Climate and Insurance.org | takefive with Sandy Colee and Jim Broach

Sandy Colee is a director at State Farm Insurance Companies, currently working in Public Affairs Department supporting the enterprise environmental initiatives. Ms. Colee is charged with bringing together business-side environmental activities to help develop a cohesive environmental strategy and communication plan. In her 32-year career with State Farm, Ms. Colee has held communication, project leadership, and management positions in State Farm’s Agency, Executive, Strategic Resources and Illinois Operations Center functions. Ms. Colee earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois and holds the Chartered Life Underwriter designation.

Jim Broach is a facilities director at State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Ill. In this role Mr. Broach oversees the maintenance and facilities operations of the firm’s headquarters and associated buildings on the corporate campus. He also coordinates the facilities related energy and environmental initiatives for the enterprise. Mr. Broach has worked for State Farm since 1971 in various roles throughout the organization, including systems analysis and design, internal consulting, and facilities administration. Mr. Broach received a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Kentucky and holds the Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter and Fellow Life Management Institute designations.

Takefive:
State Farm has long had a reputation for being environmentally conscious, even before it became fashionable for corporations to “think green.” Can you briefly describe some of the environmental initiatives that State Farm has undertaken over the years?

Sandy Colee and Jim Broach:
State Farm has always practiced methods of building construction and maintenance that look at the long-term value. Our focus on using high efficiency heating and cooling systems, efficient and modern lighting, and efficient fleet vehicles was driven by efforts to reduce operational expense and have the added benefit of being very energy efficient.

Today, our interests have expanded and we are focusing on our environmental footprint as well as our ROI. Some of our activities include a formal recycling program that started in 1982, planting our first green roof, having one of our major building entirely powered by alternative energy, and offering a paperless billing option to our customers.

State Farm also is investing in environmental education at the K-12 level by providing grants to schools to complete green research and projects for their schools and communities.

Takefive:
In November 2007, State Farm was recognized by Automotive Fleet Magazine for having one of the largest non-governmental alternative-fuel commercial fleets in the country. Can you tell us more about how State Farm came to be recognized in this way?

Sandy Colee and Jim Broach:
We’re pleased by this recognition and we’re proud to offer eco-friendly vehicles for our employees to use for their jobs. We currently offer 4,339 hybrid and E85 models, and many four-cylinder vehicles. Our goal is to increase the percentage of flexible fuel and hybrid vehicles in our fleet by 20 percent by the end of 2008.

In addition, we offer a van pool program to our employees who wish to commute to work together. State Farm subsidizes this program as a benefit to our employees and to reduce our environmental impact and decrease our parking needs.

We’ve just submitted our numbers to Automotive Fleet for this year’s ranking, and we’re looking forward to seeing how State Farm stacks up for 2008.

Takefive:
I understand State Farm has an internal green initiatives team. Can you explain how this team functions and what are some of the projects the group has undertaken within your organization?

Sandy Colee and Jim Broach:
This multi-department team supports many different efforts such as educating about and promoting our green strategies and garnering support from our executive leadership. The team has been working to strengthen our metrics to accurately track our progress.

We’ve also had some fun. At our corporate location in Bloomington, Illinois, we participated in our first Earth Hour in March and hosted our first Earth Day celebration in April. It’s an exciting time to be working on our green initiatives at State Farm.

Takefive:
State Farm also has been actively involved with such diverse organizations as the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (F.L.A.S.H.). Can you tell us what some of these relationships have entailed?

Sandy Colee and Jim Broach:
Participating in and providing support to these and other organizations helps to bring attention to environmental activities across industries and it helps State Farm track our progress. For example, when we joined the Business Roundtable’s Climate Resolve program in 2002, we set a goal to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent by 2012. In the first four years we were able to cut emissions by 38 percent, and we keep looking for other ways to reduce energy use and emissions.

The U.S. Green Building Council provides great education about these issues, and we have two L.E.E.D. certified staff members with several others taking the exams.

F.L.A.S.H. is an example of the industry working together to reduce losses by supporting the building of fortified homes, or safer, stronger homes. If fewer homes blow down in a hurricane, then that material stays out of the landfill, and we avoid rebuilding with new energy and resources. And that’s very environmentally friendly.

On the local front, State Farm has established a Community Sustainability Forum at our corporate headquarters in Bloomington. Through the Forum, sustainability coordinators from the local universities, hospitals and employers share knowledge and work together on environmental initiatives to benefit the community.

Takefive:
Finally, what advice do you have for other insurance companies that may be interested in wanting to start on becoming more “green?”