something magical about that.
Tracey Vasile:There is the energy in this town. I mean, concerts are fun and a major league soccer games are fun, but just the energy, especially when we were winning super bowls, it was still palpable. You I I used to run a great deal and I purposely run well, you know, when everyone was going to the game and the the streets were a little bit of gridlock because the energy and the enthusiasm was just it was amazing, amazing and very infectious. And it's it's it is great to live here. People ask if it's difficult.
Tracey Vasile:And, as I said, the craft organization, our public safety officials do a phenomenal job with it.
Zach Ewell:According to Pew Research Poll, public trust in government has continued to edge near all time lows in recent years. Many, including the nonpartisan organization She Should Run, argues that increasing women's participation in running for office is a way to fix this problem. In your own opinion, why is having more women leaders serving in elected office good for our democracy?
Tracey Vasile:I think, honestly, there are several reasons. And 1st and foremost, obviously, we we want the the most experienced and the most, the best leaders at the helm of our government in all facets, in all areas, town, state, country. But I think that there's a number of different reasons why it's important to have more women in elected office. First, representation of diverse perspectives. Women bring unique experiences and viewpoints to the table, which, you know, it's just a natural lead into more comprehensive and effective policy making.
Tracey Vasile:And when decision makers reflect the diversity of the population that they represent, the policies they create are more likely to address the needs and concerns of all of the citizens versus the subset. I think there's a degree of enhanced trust and legitimacy, and a little bit more about that. Increasing women's participation in leadership, I do think can help restore public trust in government. Not because women are more trustful or or trusting of than than men or other genders. But when people see leaders who look like them, act like them, have had similar experiences to them in those roles, they they typically feel that the that the government, to some degree, is working for their benefit, which leads to, you know, greater trust overall.
Tracey Vasile:Collaboration and inclusivity. And and I'm gonna say make a generalization and I'm not saying, men are not, but women leaders often prioritize collaboration and inclusive decision making. This leads to more thoughtful of innovation solutions to complex problems because people feel comfortable putting their idea out there and having it be discussed, and a wider range of ideas and perspectives get put on the table and taken into consideration as a result. I think there's also some areas, of our world where women's leadership is associated with positive, policy outcomes. And, again, I'm not generalizing and saying this doesn't happen, you know, with male leaders, but I think it's even that's it is more true in areas such as health, education, social services and it allows the women in their leadership roles to contribute to the over well-being of society.
Tracey Vasile:And then probably the one that I feel it it's not more important that I probably feel incredibly impact passionate about it is role models and inspiration. Having the younger generation and those that will come behind them look at their leaders in all facets of government demonstrates to, you know, that younger population that they can aspire to and achieve those leadership positions. And that just supports gender equality and empowers more women to participate in the democratic process. So I think it's absolutely, you know, critical for women to to to put themselves in the running for roles and, you know, represent their whether it's their state, their town, their school. There's all types of leadership roles that women can and should aspire to.
Zach Ewell:On top of serving on your town's planning board, you also work as a senior vice president of client strategy at Verisk, a risk assessment firm. Has working in the realm of risk impacted the way you look at serving in public office?
Tracey Vasile:Absolutely. Verisk's purpose and this is another reason I'm so passionate about my job as well as my elected position in town. Their purpose is working together to build global resilience for individuals, communities, and businesses. At Verus, we engage with carriers, brokers, regulators, and other industry organizations to help provide that resilience. In Foxborough, the planning board has the same purpose.
Tracey Vasile:We're we're working together both as a board as well as with other boards and committees in town to build resistance for and within our community. So it it it it's almost a perfect fit. I would say the the way it's impacted me is I have always tended to view risk, the word risk, any risks as something negative. And through my work at Verisk and with many of my colleagues in the insurance industry, I've learned and I think I always know that knew this, but this it just reinforced it and made me realize it was okay, is that there's risk in almost everything. I mean, even eating a banana, there's risk.
Tracey Vasile:If it's rotten, you could end up with food poisoning. I've also learned that there's such a thing as good risk, which if you had asked my 20, you know, 5 year old self, I would have laughed and said that such a thing doesn't exist. And that having a a complete and accurate understanding of that risk when making a decision is critical to making the best or the right decision. And so I both personally and professionally, I've I've taken on projects. I've gotten involved with things that I wouldn't have because it it was a very it was very black and white.
Tracey Vasile:Risk, no risk, you know, for a long long portion of my professional and political career. But now I realize I I've come to realize that there's good risk, and it's just a matter of assessing that risk completely and accurately and and, you know, getting through all the the mud and getting to the facts that there is good risk, and it's just it's making a well informed decision about that risk that is most important.
Zach Ewell:Given your background, what are some risk trends that you believe more people should be aware of?
