2013 40 Under 40: Rob Battenfield
Southwest Region Reprints
Senior vice president
Aon Risk Solutions
Age: 34
Rob Battenfield, Dallas-based senior vice president for Aon Risk Services Southwest Inc.'s global power and utilities practice, is an avid poker player which, he says, is not at all incompatible with his day job.
Poker is about understanding risk and “appropriately transferring your risk,” he said. “It is relatable to the insurance field once you understand it.”
Mr. Battenfield began his insurance career after college as a property wholesaler before moving to Aon, first in Houston and now in Dallas, where he concentrates on power generation.
His major achievements, he said, are in “just being able to understand my clients' business, to be able to create insurance products and risk-transfer vehicles around their needs.”
While standard property insurance is a need everyone can fill, understanding the business dynamics of energy sets a retail broker apart from the competition, he said. “I really strive to understand my clients' needs and then help them find underwriters that will provide innovative products to them,” Mr. Battenfield said.
“There's always new challenges. A client always has a question that is something I may have heard before,” but is asked in a different manner, or the client has unique needs that need to be addressed, he said.
Client Daniel Delac, insurance program manager for the Sacramento, Calif., Municipal Utility District, thinks highly of Mr. Battenfield.
“He's actually a very energetic guy who immediately provides ideas, and he fulfills promises to quickly get back to you with proposed solutions,” Mr. Delac said. “He's creative, innovative, and he maximizes the use of resources within his company.”
