Mixing it up with Derrick Mullen: Basketball, computer engineering, insurance and the first African American on a new-ish Jewish insurance industry board. Mullen is MCSA, ACP and Vice President, Litigation Manager and Director of Casualty Claims Seneca Insurance Company, Inc.
Where are you from?
Born in Brooklyn. From Brooklyn.
What did you want to be growing up?
A scientist. I was just fascinated with looking at Lost in Space, old movies, and putting robots together. I always liked putting stuff together. I had a creative mind.
True to form, you studied computer engineering. But how did you end up at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina?
My parents got separated when I was in the 6th grade, so I moved to North Carolina with my mom, where her side of the family lived. I attended junior high, high school and college in North Carolina. I got a basketball scholarship at Gardner-Webb.
Did you think about going into the NBA?
It was a dream and after college, I entertained playing basketball overseas, but I had a young family and decided to pursue a career in computer engineering. I gave up the dream after realizing it was going to be a lot tougher than I thought, but no regrets. I was able to pass my dream off to my daughters.
How so?
My younger daughter played pro basketball in Ireland.
How did you go from basketball and computer engineering to insurance?
That’s a funny story. When I got into computers, the market was not as good as it is now. After I graduated, I was knocking on doors for 6 months and sending out resumes for a job. But it was 26, 27 people competing for one spot. One day I was laying in my grandparents’ guest room sleeping and my grandfather threw the NY Post on me. I always start with sports, so I started with the back page, and it had a job ad for a Hartford Insurance claims rep. I thought I would do that temporarily.
I applied, got called in, and interviewed. The sports background probably helped me: The interview was mostly about college basketball. I started at The Hartford but kept sending out resumes for computer engineering jobs. After two or three years I started getting calls from Xerox and Canon offering the bare minimum. But at that point, I was making more money in claims. I was also intrigued by the industry. I had drive and I had mentors. I was infatuated with people wearing suits and ties. Really, it was love at first sight.
This may come as a surprise to some people, but what was so intriguing about insurance?
The way the whole system works. When I came into the industry, I knew nothing about insurance except that my parents used to pay my car insurance.
At Hartford, I worked around a lot of attorneys and really loved the legal part of insurance. Before that, I had only thought about criminal law. I had never thought that someone could sue for eating a hamburger with a rock in it. I was intrigued by how people paid premiums and how insurance carriers paid claims. I learned how insurance companies made their profit. And underwriting, and claims, and the operations department. That was all intriguing to me.
There were in house courses and studies that covered topics such as: “How to value claims” and “What is insurance?” The negotiations intrigued me. Trying to come to an agreement on a settlement. How both sides went back and forth. It reminded me of an athletic competition. You battled and there was a winner and loser but, also, there was mutual respect with handshaking and laughing at the end.
I saw that I could fit my leadership and organizational skills from sports into insurance because you need to work as a team as an insurance company: the VP, CEO, owner, etc. All work together. And when the insurance company worked as a team, that is how you became successful.
We are also there for the consumer. Policyholders call up. They have issues. They have damages from a fire, for example. So, you are able to talk to people. I was able to calm people down. You want to ease their pain and stress, and I found that intriguing. At the end of the day when you get a note or phone call, or they contact someone above me and say Derrick Mullen was attentive and did such a wonderful job, that’s the best. Helping people is where I thought I could give something back. At the end of the day, you’re just trying to help people.
How has your computer engineering background helped you with insurance claims?
The most important thing about any company is keeping the data and I love creating spreadsheets. I love data.
I am also the litigation manager at Seneca as well. We keep metrics and data on expenses paid on a claim, on how long a claim has been around. How much are we paying out? How much are we saving? Are the law firms overspending? Are they keeping claims open too long? That’s all perfect for spreadsheets. When I came to the industry, it was paper files. I was able to adapt it very easily to technology.
I am the one who actually implemented a lot of different things at Seneca – like the meditation program and then the spreadsheets. My computer/IT background definitely helped me.
How did you connect with Magna?
I first met Magna Partner & Executive Vice President of Sales, Pete Hecht, about 17 years ago at an insurance conference in Orlando. I was walking around and Pete just stopped me although I had absolutely no authority to give anybody work. But Pete was telling me about Magna and Pete himself was just starting out around that time. And the thing about Pete is that he did what I always tell people to do: Stay in touch.
So, every year, Pete would send me an email. Can Magna help you? Around five years after I met him, Crum & Forster purchased us (Seneca), and we were mandated to use Magna. So, around that time, Pete reached out again and this time I wrote back, and I said, “We’re already doing business with you. We’re owned by Crum & Forster. All of our law firms are contracted to only do business with Magna.”
Then around four years ago, Pete invited me to my first Magna conference. This was my first opportunity to speak on a national circuit, which really helped my career take off. I’m a VP, and I would not be in this position if it were not for the national attention that Magna gave to me.
Aside from Magna giving you a job promotion (lol), what work have you done with Magna?
That’s a whole laundry list. Before Crum & Forster bought us, we would use whatever court reporting business happened to work out. Now we use Magna.
They do all our depo prep work. And we recently started using Magna for record retrieval. I was a bit hesitant about that at first because we already had a company but there were some complaints, so I sent a poll out to a sample of 15 client firms. Thirteen out of 15 preferred Magna of the three options. So, I tried Magna with all 15 of those firms. It took off and everyone is satisfied.
We are just starting to use JuryEvaluator Online Damage Assessment Tool, which we heard good things about, and which Crum & Forster had used. We used Magna on a mock trial, and it came out with a good number on a Texas case. We may also consider using them for jury consulting.
Frankly, when Magna was mandated, there was some concern about that, but it turned out to be a perfect marriage. We’ve never had any complaints. The relationship has been great, and we intend to expand with more Magna services.
We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the Jewish American Insurance and Legal Professionals Association (JINLAW). You are African American but are about to join the board. How did that come about?
Well, I’m still waiting but Pete keeps telling me I am going to join the board (lol). But seriously, my family is all mixed and me being African American – and especially living in the South – I know what it’s like to be discriminated against. I want to join the crusade.
At every conference I go to, I wear the JINLAW pin and National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA) pin. Pete is a member of the NAAIA, and we had 1,000 people at our conference last year in New Orleans. Pete was there and the two organizations were talking about doing something together.
For my part, I’m not Jewish but guess what? I support the Jewish organization. I want to support people and do what’s right. I don’t want people discriminated against or picked on.
This may sound funny, but me being on the JINLAW board is going to be like a Christmas present. This is a good look for my company as well as for me. JINLAW is fighting for the rights of people being discriminated against and NAAIA is doing the same.
Growing up in the insurance industry, I was one of a few African Americans. It was all white males. My predecessor at Hartford said I would have to work twice as hard as anyone else and he was right. And the way I look at it now, JINLAW and NAAIA both help promote equality.
And my relationship with Magna has gone beyond business. It’s a personal relationship and my relationship with Pete is personal. If I was to get married, Pete would probably be in my wedding party. I am proud and happy to call him my good friend. I have helped connect Peter with other carriers and law firms as he puts out a good product. Pete could be in Tahiti and he will pick up the phone when I call. I always call him Crazy Eddie because he’s like “Call 888,” and he’s talking about Magna, and he’s talking about JINLAW. But it all makes sense. When I saw him way back when, he had a passion and a dream. We kind of grew up together in the industry.