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I’m a hands-on technology leader with 25 years of experience in the (re)insurance…
Articles by Tom
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Tom Quinn shared thisFor more than 10 years, I was a proud minivan driver. With three young kids, it was practicality in spades. So much so that I put together the picture below back in 2017. As a lifelong "car guy", my choice raised eyebrows. I was out of sync. Other parents arrived at school events in gigantic SUVs named after Great Lakes and mountain ranges, then shrieked as their kids swung doors into neighbouring cars. I sat in serenity behind my sliding doors, safe in the knowledge I could park in a space inches wider than the van and still let the kids out dent-free. Then, just over a year ago, with the kids (almost) able to open a door without slamming it into something, we traded it in for an SUV. It turns out I'm out of sync again. Bloomberg reports minivans are back: sales up 8% in a year, now outselling large SUVs, with dealers struggling to keep up. Minivans are cheaper to buy, cheaper to run (as many are hybrids), with the stigma of ownership fading. Most interesting of all, many new buyers are empty nesters, buying for practicality rather than image. Because minivans were never cool. Until now. So will I switch back? Probably not. Even though my empty nest years are ahead, I'm eyeing two seats rather than eight. But MiniVan Man will live on, at least in my memories.
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Tom Quinn shared thisI have spoken before about secret superpowers. One of my favorite is the ability to spot a typo or a grammatical error at fifty paces. There’s something “out of shape” with a misspelled word that immediately stands out, proudly announcing itself to me. The problem having this superpower - people often think I’m being picky when I point out their error. My take: a typo is a sign that if you haven’t done the basic checks, what else might be wrong? Do you think it’s petty to point out minor mistakes? And do you have a similar superpower that you are proud of?
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Tom Quinn shared thisI’ve started talking to my computer more than I talk to my kids. Since the advent of Siri, I’ve been talking to my phone. In the early days, having to repeat myself 17 times wasn’t exactly productive, but the technology has caught up, and now I much prefer voice to typing. The eternal downside to dictation has always been the rambling, backtracking and self-contradiction, all happening in real time, right there on screen. To be clear, this is never how I let myself write. But that’s also the benefit. When I’m talking to a chatbot, I’m not forcing compression, self-editing and summarizing as I go. I’m including the whole thought process, the options I almost took, the hesitations, the “no, not that” moments. Sometimes the journey matters as much as the destination. Rambling captures reasoning. If the typed version is the polished end result, the dictated version, contradictions and all, is where the actual learning happens. There’s a throwback in all this. I’m back to the OG method, talking out loud to solve a problem, using the most old-fashioned interface there is. And there’s a generation gap too. My kids find it deeply embarrassing that I talk to my phone. I find it funny that they won’t.
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Tom Quinn shared thisConfessions of a Reformed Stair-Sprinter Once a week or so, I attempt something deeply unnatural - not trying. I call it a “go slow” day. The idea is simple - I take it easier, stop competing with absolutely everyone and everything, including myself. It sounds easy, but in practice it’s somewhat difficult. On a go slow day, I snooze the alarm for ten minutes instead of launching myself at it like it owes me money. I train shorter, lighter. I walk at a pace that wouldn’t disgrace a Sunday churchgoer, and I make a genuine effort not to race every stranger on the pavement (mostly). I let people overtake me on the stairs, and merely grit my teeth about it internally (which I’m reliably informed counts as progress). Hardest of all - I attempt to smile more, which witnesses describe as “unsettling". None of this comes naturally. I measure myself against my own past performance pretty much constantly, which is a very efficient way to guarantee that I am always slightly disappointed in myself. Purposely deciding not to do that for a day feels less like relaxing and more like defusing a small bomb. So is anyone else fighting this battle, or have I simply invented a very inefficient form of self-torture? What’s your trick for pretending you meant to slow down all along?
