As part of a departmental restructuring, Vaccaro assigned IT directors to specific lines of business, including commercial lines, personal lines, corporate systems, infrastructure, and compliance.

Aside from improving the operational alignment of his department, Vaccaro has augmented the unit's skill sets by adding new positions dedicated to specific areas of concentration. The new positions help fill existing gaps and reduce the company's dependency on software vendors to maintain systems. Vaccaro also hired three certified project managers and instituted project management discipline throughout the company.

Another major initiative involved consolidating the company's servers to develop a more flexible, expandable infrastructure. When Vaccaro first arrived, the company had approximately 70 physical servers and 30 virtual servers, roughly a three-to-one ratio of employees to servers. About 40 percent of those servers were more than five years old and no longer delivered the capacity the company needed. Vaccaro developed a plan to consolidate the servers using Hewlett Packard's blade server technology. The consolidation, which reduced the number of physical servers from 70 to 40, was completed in June. Vaccaro estimates the consolidation will save Republic approximately $100,000 annually in outsourcing, maintenance, and support fees.

With his initial goals accomplished, Vaccaro currently is focusing on upgrading the company's agent-facing applications. "Our big thrust in 2007 is to improve ease of use for our agents," he says. "We have a number of initiatives going on that will directly affect the agent's experience with Republic."

One of those initiatives is implementing a portal to allow agents seamless access to their Web-based business applications, which offer quotes and the ability to submit business online. The portal will provide single sign-in capability from the company's Web site, allowing agents to access all lines of business and product information pertinent to the state in which they work.

Vaccaro and his team also are reengineering Republic's back-office platform, including a data warehouse, to support the company's expansion plans and supply improved management reporting. He is relying on standard development tools such as Java and Microsoft's .NET and SQL Server to develop the data warehouse, a project he expects to be completed in late 2008.

As an IT veteran with more than 25 years of technology experience, Vaccaro is well equipped to help Republic grow its business. He earned a bachelor's degree in general studies, with an emphasis in computer science, from Roosevelt University in Chicago. Vaccaro indicates he was attracted to The Republic Group because of its regional focus, senior management team, reputation, and track record for growth.

"You have the ability to wear multiple hats and do different things at a smaller company," he says. "It's rewarding and challenging knowing I can have a direct influence on how effective we are in entering new markets or acquiring companies."

Sharon Baker is a freelance business writer based in Charlotte, N.C.