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Blog | 6 min read
Greater Richmond: “Travel insurance capital of the world”
May 4, 2026
Why the global leader in a risk-mitigation business calls Greater Richmond home
In a period when boards, site selectors and supply-chain leaders are all asking the same question, where can we still find stability?, the fact that a company whose entire business is built on measuring and pricing global risk chose this region and keeps choosing it, is one of the strongest endorsements our region has ever received.
Jeff Wright, CEO of the North American region for Allianz Partners, joined Greater Richmond Partnership President & CEO Jennifer Wakefield on a recent episode of Richmond NEXT to explain why. His answer is not a soundbite, it is a decades-long story about heritage, workforce and a quiet kind of confidence that is rapidly becoming Richmond’s global calling card.
From World Access to Allianz, a Greater Richmond story
Allianz Partners’ roots in the Richmond Region trace back to World Access, a company that spun out of Blue Cross Blue Shield decades ago. When the decision was made to plant that flag here, Wright says the math was straightforward: productivity, a low cost of living and a workforce that was both strong and predictable. In the years since, that math has only gotten better.
“It’s been pretty stable and growing here in Richmond since then,” Wright said. That stability is not an accident, it is a feature of the regional economy the Greater Richmond Partnership has worked to preserve and strengthen and it is precisely what risk-sensitive industries pay a premium to find.
“Companies are looking for some piece of the business that can be stable and certain and Richmond offers that in a lot of ways.”
Jeff Wright, CEO, North America, Allianz Partners
Why the world’s risk managers bet on Richmond
Insurance is the business of measuring risk so that the rest of the economy can move forward. If you want to know which markets actually offer resilience, watch where the people who price risk for a living choose to put down roots. They have chosen Richmond.
Allianz Partners is one of a growing cohort of finance and insurance employers in the region, alongside the Markel Group, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, the Federal Reserve’s Fifth District headquarters and more than 117,000 finance and insurance professionals, that have quietly made Greater Richmond one of the country’s most concentrated financial-services markets east of the Mississippi River.
Wakefield framed the point plainly in the interview: the companies in the business of mitigating risk have looked at this market and decided it is a strong bet. Wright’s response captured what has changed in the last five years.
“It’s not just about efficiency anymore, it’s also about resilience.”
Jeff Wright, CEO, North America, Allianz Partners
The travel insurance capital of the world
Wright offered one phrase during the conversation that deserves to be on a banner downtown: “We’re the largest provider of travel insurance in the world, so [Richmond is] also the travel insurance capital of the world.” Inside Allianz’s global footprint, Richmond is known as the hub of expertise around travel and travel insurance, a distinction that reflects the depth of local product, actuarial, data and service talent this region has built.
It is also a reminder of how Richmond’s industry clusters compound on each other. Travel insurance sits at the intersection of finance, data, customer operations and consumer experience, all strengths GRP actively cultivates.
The next chapter: connecting Richmond directly to the world
Stable workforces and low costs matter. So does a plane. Wright is co-chairing a regional task force focused on bringing more nonstop flights from Richmond, with Europe as a priority corridor.
“It’s a partnership with the city, the surrounding counties, the tourism boards and a lot of the private companies who call Richmond home,” Wright said. The goal: get minimum revenue guarantees in front of airlines so nonstop transatlantic service becomes a permanent feature of the region’s global infrastructure.
This is exactly the kind of public-private collaboration, four local governments, tourism partners, corporate leadership and an economic development organization all pushing in the same direction, that makes Greater Richmond unusually effective at moving on big infrastructure priorities.
“I’m co-chairing a task force to sponsor more direct flights from Richmond to Europe, it’s a partnership with the city, the counties, the tourism boards and a lot of the private companies who call Richmond home.”
Jeff Wright, CEO, North America, Allianz Partners
A name on a Richmond stage
Allianz’s commitment to Greater Richmond does not end at the office park. The company’s name now anchors one of the region’s signature new venues, the Allianz Amphitheater, a placemaking investment that puts a global brand directly behind one of Richmond’s most visible cultural assets. For a city that has spent the last decade reinventing its riverfront and entertainment districts, having a global insurance leader put its name on a public stage is exactly the kind of corporate citizenship that turns a host city into a hometown.
Wright described the through-line in the interview: being a global company while staying rooted locally means showing up in the places people actually gather, the amphitheater, the restaurants, the neighborhoods. “We’d love to bring our partners to Richmond, take ’em out (to dinner). Great restaurant scene here,” he said. “So I think really balancing that, making sure that it’s really important to our employees too.”
A quieter advantage: time you don’t spend driving
Ask a senior leader who has relocated teams to Greater Richmond what surprises them and the answer is rarely dramatic. It is usually time. “Our regular commute here is about 25 minutes,” Wright noted. For a workforce weighing offers from Washington, D.C., Boston or New York, a 25-minute door-to-door reality is not a detail, it is hours of life returned every week.
The takeaway for site selectors
If you are a global company looking for a place to ground a piece of your business that has to work when the world feels unpredictable, Richmond should be on the short list. The region offers a stable, productive workforce, a deep financial-services ecosystem, a cost structure well below peer metros and a civic culture where public and private leaders will get in a room and help you solve problems.
As Wright put it, Richmond is the kind of market where risk-sensitive industries come for the certainty and stay for the growth. That is not marketing. It is what the world’s largest travel insurer has been quietly demonstrating for decades.
About The Author
Christopher Hollomon is Director of Marketing at the Greater Richmond Partnership, where he supports marketing and communications initiatives focused on business recruitment to the Richmond Region. Before joining GRP in 2025, he built a diverse career in graphic design, marketing, public relations and digital media across industries including healthcare, engineering, advocacy and the arts. His work has earned regional recognition, including award-winning campaigns for Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Centers. Christopher holds a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications and a master’s in Corporate and Professional Communications from Radford University and studied international communications in Salzburg, Austria. He lives in Henrico County with his wife and two children.