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Tom Quinn shared thisExtreme Ironing I’ve written several times about my love of ironing. The facts of the matter are that with the advent of laundry services, the proliferation of wrinkle free clothing, and (cough) lower standards when it comes to sense of appearance, fewer people are reaching for an iron (or a steamer, if you are that way inclined). I’m increasingly convinced that I’m one of the few people in the world who still irons their own clothes. My Sunday evening ritual includes figuring out what I’m wearing for the week ahead and then spending a block of time pressing to perfection. It’s not only therapeutic, but also makes my weekday morning routine a little smoother as I already know what I’m wearing for the day, and that it’s ready to go. If I’m traveling I also like to iron upon arrival, and the only thing more infuriating than finding one of those mini ironing boards in the closet is not finding an iron or ironing board at all, and having to ask for one to be delivered, knowing that there’s probably only one iron in the whole hotel and it’s sitting in a storage room on the 13th floor. So imagine my surprise when I realize that there’s an entire counter culture revolving around the notion of extreme ironing. Extreme ironing is what happens when someone decides that pressing a shirt indoors is entirely too tame, so they decide to drag their ironing board up a cliff face, onto a paddle board, or take it underwater (I’m not sure I get that one). Devised by a crazy Brit (no surprise there) back in the 1990s, it seems to have culminated in a World Championship in 2002, along with a 2003 documentary entitled “Extreme Ironing: Pressing for Victory”. Sadly, IMDB doesn’t have any reviews or ratings for that show. So now I’m left wondering, do I need to spice up my ironing habits? Should I be trying to press a shirt while pacing on the treadmill? What about de-creasing a collar while climbing the subway stairs? If you have any great ideas, please let me know. Here’s an article on the subject. Hat tip to Thomas McCartney for sharing this with me. https://lnkd.in/gjZFQkqS
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Tom Quinn shared thisDoes your office building have one of these? Mine does, and honestly, it’s my favorite thing in the elevator lobby. This is the Cutler Mail System, and it’s upright like a brass butler who never got the memo that email exists. Patented in 1883 by architect James Goold Cutler, the idea was gloriously simple - drop your letter in a slot on any floor, add gravity, and your mail lands safely in a box at ground level. No WiFi or app install required. No “did you see my message?” follow up. Just physics and plain old good manners. A year later Cutler and his brother started a company, and by the early 20th century 1,600 of these things were installed across the country, riding the skyscraper boom straight into hotels, apartment blocks, and office buildings everywhere. And because this was the Gilded Age, being functional wasn’t good enough. The chutes got fancier and fancier until they were adorned with brass trim and ornate lettering. Somewhere along the way, “mail slot” became “lobby centerpiece.” It wasn’t a perfect design though. Stuff a chunky envelope into it and the whole thing would jam. Turns out “the system is down” predates IT by about a century. Eventually the combination of fire codes and email teamed up to finish it off, and most chutes got sealed up or torn out entirely. The one in my office is still present, presumably too intrinsic to the structure of the building to remove without bringing down the whole pile of bricks. Which does make you wonder - a hundred years from now, what’s currently bolted to our walls that our grandkids will point at and say, “wait, people actually used that?” Answers on a postcard please 😊
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Tom Quinn shared thisHow “Run to the Hills” Became “Number of the Beast” I learned early that confidence doesn’t make up for a lack of preparation. April 1982. I’m 13, growing up in Germany, obsessed with middle-distance running, and I’ve just talked my way into the Hermannslauf - the local “big race.” 31km of cross-country trail, 1,800+ feet of climbing, tarmac to dirt to sand, starting at a monument on one peak and finishing at a castle on the next. I hadn’t trained. Why would I? I was fitter than every adult I knew. I pinned on my number and lined up with thousands of others as Iron Maiden’s brand-new single, “Run to the Hills,” blared over the loudspeakers. Good omen, I figured. Ten kilometers in, I knew better. Sand underfoot, uphill - a combination I’d never trained for. The course kept switching moods on me: quiet, shaded stretches through the woods where I could recover, then sudden clearings full of spectators that pulled me into sprints I hadn’t planned on. Then came the rookie error. At the first big food and water station, I ate three bananas. Turns out that’s a bad idea a third of the way through a 31km race. I learned this the hard way, and repeatedly, for the next 20km. Four hours later, I crossed the finish line - Iron Maiden’s riff had long since curdled into something closer to “Number of the Beast” playing on loop in my head. I ate a Bratwurst, nursed my stomach, and drew the obvious conclusion: if I was doing this again, it was going to take more than confidence. One of the first real lessons of my teenage life. And it wouldn’t be the last time I had to learn it.
