Liam McGee '84

Liam McGee sums up his position as chairman, president and chief executive officer of The Hartford Financial Services Group in one sentence: “My job is to inspire people to do things that maybe they don’t think they can.” He started by inspiring himself.

McGee, who was born in Ireland, grew up in Southern California in what he describes as a humble upbringing. But he excelled academically, earning both a JD and an MBA. He has put both to good use over the years while climbing the ladder of banking behemoths Wells Fargo, Bank of America and finally to the top of The Hartford, a 200-year-old insurance and investment company.

McGee was rising through the ranks at Wells Fargo when he enrolled in Loyola’s evening program. “When I started, I was really at the very early stages of my career. I didn’t know if I was going to be successful. I was figuring it out on my own,” he said.

McGee passed the California State Bar exam, but he postponed practicing law in favor of continuing his career with Wells Fargo. In 1990, he joined Bank of America, where he became president of its Consumer and Small Business Bank and oversaw a business serving 50 million households and small businesses. During his tenure, McGee helped integrate several acquired banks, including FleetBoston, MBNA and LaSalle National Bank. His team also was responsible for high-profile innovations like Keep the Change, a program in which the bank rounded up customers’ purchases to the nearest dollar amount and deposited the difference in their accounts. McGee has even had his hand in monetary policy, serving two terms as a director of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Shaping the face of consumer banking came easily to McGee, thanks to the lessons he learned in law school. “The critical thinking skills and the writing classes were very influential. I happened to be working early in my career for some mentors who were very focused on writing. I’m a pretty active editor, and it’s because I learned economical writing in law school,” he said. “The reason you see more business people going to law school is for the critical thinking skills.”

In 2009, McGee brought his financial-services prowess to The Hartford. Much of his role involves traveling the country as one of the company’s biggest cheerleaders. He relishes the fact that each day on the job is different. One day, he is visiting 1,700 employees in Minneapolis. The next day, he may be chatting up investors in California or meeting with a distribution partner in St. Louis. “There is no typical week. That’s one of the great things about my job,” he said.

Outside of the office, McGee focuses his energy on education and civic initiatives. He serves on the board of the Andreas H. Bechtler Arts Foundation and has acted as chairman of both the University of San Diego Board of Trustees and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. “My wife and I had parents who inspired and required us to understand that getting a good education was the key to being successful and fulfilled in life,” he said. “I’ve been involved in Junior Achievement and the Junior League to help kids who don’t have intact families or role models like I did.”

Today, when McGee reflects on his career, he still considers his time in law school as one of his biggest challenges. “Sometimes people tell me I’m busy now. I say this is easy compared to the way I was then,” he said.

McGee, who recently visited campus on a business trip from his new base in Connecticut, retains strong connections to Loyola. “I still have several close friends from my time as a law student. It was an important chapter in my life. I have a great deal of affection for the school, and in particular the evening program. It is an important thing to have that available to working people,” he said. “The smartest people I’ve ever met were in my evening class at Loyola.”