Lowenthal, who has worked in IT in the insurance industry for more than 19 years, joined NYMAGIC in April after being lured away from Integro Insurance Brokers, where he was CIO. He previously worked as vice president and CIO at Hartford Financial Products, a unit of The Hartford.

"I see this as an opportunity to work on an IT turnaround, and I think I can make a big impact here," Lowenthal explains. "NYMAGIC has had significant growth during the last few years and plans to continue on a path to double its revenue. However, our expenses are very high. We can bring that down significantly through automation and technology."

Lowenthal says NYMAGIC's top executives understand the value IT can offer the business.

"Now that I'm here, I've got the right support and the right investment commitment," he contends. "We're going to make some key changes to help this company."

Among those changes are upgrading the company's policy administration, billing, and reporting systems; investing in portal technology; and revamping agent-facing technologies. Lowenthal also plans to upgrade NYMAGIC's intranet to promote sharing and content management.

"In order to grow, we need to put out new products quickly," he asserts. "We need to have good data, good business intelligence, and good collaboration within the company."

However, Lowenthal intends to spend time investigating the best course of action for NYMAGIC to take before jumping into any major decisions. "I'm trying to formulate what the architecture and direction should be, based on the products that are out there," he says. "I do know we're not going to do big-bang projects with long-cycle deliverables. Whatever projects we take on have to be designed so they provide value for the company within two to three months. We can't wait two to three years to implement something, or we'll miss the boat."

After earning a bachelor's degree in accounting at SUNY, Lowenthal worked as a CPA for Deloitte & Touche. "Being an accountant was not my end goal, but I thought having the CPA credential would provide a solid foundation for business management," he says.

In 1989, he began working at Reliance National Insurance Company, moving up the ranks to become managing vice president and chief technology officer before joining The Hartford in 2000.

Along the way, Lowenthal became actively involved in the Insurance Accounting & System Association (IASA), most recently serving as vice president of business show during its June conference in Minneapolis. Lowenthal highly recommends IT professionals volunteer for industry organizations such as IASA. "You get to do things you would not normally do at your job," he notes. "It's a really great way to round yourself out as a person and learn new things."

Lowenthal's well-rounded view of the insurance industry also comes from having worked for companies on both sides of the aisle. Such experience has helped him understand the similarities and differences in each segment's IT needs.

"The wisdom gained from experiencing multiple sides of a situation enables you to create better, more valuable solutions," he says. "Carriers tend to focus on back-office functions that support transactions, whereas brokers are more client-centric and focused on customer relationship management. I'd like to see carriers become more client-centric."