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Tom Quinn shared thisWe have forgotten how to be bored and sociable I’ve been thinking a lot about smartphones. My own use. My kids’ screen time. But mostly, the effect they’re having on all of us. My commute is a daily study in the human condition. I like to track metrics, so standing in line for the ferry, I count the people ahead of me, then count how many are staring at their phones. On the subway, I count “cellphone zombies.” The numbers keep getting worse. By my count, 80% of people are now transfixed. Heads down, eyes glazed, gone. News flash: it’s not the kids we need to worry about. It’s the adults. We’re the ones most affected. We used to have to sit with boredom, and that discomfort could lead somewhere interesting. We used to have to talk to strangers, and those conversations could turn into something real. Not anymore. The smartphone gives us an exit from anything that challenges us - and we are taking it wholesale, especially when we are out in public. I’ve said it before: not looking at my phone during my commute is one of my greatest superpowers. Now I need to carry that same discipline home. There’s still work to do there. What’s your number - are you one of the 80%, or are you fighting it? Tell me I’m not the only one keeping score.
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Tom Quinn shared thisHere is your Friday moment of Zen… Have you ever seen something that’s quite old but looks contemporary, and is still incredibly capable? The Dad in me wants to make a joke about what I see in the mirror. I’ll spare you. A few weeks ago I was standing in a building, looking straight up into a mirrored cone. It looks like a space-age sculpture, but is actually a ventilation shaft, quietly pulling hot air out of the meeting chamber below while a mesh of mirrors bounces daylight down onto the floor. I am no fan of fancy facades. But I admire substance and style together. This one’s been doing its job, and looking good doing it, for almost thirty years. Not a bad thing to aspire to. Happy Friday. [Taken at the Bundestag in Berlin]
Tom Quinn replied to a comment
1h
Madison Nardone - you need to watch this.
https://youtu.be/HEFE3B0Rje0?is=bplcosyFSftRqim1
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Tom Quinn liked thisTom Quinn liked thisOn Monday Night, I had the opportunity to return to Seton Hall University and speak with students about my work with the SATB2 Gene Foundation. It was an honor to meet with students in the Master of Public Administration program and a pleasure to collaborate with my fellow panelists. The students brought thoughtful, practical questions to the conversation, and we covered everything from career paths to leadership and the realities of working in a resource-constrained nonprofit. Some of the questions that stayed with me: * What classes or experiences were most useful to you during your time studying for your MPA? * An MPA degree opens up so many avenues, but how do you decide which direction to go? * When you have limited funds, how do you make decisions when every decision impacts your community? * How do you activate the non-financial resources of your organization and community? These aren’t easy questions, and there are rarely simple answers. They’re the very questions nonprofit leaders wrestle with every day. While I know I was invited to share some of what I have learned, I left feeling that I received just as much in return. The energy and enthusiasm of these students reminded me why I love this work and why the next generation of public and nonprofit leaders matters. Thank you to Seton Hall University, Adam Kuczynski and the MPA program for inviting me back. It was a meaningful evening, and I’m grateful to have been part of the conversation. SHU Photo: Licensed under Creative Common Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, photographer: Joe828er.
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Tom Quinn liked thisTom Quinn liked thisWe are pleased to welcome Maurice Doyle as our new Non-Executive Director. Maurice brings deep experience from senior executive and board roles across global premium beverage businesses, having previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Compass Box Whisky, President of Incubation Brands and Global Commercial Development at Bacardi, COO Africa, Middle East and Caribbean at Suntory Beverage & Food, and Chief Marketing Officer at William Grant & Sons. We are delighted to welcome Maurice into the team and look forward to working with him as we continue to grow and invest in our brands in key markets around the world.
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Tom Quinn liked thisTom Quinn liked thisI had a splendid time talking at Google's big event in Sweden last week. Google specialise in asking for VERY short talks. Which is fine with me provided they pay me VERY large amounts of money to deliver them. Short and sweet and uploadable with all the Fs professionally erased...
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Tom Quinn reacted on thisTom Quinn reacted on thisFor the next couple days. Yes! I ❤️Providence! #AAMVA conf 2026. Also, why do all convention centers look the same!? Will send photos shortly.
Experience & Education
Volunteer Experience
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Technical Support
Grateful Nation Montana
- Present 18 years
Children
Charitable work: Responsible for the Web Site Design & Management
http://www.gratefulnationmontana.com/ -
Photography/Technical Support
The Financial Lines Market Dinner
- 10 years 11 months
Charitable work: Principal Event Photographer. Also responsible for Web Site Design and Management. Previously known as the Statesman Dinner.
https://www.financiallinesmarketdinner.com/
Courses
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2010 - Inaugural AW High Potential (HIPO) Leadership Program
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2013 - UC Berkeley - Leading Innovative Change
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