Patience pays off

When Tom Tio (BSBA ‘90) graduated from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business with a degree in finance, he wasn’t yet sure about a specific vision for his future. His overall goal was straightforward: get a job. 

“I knew that I just needed to get a job, and I thought that [a degree in] business would help me do that,” he said. “With a business degree, I knew I could go in many different directions, and the economic insights that finance provided me could be applied to any business.”

Tio’s pragmatic decision set the foundation for a 36-year career in insurance that would take him from coast to coast, eventually landing him in his current role as Executive Vice President at Amwins, where he oversees a business that has grown from $33 million to $4.2 billion in traded premiums. 

Experience from coast to coast

After graduation, most of his classmates either stayed in Florida or moved to Atlanta, but Tio moved to Los Angeles for his first job. 

Tio spent six years in LA working in insurance with large companies, giving him exposure to a different business culture and market. From there, he moved to New York City, where he specialized in private equity deals in the M&A industry. The experience was invaluable, he recalled, even noting that it was the best phase of his career that set him up for his current success. 

“I worked for private equity firms doing insurance transactions, and I had the opportunity to see how they evaluated companies,” he said. 

The insights he gained proved invaluable when he co-founded his own firm in 2000 with five partners. The group later sold the firm to Amwins in 2004, and Tio served on the deal team, conducting interviews with private equity firms. The experience gave him a profound realization about his own value. 

“I knew these PE guys were smart, maybe smarter than me,” he said. “But I realized that without me, as the guy generating the sale, they couldn’t do what they do. They needed me more than I needed them. If you don’t know how to get a dollar of revenue into the business, then there is no business.”

After the sale to Amwins, Tio became employee number 1 at the firm’s newly opened Atlanta branch, where he still leads today. 

Finding success in an unexpected industry

Despite not knowing that the insurance industry was his path early in his career, Tio has found his niche, consistently excited by his work. 

“A lot of folks have a simplified view of insurance, but there’s so much more to it,” he said. 

Three factors make the industry endlessly fascinating to him. First, to be successful in his industry, he has to know a little about many industries, keeping him on his toes. Second, the work is never the same. 

“Year-over-year, risks change and the insurance marketplace changes, requiring unique solutions each year,” he said. “My job has never been the same ever, and I love that.”

Third, in working with large companies with complicated risks, he has to come up with unique solutions with underwriters from all over the world. 

“My end of the business does not lend itself to an AI program,” he said. “Every solution is different and unique to the risk we are dealing with.”

There’s also an economic stability factor: no matter where the U.S. economy stands, companies  need to transfer risk with insurance. In his area of expertise, property insurance, lenders collateralize loans with physical assets and they require the purchase of insurance. And since insurance contracts last 12 months, there’s always the opportunity to renew the program. 

“The product is always in demand,” he said. 

Bringing insurance education to UF

Today, in finding his success in the insurance industry, Tio is passionate about introducing students to the area. He’s currently working with the Warrington College of Business to bring insurance training to students. 

“At Amwins, in Atlanta, I’m hiring a lot of University of Georgia risk management graduates, but, of course, I’d prefer to hire Gators,” he said with a smile. “It’s such a deep business with so many avenues for people with different skills.”

Tio sees insurance education as a supplement to a broader business degree, noting that much of the training can be learned on the job, but there’s no substitute for building a foundation of business skills. 

“It’s best [for students] to learn first about how vast the economy is and how all of it fits together rather than just focusing on insurance specifically,” he said. 

Leadership lessons: the power of patience

Having led for several decades in a successful business, Tio has clear advice for students who are entering the workforce – insight he wishes he had at the beginning of his career. 

“The most important thing is to have patience,” he emphasized. “This idea that you’re going to change the world right out of college is shortsided.”

Tio notes that the first 10 years of your career isn’t about how much money you’re making – it’s about what you’re learning. 

“What you’re learning, who you’re meeting and understanding how the business is done – that’s the focus,” he advised.

In the next 10 years though, that’s when you can think about taking risks. 

“That’s the proverbial American Dream,” he explained. “In your first 10 years, you shouldn’t take a risk because you just don’t know enough. In year 11, though, you have enough knowledge, experience and contacts to start to be dangerous. After that, you have to be driven by ambition.”

Tio is candid about what it’s going to take in the first few years of a young person’s career – being ok with doing gruntwork. 

“When you first start your career, you have to remember, you’re at the bottom,” he said. “In many of the college grads that I hire, I don’t see a lot of patience. They say in their interviews that they want to change the world. I’d council them to instead say, ‘I’m prepared to learn no matter how long it takes.’”

Showing up, doing the work and showing they’re learning goes a long way with Tio. Those are the young people, he says, that will be successful. 

“Everyone grows up in college, but there’s a whole other phase of growing up after college,” he said. “If you’re not prepared to work harder than those around you, then you’re not going to win. In business, there is only one winner, and only the winner gets paid.”