Jeanne Eddy: Insurance Executive

Jeanne Eddy was an insurance executive who retired just over a year ago to travel and spend time with her husband.  They died in a small plane crash in Alaska last week along with Jeanne’s sister and brother-in-law and their pilot.  They were on a sight-seeing side trip from an Alaskan cruise.  This is shocking and terrible news for those of us who new Jeanne. 

I met Jeanne about six years ago when she was an executive in a regional P&C carrier where amongst other things she was responsible for IT.  Acting without a CIO at the time she supported the bold recommendation of one of her IT Directors and hired my small, relatively young, company to oversee a very important project.  During the next year I met intermittently with Jeanne.

First impressions can be dangerous.  It was easy to initially underestimate Jeanne.  She was a short, plump lady with cropped white hair, a round, kind face and twinkly blue eyes.  Put glasses and an apron on her and she could have advertised country biscuits or cookie dough.   She looked like an idealized Grandma.  But it didn’t take long to realize that you were actually dealing with a razor sharp intellect.    Jeanne had a habit of smiling at you with those blue eyes, cocking her head in a birdlike way and skewering you with tough questions.  I learned to prepare well for meetings with Jeanne and to take a deep breath and collect my thoughts before responding to those inquisitive, smiling eyes. 

Unfailingly polite as she was, she didn’t have much time for fools.  But she did have a lot of time for bright hardworking people and she was a natural mentor.  Everyone who worked for Jeanne learned from her.  She took a special interest in the careers of promising young women.  Everyone seemed to like her and everyone seemed to grow and benefit from knowing her.

Unfortunately, the project that brought us together was deeply flawed and did not succeed.  I was personally involved in the painful task of communicating this to Jeanne.  It was her responsibility, conceived on her watch, it was a big deal and it failed.  There are a lot of things about that situation that I don’t know, but I do know this:  the company did the right thing in a professional manner and none of the messengers got shot.  I suspect the failure hurt Jeanne’s career but it didn’t hurt anyone that worked for her.  And if she did take a fall she did it in silence and without any obvious change of demeanor.

It is terribly sad and a little strange that having recently written about “C” level executives and their tendencies to live in intellectual airplanes I find myself writing about a “C” leveler who died in a real one.  Jeanne wasn’t a member of the “broccoli brigade”. She was “real people”.  She was curious and questioning and a good listener.  She was also one of the nicest and most genuine people I have met in my lengthy business career.   The last time I saw her was just before she retired.  She gave me her personal contact information and said if there was ever anything she could do to help me in the future to please contact her - me, just a small time vendor.

A lot of people knew Jeanne better and spent a lot more time with her than I did.  I hope I have represented some of their thoughts and feelings.  It would have been remiss to let this tragedy pass without acknowledging a special person. 

Comments

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[bill garvey]

Nicely stated, George. You've captured Jeanne quite well. Jeanne was one of those people who didn't need to raise her voice or lose her cool to get a group's attention. In fact, she had a habit of lowering her voice such that those around a meeting table leaned in to listen like that old TV ad about stock tips. She was both a natural and an appointed leader. My first contact with her was as a direct employee. I was making the awkward transition from Claims to IT and Jeanne had just taken over IT. Something about her "idealized Grandma" looks allowed me to be square with her. I said I don't have a clue about what I'm doing, but those skewering eyes suggested I should follow that comment with, "But I will soon." Jeanne chuckled and said something like when I find out please tell her. As your posting states, you could feel safe taking on challenges with Jeanne. Despite failures we endured there were many high level successes under her IT watch. We revolutionized our electronic relationship with agents, and the road we are currently on is a direct result of her vision. She was a good person. She'll be missed.