Anne Arvia was recently named President and COO of Nationwide Direct, Affinity and Growth Solutions, giving her oversight of the Columbus, Ohio-based company's direct P&C sales channel, along with responsibility for specialty-insurance affinity partnerships and Veterinary Pet insurance. She joined Nationwide in 2006 as president of Nationwide Bank before becoming leader of Retirement Plans in 2009. Before joining Nationwide, she spent 15 years at ShoreBank in Chicago.

Why move from the financial-services side of the business to property and casualty?

Nationwide is dominated by property and casualty. As a leader in the organization, planning to be here a long time, one of the pieces of background I did not have experience in was property and casualty. This is a terrific way for me to broaden my knowledge in this space and gain more leadership opportunities.

In making this move from the banking and retirement side of Nationwide to P&C insurance, what is the learning curve for you?

There are so many similarities across businesses, and learning the business-model part is secondary to understanding more of what the consumer really wants, what they need, and delivering it in a way that is exceptional.

The business is in very good shape. The question is how do we take it to that next level? The [P&C business] is an area very focused on growth. So what I am able to bring to the organization is not so much the details of understanding the business, but how we take it to that next level.

What exactly is that next level?

Integration between direct, affinity and our agents is really, really critical. But it is important that as the market shifts we make sure the consumer experience is exceptional; that they bind their policies in the way they choose, whether that is online, through a call center or [through] an agent.

Agents remain a huge part of Nationwide's business: How do you balance the direct and agent equation?

That's a huge focus for Nationwide. Agents are still a significant part of our business, with 85 percent of the book today. Even though 80 percent of shoppers start online, only 24 percent end up binding online. There is still a significant desire on the part of the buyer to either talk with someone direct on the phone or through our group of agents.

We are partnering with our agents, working with them to understand that [buyers starting online] is an opportunity for them as well. Our job is that, for the customer, the [purchasing process] appears seamless and very transparent going from online to the agent, because in the end what we care about is that it creates business and policies in force for Nationwide in total.

You did a couple of YouTube videos for the financial-services division. Do you plan on doing the same for the P&C direct market? How big a role will social media play going forward?

Our company and agents are very involved in social media. We see social media as an opportunity to educate [policyholders] and get broad awareness of our brand in that space. It is imperative for Nationwide to be in that space because that is where the people we are trying to talk to are.

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Anne Arvia: Nationwide&rsquo;s New Leader of Direct Sales

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