How does a former marine engineer for fishing vessels wind up in the insurance and employee benefits industry? It turns out there are significant similarities.

“As an engineer, it was all about systems and ensuring they work well. Where is the problem and how can we make things work better?” These are the same tenets that drive Mark today as TPG’s director of customer experience and innovation.

Mark focuses on our clients’ needs for modernization, improvement, and market resources. Using decades of experience, he provides intentional, forward-thinking employee benefits consulting, wellness plan design, employee engagement strategy, legislative compliance and planning, collective bargaining support, and more.

So how does that translate into Mark’s day-to-day activities? “It’s about talking with our clients. Asking them directly about the changes in their jobs since COVID, their pain points, finding out how we can help. Maybe most important, I ask them, ‘Is there any process or interaction with TPG that is complicated?’ Then I just listen. It amazes me how much clients will tell you if you just sit back and listen.”

Adapting Client Feedback Into Action
Often, the issues that come up are simple and easily corrected. “It can be something as basic as suggesting scheduling software that has improved my life and passing that recommendation along. Creative, useful technology should make everyone’s lives easier.”

Very often, that client feedback generates big ideas and challenging conversations about adapting TPG’s processes to reduce customer risk along with cost. That is where we discover “the good stuff,” the new models that help push TPG further into the insurance, risk management, and financial services space as an innovative, progressive advisor.

One way that we continue to improve our customer experience sounds simple enough but provides huge return. “Responsiveness,” says Mark. “The expectation from clients is a same-day, sometimes same-hour response. However, the expectation is not for a solution, but simply for an assurance that the problem is being handled. And our teams do that. From the feedback I have received during client calls, TPG is over the top with respect to responsiveness. There’s no one else playing at the same level, which is why our client retention is so high. However, that doesn’t guarantee business. We still must deliver, which we also do. TPG is differentiated by our intentionality.”

TPG’s Connection with BrokerTech Ventures
Another source of big ideas and innovation is through TPG’s collaboration with BrokerTech Ventures (BTV, profiled here in a 2022 article). BTV hosts an accelerator program that supports 12 broker-centric insurance tech insurance tech start-ups annually. Each curated start-up receives seed capital and access to brokers, wholesalers, and carriers for distribution and support.

“TPG’s role with BTV is two-fold. First, we work with the start-ups to help them understand the market and find opportunities to help them launch within our client and vendor base. Second, we look for companies with creative, innovative, and or cost-saving ideas we can pass on to our clients. Because The Partners Group is a more nimble firm, we are able to spend the time finding those start-ups that truly benefit our clients months or even years before our larger, publicly traded competitors do.”

Examples of insurtech companies TPG has been able to use to enhance client experience ahead of our competitors in the market are:

  • Garner Health, providing doctor quality analytics
  • Broker Buddha, simplifying commercial insurance applications and renewals
  • Layr, providing all aspects of client servicing for small- to medium-sized commercial accounts

“We’ll continue to leverage our relationships with the BTV accelerator program and the insurance-tech industry to stay ahead of the rest of the market,” says Mark.

Core Values Affecting All We Do
TPG’s core values – play well with others, own it, be curious, have fun and live well, and be a champion – are common unifiers for all of us at The Partners Group.

“My favorite TPG core value is to be curious,” says Mark. “My mind is always thinking about what’s next and how to provide something that’s better. I’m easily bored . . . I love to work on difficult problems, trying to find solutions others haven’t thought to enhance the lives of our clients.”

Are You Curious? Get in Touch
If you’d like to chat with Mark about his role with TPG, about finding solutions for your pain points, or about his former gig aboard fishing vessels (there’s got to be a million good stories there), contact him at mrose@tpgrp.com.