Where Talent Meets Technology

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Logo: Travelers. Two mugs with the Travelers umbrella logo rest upon a table, between two podcasting microphones. Text: Learning Impact at Travelers. Jason N., Corporate Communications.

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JASON: At Travelers, we're proud of our culture of learning and development. Today, we're joined by Dave Carns, the leading force behind our evolution in learning at Travelers, especially in tech and analytics.

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Dave and Jason sit at the table with mugs and microphones.

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And he's going to tell us all about what he's been up to and where we're going.

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Text: Dave C., Tech, Analytics and Enterprise Operations Learning.

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DAVE CARNS: Well, thanks for having me, Jason. I really appreciate it. Happy to be with everybody.

So I'm the VP of Learning for Technology Analytics at Enterprise Operations.

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Jason nods. In a photo, Dave gives a presentation titled: 2025, The Year of Learning Impact. He participates in a five-person Tech Talk Podcast Panel.

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And really, that's just a fancy way of saying that I have the responsibility to ensure that everyone has the technology skills that they need for today and to move us into the future.

JASON: I've heard a lot about digital fluency. Why is it important in our company?

DAVE CARNS: Technology is all around us. Understanding

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In another photo, Dave smiles while on set for a Tech Talk Tech and Analytics Podcast.

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how to use it, understanding the power and the impact that it has, if we can all be curious about it and embrace it with a growth mindset, we can help our customers and we can serve them the best way possible.

JASON: Let's go big picture. What would you say continuous learning means at Travelers, and why is it such a priority?

DAVE CARNS: So continuous learning is really how we evolve.

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Sign: Travelers Tech. Hundreds of participants with laptops fill a conference room for Hello World, Innovation Jam 2019.

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It's about embracing a growth mindset.

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Men and women work in various office settings. A person gives a demonstration on a computer.

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At Travelers, it's valued, it's recognized and it's rewarded, and it's how we drive ourselves forward.

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A woman writes on a whiteboard.

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JASON: I've heard about the Learning Games.

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Text: Technology and Analytics Learning Games 26.

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So can you tell us what the Learning Games means for tech and analytics employees?

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A woman hosts a trivia game. For Question: What is O'Reilly, answer C highlights: Third party learning vendor for books, online courses and more! Dave hosts another trivia session.

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DAVE CARNS: Learning Games is a complete gamified learning competition, and it's really completely designed to encourage people to learn. 

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Two people examine a camera, which points to an indoor mini race track.

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The first year -- it's an eight-week competition, and we had over 85% of all of tech and analytics participate in the Learning Games. We went from, on average, 175 days, from somebody to go from one proficiency level to the next. During the Learning Games, we reduced it to 35. That's just an amazing statistic.

We ran it again the following year, exceeded that. And now, we're in our third year. And we've actually taken it from an eight-week competition to a period of seven months.

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A man smiles beside a top six ranking of racers with times between 9 and 16 seconds.

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So each month, we're celebrating the teams that win. And then it'll culminate with this amazing Grand Finale competition.

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A large trophy stands atop a plaque with text: Travelers Learning Games Champions.

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JASON: The friendly competition aspect is always fun.

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Clouds shade a building with a tall spire. Five colleagues walk down a wide hallway. One man points to a whiteboard as another watches. A smiling woman participates in a video conference.

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DAVE CARNS: Yeah.

JASON: If someone wanted to grow professionally here at Travelers, what opportunities would you suggest, just starting out?

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Many people use laptops at a shared desk, in a room with charts and graphs on the walls.

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DAVE CARNS: You got to find a place that wants to invest in your career and invest in you, and we do that at Travelers. Leaders are sharing what they're learning. They're talking about how they learn, which that's incredibly powerful.

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A man smiles and gives a thumbs-up as he walks across a conference room. A woman uses large scissors to cut a ceremonial Travelers Tech ribbon. Others smile and applaud. Three colleagues smile as they walk together.

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That starts to create that continuous learning culture, that place that is relentlessly curious, that we're sharing and we're learning from each other. Whether it's successes and failures and just different opportunities, we're constantly sharing and constantly learning.

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Jason nods.

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But it comes down to being intentional with it, and I think it makes a real difference.

JASON: I know that we've had themes over the years within tech and analytics learning. Why don't you tell us the journey of where those themes have come from and the success?

DAVE CARNS: We had the Year of Learning, established it. We aligned skills.

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Text: 2022 Year of Learning. 2023 Year of Skills. 2024, the year of Connected Learning. 2025, The Year of Learning Impact.

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We connected it to all these pieces. Then, the year after that, we said, all right, now it's the Year of Learning Impact. And that was really about, what kind of impact are we making with learning, talking with our learners, talking with our businesses, looking at the data that we had, and started to get more intentional with understanding what the impact of it was, which is where we are now. It's the year of learning AI.

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Travelers 2026, The Year of Learning AI. A man uses a dual-monitor setup. A woman speaks. People work at a shared desk.

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This is about 30,000 people leveling up together around AI, being curious about it, and even going from curiosity to competency to proficiency. That's where we can really make a difference and make gains, and we can truly have benefits that enhance our employees' being and, at the same time, accelerating Travelers in so many great ways and giving us all the opportunity to do more for our customers.

JASON: Dave, I have to say thank you very much. I think that we're all excited to continue learning with you. So appreciate your time.

DAVE CARNS: Excellent. Thank you, Jason. Thanks for having me.

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Dave and Jason shake hands. Logo: Travelers. Text: Explore more at travelers dot com slash TRV Tech. The Travelers Indemnity Company, All rights reserved. Travelers and the Travelers Umbrella logo are registered trademarks of The Travelers Indemnity Company in the U.S. and other countries.