10
Meanwhile, in midtown Manhattan, The
Hartford’s negotiations for permanent offices—a
process that normally takes 12 to 15 months—were
complete. 
The feverish pace was in some ways therapeutic.
It helped take people’s minds off the tragedy and the
monumental loss of life, including the lives of many
good friends and business colleagues at Aon, Marsh &
McLennan, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley—major
partners of The Hartford with ofﬁces in the Twin Towers.
Like many Americans watching the heroism of
ﬁreﬁghters, police and emergency crews, thousands of
our employees asked, “How can we help?” Fortunately,
they found ways. Lots of them. Employees crowded
into bloodmobiles and dropped food and 
supplies into overﬂowing bins. With the company’s
match, employees also donated more than $700,000 to
relief efforts, and The Hartford provided a special tele-
phone hotline for employees who needed counseling.
“Focused resolve” is how New York-based
Regional Vice President Brandon Hickey characterizes
The Hartford’s response. “It solidiﬁed in my mind how
strong the culture is at this company,” he says. “The
emotional stress of Sept. 11 will be with us for a long
time. But as a tribute to the people who were there, we
came back as quickly as we did because we knew we
had a job to do, and we were committed to succeed.”
By early November—less than 60 days after the
attack—The Hartford’s New York employees were in
their new permanent ofﬁces at 2 Park Ave. 
No less impressive—and certainly no less swift—
was The Hartford’s claims service during Sept. 11’s
aftermath. “Catastrophe Team”—CAT—adjusters were
on the ground within days, fulﬁlling obligations to poli-
cyholders who suffered losses. As an example, The
Hartford advanced $1 million within 72 hours of the dis-
aster to help the Thacher, Profﬁtt & Wood law ﬁrm
establish temporary midtown Manhattan ofﬁces. All
the ﬁrm’s employees had evacuated the World Trade
Center’s south tower before everything in their ofﬁces
was destroyed. Within a week, Thacher, Profﬁtt & Wood
was back in business.
The Hartford assigned extra resources to expedite
service requests, and customers received premium
payment extensions as needed. One adjuster wrote a
$250,000 check on the spot to help a lower Manhattan
software-development company begin its recovery.
CAT team members and call center customer service
representatives received special training to help them
cope with traumatized customers, and the company
distributed disaster-recovery literature and forms to
help customers get back to business.
The Hartford’s Group Beneﬁts Division (GBD)
offered crisis-counseling services to policyholders in