1948 – 2026
The AIRROC Board and members pay tribute to Trish Getty, AIRROC’s Founding Executive Director, who passed away on February 26, 2026.
A true visionary, Trish Getty saw potential where others saw obstacles. She believed that communication, cooperation, and collaboration was a bridge to a better and more efficient run-off business sector, and she spent the latter part of her 40 plus year career in the insurance world building that bridge. We are all beneficiaries of Trish’s immense belief that the run-off community could come together to resolve common issues, improve its reputation and make extraordinary progress when people met face-to-face.
In 2004 a small group of veteran run-off professionals gathered to ponder whether they could create a neutral space to address the common concerns associated with run-off and to work together to identify solutions to their common problems. From these theoretical discussions, the Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Run-Off Companies (“AIRROC”) emerged with the mission to promote and represent the common interest of the companies handling run-off business, improve professional and managerial standards and enhance knowledge and communication within and outside the run-off industry.
Trish Getty became the heartbeat of that mission. Ever the diplomat, Trish became the founding Executive Director of AIRROC in June of 2004 and continued in that position until 2012. She did not just occupy an office; she occupied the front lines. She developed the organization and the reputation of the run-off market. Under her stewardship, AIRROC grew from a small group of likeminded professionals to 23 initial founding member companies, and in less than two years, an association with 55 members, including many of the world’s largest insurers and reinsurers. During her tenure, Trish nurtured and focused AIRROC to accomplish exactly what it set out to do by offering a forum for members to meet and get their business accomplished.
In 2012, the AIRROC Board established a $5,000 annual scholarship in honor of Trish Getty. The main purpose of the scholarship is to reward exceptional undergraduate students studying insurance, risk management, or actuarial science. The award is presented each year at AIRROC’s October Transactions & Networking Forum. Since its creation, thirteen Trish Getty Scholarships have been awarded. The scholarship serves as a living memorial to Trish’s lasting impact on AIRROC and it is only fitting that the scholarship named in her honor recognizes and financially supports outstanding college students who demonstrate the potential to become the next generation of leaders in the insurance industry.
Thank you, Trish, for your wisdom and for leading this organization through the turbulent early days and leaving it stronger than you found it. We will carry your legacy forward.
Past and present board members and colleagues share their warm remembrances of Trish Getty. We will continue to update this tribute page so if you wish to contribute your reflections or memories in honor of Trish, please sent to airrocmatters@airroc.org
Keith E. Kaplan, Founding Board Member 2005-2014
Patricia Getty’s passing leaves a profound void for all of us who had the privilege of building AIRROC alongside her. As the association’s founding Executive Director, she brought not only skill and vision but a kindness and warmth that made the work feel like a shared adventure. Patricia cherished the camaraderie as much as the mission, and her ability to bring people together shaped AIRROC’s culture from the very beginning. It was no surprise to any of us that she was named to Business Insurance’s inaugural Women to Watch list in 2006, an honor for which a number of the then Board members were nominators. Her legacy lives on in the organization she helped create through the annual Trish Getty scholarship and in the countless people she touched with her generosity of spirit.
Carolyn W. Fahey, AIRROC Executive Director 2012-2025
Trish Getty’s vision and dedication shaped AIRROC from the very beginning. As its founding Executive Director, she built more than an organization—she created a strong and collaborative community for the runoff industry that continues to thrive today.
When I had the privilege of succeeding Trish after her retirement, I came to appreciate even more how much of AIRROC’s success reflects her leadership, her relationships, and her tireless commitment. She set a remarkable standard and built a foundation that made it possible for those who followed to continue growing the organization.
It’s especially fitting that AIRROC established a scholarship in Trish’s honor—one that helps support the next generation of professionals in the industry she cared so deeply about. In many ways, it reflects exactly what Trish always did: invest in people and in the future of the community she helped build.
I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to follow in her footsteps. Thank you, Trish, for the example you set for all of us – your impact on AIRROC—and on those of us who worked with you—will last for years to come.