Tracey Vasile:2 really stick out for me on that question. 1st, absolutely, is fraud. I mean, fraud has always existed, and I think more and more folks become are becoming aware of to what degree it exists, and it continues to grow exponentially. And every day, I swear I hear a story about an a new way to commit fraud within the insurance industry or just talking, you know, amongst friends and family. Within insurance, though, it's estimated that fraud costs Americans more than 300,000,000,000 per year.
Tracey Vasile:That's a crazy number, and it's increasing. And that is fraud is absolutely one of the areas that Verisk is focusing their innovation, their work with their business partners as to to to join together to combat fraud. We do a lot of work around digital media forensics. I can't begin to tell you how many people, you know, put a claim in, and then they send the the picture to their carrier, and it's actually a stock photo that's been used online somewhere. We work with supply chain fraud where 18 wheelers, believe it or not, you didn't you wouldn't think you could steal 1, but it's actually quite easy to steal the trailer of 1 and take 1,000 and 1,000 of dollars of cargo.
Tracey Vasile:And we we also maintain for the industry an all claims database that allows carriers to quickly differentiate between valid and fraudulent claims. The other big it's a risk trend, but it's more of a trend, I would say, is social inflation, which, you know, everyone everyone has talked about inflation. There's been dish you know, we're always in some sort of inflationary cycle. Inflation itself refers to the increase in prices for goods and services, and we all know, everything is costing more. Going to the grocery store is an an incredibly frightening experience, like, for 2 of us, I can imagine for a family.
Tracey Vasile:Social inflation, though, is is almost an added inflation. It's it's the easiest way to put it, but it specifically pertains to the increasing costs related to insurance claims driven by societal and legal trends. So, you know, we have, we have thoughts about how much somebody should get impunity damages. The the judicial system, you know, has thoughts around that, where we've become a very litigious society. And that's all driving inflation within what we charge social inflation with within our within the insurance industry and it's impacting the consumer by the fact that, you know, fraud in general, add social inflation as well as, you know, other different metrics.
Tracey Vasile:That's you know, we're seeing it in, you know, a very high, premiums. I think we can all probably shake our head we would shake our heads yes that our premiums for our homes and our autos for our businesses have gone up exponentially. With social inflation, it is inflation is something we can pretty as a as a as a society, we can track. It's more social inflation is more qualitative, and it's harder to quantify, but we can see it that we can see the impact on it through, I just mentioned, the rising insurance premiums, increased settlement amounts in claims excuse me, in claims as well as lawsuits when there are punitive damages. And it's really, you know, having the impact of it it influences the availability and affordability of insurance company excuse me, insurance coverage within our within our within the United States.
Tracey Vasile:It's those are the 2 that I would that keep me up at night and, you know, are topics of every conversation I have with executives within the industry.
Zach Ewell:What have been some recent innovations in how people source and utilize data driven analytics to help them evaluate information?
Tracey Vasile:I think the first one will not would not be a surprise for anybody listening here is AI and Gen AI. Major topic for the industry. Major topic in general. It it there's many positives. There's also some negatives and concerning aspects of it just in general.
Tracey Vasile:It really has the potential to be an excellent tool to drive greater efficiencies, which benefit not only the the carriers in the industry, but the consumer. If insurance companies can drive down their cost, that will be reflect in, you know, the obviously, there's there's 20 other, you know, inputs into the equation, but it that can help them in terms of what level of cost they have to pass on to their insureds. So it could have a very positive impact on consumers. Within the industry, though, we're regulated at the state level. It's very, very complex.
Tracey Vasile:Discussions right now are centered around how, where, and how gen how much can GenAI be used. And you're still seeing differing carriers putting their toes in a little bit, but, you know, it it needs to be done ethically, which the industry and Verisk are absolutely committed to. But there's still there's so many unknowns right now. It goes back to my risk answer. There's there's a definite upside.
Tracey Vasile:There's also some risk here, and we've gotta make sure that we have complete and accurate information, and carriers do it as well in order to make, you know, the best decision possible about how Gen AI and AI can be utilized, whether it's in an insurance company, whether it's, you know, anywhere in the world. Fraud prevention is where you're seeing some of the most incredible, innovations because, as I mentioned, it's so prevalent. 300,000,000,000, you know, every year in in fraud cost Americans. So you've got the digital image forensics that I mentioned, the ability for, ensuring that the premium that is being charged to the consumer is the right amount. And, you know, I you you always hear stories of people who try to beat the system.
Tracey Vasile:And in insurance, I I cringe because I know that, okay, well, you may beat the system, but the cost to, you know, to administer your policy and pay your claims, they they get spread around, and everybody is impacted by every single action of fraud. So, you know, innovations around garaging and radius confirmation. Where is that where is that automobile garage? You know, how far are they driving, especially in in the commercial auto state in comparison to where their office is? Medical records and bill review.
Tracey Vasile:And I know some people get very, very concerned. I mean, privacy is a big issue. Verus takes it very seriously. But being able to understand, you know, what is happening with with within a medical file, what is fraudulent. Medical fraud is a huge issue.
