Meet Your Tinubu Team: Diane Marino, Surety Subject Matter Expert
Diane Marino's history with Tinubu goes back further than the name itself. Twenty-five years ago, she was the very first customer of the platform that would eventually become Tinubu. Today, she's on the other side of the relationship, helping the company's product teams, customer service staff, and newest carrier customers understand Surety the way an underwriter does. As a Surety Subject Matter Expert at Tinubu, Diane brings a rare vantage point: she worked within a carrier’s Surety operation long before she ever worked for a platform. Today she pairs that firsthand experience with a genuine love of teaching, helping customers get the most out of their software, one bond at a time. How did you come to work at Tinubu? Diane: Twenty-five years ago, I worked for Hanover Insurance Company in Massachusetts. We were the first customer of eSurety, the Surety platform that became Tinubu. I was an operations manager in the Surety department, managing the underwriting assistants. Because we were the first customer, I worked closely with eSurety on platform improvements. I came down to Florida to learn more about the reporting capabilities they were building into the system, and told my husband that if I could have my perfect job, it would be working for them. I loved the platform, I loved the people, and I loved the spirit of the place. A couple of years later, I was laid off. I called the owner at the time, and I was hired shortly after. What’s your day-to-day like now? What do you do? Diane: I consult with the product managers here, and with customers, on Surety-specific improvements, general Surety issues, and bond management. So part of your role is being the Surety carrier voice? Diane: Yes. I learned Surety from the ground up before I joined Tinubu; I’ve been in the customers’ shoes. I try to bring perspective to everybody here about what Surety is, what an underwriting role looks like, what’s difficult, what’s easy, and what should change. We have some engineers and colleagues who haven’t worked for a Surety company, so I help translate. I’ve also been asked to give our customer service team extra Surety training, because that carrier-side perspective helps them serve our customers better. Have you also been involved with onboarding? Diane: Yes, with new customers. We recently got a carrier live in about 90 days, and they were new to Surety. Their lead had Surety experience from another company, but nobody else on the team did. Not even the project manager I worked with most closely, who had technology experience but no Surety background. So I worked hand-in-hand with them on everything: how to configure the system, what each transaction type meant, how to rate and file with the various insurance departments. Soup to nuts. I also pointed them to industry resources they'd need along the way. It was really two jobs in one: teaching them the platform, and helping them enter the Surety industry. It helps that we have people in-house who have actually done work as Surety professionals, not just built software for them. Are there others on the team with that same “other side of the table” experience? Yes, including Sarah Drinnan, who was on the agency side of the business. She used the Tinubu platform as an agent, and for a couple of other carriers her agency wrote business with. Also Keith Barnard, who has been at the company a long time. He didn't come from the Surety side of the business, but he's learned it. He even went to Surety school, sponsored by NASBP. What keeps Surety interesting after all this time? Diane: It's never boring. Every customer is different, every bond is different, and every carrier underwrites and files rates a little differently. It's nowhere near as standardized as something like homeowners insurance, where the rules are locked down state by state. Surety is a three-party contract, and small details change everything. A license and permit bond for a car dealership can read completely differently in New Jersey than in Florida, because the risk is different. Theft rates, for instance, aren't the same in both states. It's also a small industry. People tend not to leave it once they start. I still think what we do is genuinely useful. We're taking what used to be paper-and-pen work and turning it into something that helps underwriters and agents do their jobs faster and better. That's fun. What do you do when you’re not working? Diane: Go to Disney as much as possible. My husband and I got married in '97, went to Disney World on our honeymoon, and went back nearly every year after. That was our one vacation a year. We never left the Disney property. We're complete and total Disney fans, especially of Epcot. When we moved down here, we moved in on a Monday and were Florida resident annual pass holders by Tuesday. We spend as much time there as possible, mainly at Epcot, and we go most weekends to eat. We love the people-watching and the atmosphere. The Food and Wine Festival just started, and that's a big deal at Epcot. You go around to different countries and taste different food and try different drinks. We've met a lot of really nice people there over the years. Where do you call home now? Diane: Apopka. It's about a 15-minute commute to our office in Maitland, and Disney World is a little under an hour away. By our standards, that might as well be next door.
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