Kathy Barker, Board Co-Chair 2013-2015
Trish worked so very diligently on the establishment of AIRROC. She developed and maintained so many friendships in the industry that helped solidify the startup of this organization. She was resilient in connecting people and creating a network of strong relationships. She was unwavering in her commitment to AIRROC.
Her memory is honored via AIRROC’s Trish Getty scholarship.
Marcus Doran, AIG, Board Member 2015-2016; 2025-2026
It is with great sadness to hear of the passing of Trish Getty. For those of us that have been with AIRROC from its inception, we owe a debt of gratitude to Trish and the work she did to establish the association and the activities we enjoy to this day. Trish had contacts throughout the legacy market and an innate ability to draw people in to AIRROC and its events. In the early years, Trish organized activities that included the Rendezvous Band, Monte Carlo Nights, and even horse racing to entice people to come. The big dinner was clearly Trish’s event and she could be found at the center of it all, and dressed to the nines. She clearly enjoyed being part of the legacy market and making introductions so companies could get things done. For those, like me, that attended functions in support of more senior team members, we appreciated Trish welcoming us to AIRROC and helping us connect with other legacy players. How appropriate that our annual scholarship is named after Trish and that it helps usher the next generation into the industry with an understanding and appreciation for legacy business. Thank you to Trish Getty and may she rest in peace.
Debra Hall, Hall Arbitrations
I met Trish in about 2002 when I was Senior Vice President & General Counsel for the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA). Trish attended a RAA dinner and we were seated next to one another and immediately swapped stories about work and our mutual road warrior experiences. One story I recall from that dinner was the experience she had following 9-11 (less than a year earlier) when her plane, returning from business in Europe was re-routed to Newfoundland and all these “crazy Americans” took over an otherwise quiet rural area for at least a couple days.
As Trish and I struck up a friendship, along with other mutual friends, she was a natural fit for me to recommend to the then-forming AIRROC as their first Executive Director. The RAA had been instrumental in the concept and original days of putting together the initial membership of AIRROC. At an RAA conference in Philadelphia, I introduced Trish to the initial group of company representatives at a formation meeting, and the rest is, as they say, history.
Aside from the many years of professional interaction, Trish and several other friends became close personally. One very memorable event was a December NAIC meeting in New Orleans where the RAA had their traditional holiday sing-a-long and pizza party, together with the wedding for Maxine Verne (then Senior Vice President and General Counsel of SCOR Re) as well as a 60th birthday celebration for (Sister) Mary Lanning, a lobbyist in the industry and a working nun. Tom Getty had created words for Mary’s birthday to the song “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” and the gathered crowd sang from song sheets we passed out as a large cake was rolled into the room followed by four nuns — Trish and Tony Getty and Debra and Bob Hall. As you can see, Trish made quite a lovely nun. Having really taken to the nun role, at least in terms of the garb, Trish and Tom followed others to the French Quarter late into the evening while others of us went to bed.
We were privileged to have Trish’s friendship for many years, from Alaska to sailing in the Caribbean, the west coast to the east coast, from Florida to Maine and phone calls and texting until the last few days before she passed. Trish was a lovely person, a consummate professional, and a lifetime of fun and adventure. How wonderful that we are part of an industry that affords us the possibility to make such lasting friendships (and even a husband in my case) and provides us the opportunity to travel and work in such exciting places. While I miss Trish very much, we have great memories shared with a dear friend who is celebrating her reunion with loved ones, as we will with her some day.
Peter Scarpato, Founding Editor AIRROC Matters, Founding Board Member 2015-2020
I had the distinct pleasure of working with Trish for many years as a founding board member (AIG) of AIRROC. At the time, Trish was firmly in place as the Executive Director and I was Editor-in-Chief of the Publication Committee. Throughout my tenure working with her, Trish was an intrepid, ethical, and effective leader, known by all, who lived and breathed a vision of a unified, well-oiled organization that both educated its members and ensured the continued success of the run-off market. All her dreams – propelled by her foundational efforts – and more have been achieved by AIRROC. On a personal note, Trish and I were fast friends and colleagues, trusting each other to do what was necessary with a smile, a laugh, and a friendly grin. God bless you, Trish.