Tracey Vasile:Are they being you know, are they billing every single client for the same exact test regardless of the symptoms they come in at? And as you can imagine, the volume of claims in the industry is incredibly high, and there's only so many people to handle those claims. And there's only, you know, so many claim systems to handle those claims. But providing predictive analytics solutions to help carriers identify claim fraud quickly and as at and and anytime it occurs is a huge area of focus as the industry and Verisk continues to, you know, want to make the customer experience, you know, top shelf. So those I would say the biggest innovations right now are in those two areas, AI slash gen AI and fraud prevention.
Zach Ewell:And what are some of the transferable leadership skills you think exist in both business and elected office?
Tracey Vasile:I think there are several. I would say that, I was I don't wanna say pleasantly surprised, but I so benefited from what I've learned in in the business world that I can apply comply elect apply to my elected position and from my elected position that I could utilize within my professional position. So I think recognizing and understanding different perspectives. You know, we all grow up, you know, where we grow up and it's you know, when when you're younger, it's a very insulated community and you go to college and then you've got a little bit more exposure to different to people that aren't are are different from you. And then you go out to corporate America and that happens, and it gets even more so.
Tracey Vasile:And then you go you know, if you get involved in politics, it just exponentially adds. And I and the importance of it can't be stressed enough. You know, recognizing is the first step, but truly understanding different perspectives is critical. Engaging and working with a diverse population. I mentioned the the the warehouse issue that we faced on the planning board.
Tracey Vasile:And one of the biggest concerns of the the residents who lived along that cut through those cut through routes, and were concerned about the large trucks was the the safety of their children. My daughter's 24, doesn't live at home. That wasn't you know, that was not the first thought that I had as I started listening. You know, I participated in these hearings. And, you know but it's understanding.
Tracey Vasile:And then we have an older person, an elderly person who had concerns about their property was on one of the corners and it was getting destroyed. So it's really understanding that, you know, you're gonna have your own thoughts and concerns, but being able to, pick up and understand in what matters to others, both in business and in the professional, business and in in the elected space is incredibly important. Being able to articulate complex matters in a straightforward manner. And I would say this is one that was invaluable that I learned in my corporate career. It was invaluable when I moved when I became part of the planning board because while I can delve into details about planning and and, you know, how much, impervious ground there is and what the lighting requirements are.
Tracey Vasile:That's not normal dialogue and for a lot of people. Understandably, I can't I can't there's many things I can't talk about. So being able to take those really complex ideas, topics, subjects, and being able to explain it in a way that multiple different types of people can understand and then respond with questions and then form an opinion. Overall communication, and I know that's that's just important in life, but it it's really, I often shake my head because I think it's a skill that is so overlooked. Like, there should be public speaking courses in every high school and college and trade school and and armed forces because it it's critically important to be able to communicate at different levels from a position standpoint, different topics, different environments.
Tracey Vasile:You know, public speaking is such is so so important, and I always I always used to say that I needed I want to join the Toasters Club organization around me, and I never did. But, thankfully, I had some excellent coaches and mentors through my career, but that is just it's critical. And then forward thinking and and strategic thinking capability. And it it's kinda like for those of you who have children, you know, as they're growing up, they think about the moment they're in. They don't think, okay.
Tracey Vasile:If I I'm gonna run they just think I'm gonna run across the street. They don't they don't take the next step in that thinking. Okay. Well, if I run across the street and there's a car coming, I'm probably gonna get hit and hurt or maybe, god forbid, I die. And, you know, it it's it's been able to, you know, think where where you are in time and place today, but under thinking about understanding and being able to envision what the next steps look like.
Zach Ewell:And last question, have you ever met Tom Brady or any of the other patriots?
Tracey Vasile:Actually, yes. I actually have, Rob Gronkowski and Christian Faure live in my neighborhood. Oh. But I'll tell one quick story to to wrap up our time here. The last Super Bowl per, that we won, obviously, there's always the big parade in Boston.
Tracey Vasile:And that night, I happened to go to the supermarket, and I was in the meat section. I'll remember it to this day, and Matthew Slater was shopping. And I looked at him and I congratulated him, and I said, Matthew, what are you doing here? It's kind of a big day. And he said, you know, it was my day to do the grocery shopping.
Tracey Vasile:Oh, great. You see them often around town. They're, you know, they're very much a part of the community, and, they're very gracious to the community. They're amazing when they, you know, young children approach them. They're gracious.
Tracey Vasile:But, yeah, I've met a number of them and I've never had a bad experience yet.
Zach Ewell:That was my conversation with Tracy Vasili, senior vice president of client strategies at Verisk and a member of the planning board, Foxborough, Massachusetts. I hope you enjoyed it. To listen to more of our podcasts, go to leadersedge.com.