Read more from this series:

Read Megan's story
Read Brad's story
Read Dragana's story

“My home had flooded several times [while] living in Houston. So I understand the feeling of when a catastrophe happens, and you've lost everything or your home is destroyed. Having someone on the phone helping you out… and [saying] ‘it's going to be okay’—it's what a lot of people need. So that's my passion for it. I just like being able to help people during hard times.”

Travis Brown explained how he came to work in claims—catastrophic claims specifically—and the career journey that brought him across a number of major carriers, but most prominently Nationwide and most recently, Liberty Mutual, to his current role at Branch as a general adjuster.

Transformative transparency

In his pivot from larger companies, he had a lot of questions before he joined the Branch team, particularly in light of industry-wide layoffs. So he asked them, and has been surprised by what he’s found as he’s continued to pose questions:

“I think the transparency of the company is what got me to the point of [knowing], financially, we're good. As far as job stability, we're good.” Travis explained that transparency has continued to be a standout value during his time at Branch, and something that continues to surprise him because, “Branch is very big on asking why,” he emphasized, “and I love that.”

“At my previous carriers, asking why would be a negative thing,” he compared, “[Branch] is not one of the companies, like a Liberty Mutual or like a State Farm—if you don't agree with a change, address it, tell them why, tell them what you think it should be… and it could possibly be changed… that's the biggest thing that I love about Branch.”

Building confidence & leadership

The impact of that freedom has given Travis a sense of leadership and confidence he didn’t know he was missing. He explained that “all the feedback I have provided to Branch and the claims department, I have literally seen changes to be made within [days], and that's unheard of…  So that alone has boosted my confidence. Because not only are they not just making decisions based on how they want Branch to be, they're taking feedback from people who have been in claims for a while and incorporating those changes into how they're going to do their claims department.”

Travis’s confidence has also been impacted by regular recognition that has been rare in his previous experience, particularly working in catastrophe claims. While Travis felt unknown or isolated at larger carriers, he’s already appreciated Branch’s insistence on celebrating wins. In March, he was even nominated for Brancher of the Month.

“[Branch] will push you to be the best that you can be,” he said, “it has boosted my self esteem so much because they give me so many tasks and things to do, and I'm like, ‘Okay, I've never done this before, but they believe in me that I'm able to do this.’ So it makes me feel good, it makes me feel like they do trust me to handle whatever they throw at me.”

“A breath of fresh air”

Among the recognition, excitement to build something new and changing, top tier benefits, and opportunity for leadership, Travis ultimately feels, “it's like a breath of fresh air working at Branch.”

He went on, “other prior carriers… they're so set in their ways. They've been around for so many years… [with Branch,] we can be doing it this way one day, but ‘if you have a better way, shoot it to me, ask me why we're doing it this way.’ And I think that's what I enjoy the most. I feel like I'm a part of a change, or I feel like I'm a part of making something greater.”