Safeco’s McGavick Returns to Politics

Rumors that Safeco CEO Mike McGavick would be stepping down were confirmed yesterday by an announcement by the Seattle-based P&C carrier that included a quote from McGavick himself saying that his decision to resign allows him "to give full consideration to the possibility of public service."

The announcement of McGavick's resignation was received across news outlets and political blogs in the Pacific Northwest as confirmation that McGavick would run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat -- and former Microsoft executive -- Maria Cantwell. Blogs hostile to a Republican challenger to Cantwell -- who narrowly defeated Republican Slade Gorton in 2000 -- marvelled at what they took to be the presumption of a typical CEO entering the race. Several quoted an open letter to the King County Journal (Kent, Wash.) criticizing what it regarded as a "puff piece" the paper had published and characterizing McGavick as "just another short-term-thinking, boost-the-stock-price-now CEO."

But regardless of how voters in general might interpret McGavick's widely praised direction of ailing Safeco's recovery, following his joining the company in January 2001, the departing CEO isn't exactly typical.

What many of the commentators failed to notice was that McGavick isn't entering politics but rather returning to politics. As McGavick told Insurance & Technology last year: "I have been blessed to have enjoyed two separate careers." Immediately before joining Safeco, McGavick occupied senior management positions within Chicago-based CNA's commercial lines division, including president and chief operating officer. But before that his game was politics. McGavick told I&T that he had left politics because he felt that the tone of discourse in the public arena had changed significantly for the worse.

The highlight of that career was McGavick's successful management of Slade Gorton's comeback Senate campaign of 1988, followed by the Safeco CEO's becoming the senator's chief of staff. Now it seems likely that McGavick will have a chance to go head to head against the Democrat who unseated his old boss.

One theme of Pacific Northwest Republican blog comments is eagerness to exploit the perceived weaknesses in Senator Cantwell's record. But in a post-Lou Dobbs world, Democratic bloggers took the opportunity to assert that a CEO who has made tough sourcing decisions may have weaknesses of his own. During the company's restructuring McGavick acknowledged the layoff of 1,200 people -- about 20 percent of the company's staff overall -- and under the carrier's 2004 SmartSource variable sourcing initiative some IT requirements were fulfilled offshore, though job equivalents of such moves were not made public.

I&T -- which honored McGavick as one of the magazine's "Tech Savvy CEOs" of 2004, in an article highlighting McGavick's technology-centered approach to his overhaul of Safeco -- couldn't reach McGavick to ask whether he thought that the spirit of politics had improved, or about what other factors may have encouraged him to reconsider his political career. In 2004, McGavick also told Insurance & Technology that he played rugby for most of his life. As the former campaign director takes the role of candidate, that experience may help McGavick endure the political rough-and-tumble he's likely to face as a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio