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Queens of protection
Girls are the powerhouses of America’s insurance coverage trade, numbering 1.7 million and comprising 54.9 % of the full workforce.
Nonetheless, this dominance doesn’t lengthen into management roles, which is mirrored in Insurance coverage Enterprise America’s Elite Girls 2025 survey as 64 % of respondents really feel there’s a lack of girls leaders within the trade.
Information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirms that ladies are nearly all of the workforce, other than these in C-suite positions the place they quantity solely 22 %.
Information from 2010 to 2023 additionally reveals that ladies have made up nearly all of professionals in roles resembling claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, claims/coverage processing clerks and underwriters. It differs for gross sales brokers, the place girls haven’t at all times been within the majority however have by no means dropped under 45.2 % of the full.
These historic traits make the achievements of IBA’s Elite Girls 2025 much more spectacular for navigating bias and structural obstacles to grow to be profitable leaders and executives.
The winners earned their place after their achievements and initiatives over the previous 12 months had been analyzed by an esteemed judging panel that included:
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Jessica Hanson Hanna, American Property Casualty Insurance coverage Affiliation
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Nancy Mellard, Affiliation of Skilled Insurance coverage Girls
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Jenna Kirkpatrick Howard, Lockton
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Joi Blume, GenStar Insurance coverage Companies
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Kathy Quintana, HUB Worldwide
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Jennifer Sharkey, Gallagher
Blume says, “Research present that when girls are on the desk and in decision-making positions, the group fares higher total, particularly so far as financially and with so a lot of our pale, male, and off colleagues growing old out of the trade and retiring, this can be a pivotal time.”
One other factor that stood out for Blume was how the Elite Girls’s affect goes past their office.
“The group was gifted, they usually all look like excessive producers inside their organizations. We additionally noticed a number of issues like group involvement, volunteerism and people who find themselves effectively revered, not solely within the trade however of their communities,” she says.
For Mellard, what’s spectacular was the Elite Girls’s dedication to champion others.
“They weren’t targeted solely on their day-to-day job. With most of them, there was a reference to caring for the group and anticipating others to advance.”
She additionally underlines the most important energy wanted to achieve the insurance coverage trade.
“Indisputably, it’s empathy and that interprets to emotional intelligence. It lets you perceive clients and group members higher.”
Mindsets of the USA’s girls leaders in insurance coverage
Alliant Insurance coverage Service’s Kirsten Handel attributes her success to being robust. After starting her profession in underwriting, she moved on to the actuarial sector and is now shopper dealing with.
“Insurance coverage is all I’ve ever finished, and I grew up by the ranks, and it hasn’t been simple,” says the senior vice chairman. “There are at all times new issues to study, however the core fundamentals stay the identical, so being robust helps you get by. I used to be by no means the neatest, however I labored onerous to study, perceive, and adapt along with maintaining my relationships and constructing new ones.”
“Rising a ebook of enterprise or working a group on daily basis is like being a firefighter as a result of shopper requests are available in, or they’ve a loss and your group wants assist. It’s a really high-paced atmosphere and you must keep on high of it”
Kristen HandelAlliant Insurance coverage Companies
Being resilient can also be one thing Rekha Skantharaja advocates. The CEO of Tangram Insurance coverage refuses to be put in a field and needs to indicate the trade that ladies leaders are greater than token figures. If requested to an handle a topic like work-life stability or self-care, she refuses.
“Each time I’m requested to provide a keynote or communicate on a panel round these matters, I politely decline to take part,” Skantharaja says. “My male CEO counterparts aren’t being requested to debate this stuff. They’re busy exposing their views on M&A and valuation traits, tech transformation and large knowledge, the artwork of negotiation, and constructing the following $1-billion unicorn.”
A giant a part of Skantharaja’s ethos is being brave as a pacesetter.
She says, “We’re at an inflection level for girls on this trade and it’s time to lean deeply into the areas which have usually been guarded by the lads.”
Adaptability, resilience, and a client-focused mindset have all been key to enabling Catherine Lyle’s rise within the trade.
“My purpose is to make the claims course of as environment friendly and supportive as doable. Staying revolutionary isn’t non-compulsory – it’s important to supply worth to our shoppers and reply successfully to rising threats”
Catherine LyleTokio Marine HCC – Cyber & Skilled Traces Group
Now, as senior vice chairman, and head of cyber claims and incident response at Tokio Marine HCC, she spreads that power amongst youthful colleagues.
“Fortunately, there are various wonderful girls inside or getting into the trade, and that is one thing I’m enthusiastic about,” Lyle says. “I consider in creating alternatives and providing steerage to assist them navigate their careers. Mentorship is vital for constructing confidence, offering perspective, and empowering the following technology of leaders.”
Echoing the necessity to permit others to showcase their expertise underlines the management maturity of Threat Placement Companies’ (RPS) Sharon Novasel.
“I oversee our summer time interns and goal to broaden their views on the various profession alternatives throughout the insurance coverage trade”
Sharon NovaselThreat Placement Companies
“As a supervisor, I’ve discovered that empowering group members to take possession of their obligations and roles has been key to our division’s success in reaching our objectives,” she explains.
Being robust and profitable additionally entails understanding the necessity for private development. Refining her management model is one thing Christine Schneider, senior vice chairman casualty claims at Arch Capital, locations a premium on.
She says, “I’m conscious of my weaknesses and know after I have to seek the advice of with colleagues and collaborate to be able to effectively discover a decision or execute on a purpose.”
Consciousness and understanding the way to get essentially the most from themselves is a top quality shared among the many Elite Girls 2025.
“My strongest qualities are my capability to strategically drawback remedy, analyze conditions, weigh dangers, and make considerate selections which might be in the most effective pursuits of our shopper and/or the group,” provides Schneider.
Ryan Specialty’s Brenda Austenfeld has carved out a status by setting requirements.
“My purpose is for our group to be the perfect, not simply in numbers or metrics, however in the way in which we conduct ourselves and the extent of excellence we set.”
It’s been beneath a yr since Stephanie Peters took on the position of vice chairman of shopper relations at RPS.
“All girls in management ought to embrace being a task mannequin for feminine friends”
Stephanie PetersThreat Placement Companies
She has handled the problem of elevated accountability of managing a group and has launched new methods of working.
“I used to be beforehand able the place I used to be comfy and stepped into a task that required me to adapt and embrace change. I’m pleased with how I dealt with the transition, and I’m significantly pleased with the help of my group and the way the group embraced the adjustments.”
Resilience and willpower mark out the Elite Girls 2025, as they’ve needed to come by difficult circumstances immediately or battle structural bias.
IBA’s survey knowledge reveals that 33 % of respondents consider they’d have achieved extra seniority in the event that they weren’t feminine.
Sharon Novasel relishes working at RPS, the place there’s a robust give attention to variety and fairness within the office, as she’s skilled the opposite aspect. Her profession started throughout a time when girls seldom occupied high-level positions.
She says, “I usually wasn’t taken severely, typically mistaken for the supervisor’s assistant, and was continuously dismissed and talked over in conferences. For instance, when interviewing an company for an appointment, I used to be continuously requested when my supervisor would make the choice, though the choice was mine to make.”
Equally, Lyle can sympathize with not being proven the identical respect as her male counterparts.
“I might like to say that there have been no roadblocks and that everybody was supportive of a lady with a voice. Nonetheless, that was not the trail,” she says. “One of many largest challenges has been overcoming unconscious biases. Early in my profession, I needed to work onerous to make sure my voice was heard in rooms the place girls had been underrepresented. These challenges additionally fueled my drive to excel and create pathways for different girls within the trade.”
IBA Elite Girls 2025 decide Mellard acknowledges there are fewer obstacles for girls than there have been traditionally. To proceed this pattern, she feels girls need to be extra emphatic about their talents.
Mellard says, “There’s higher acceptance of broader ability units that ladies deliver, however obstacles nonetheless exist as a result of too usually corporations are rewarding those that they know versus who you might be. I don’t assume immediately it’s since you’re a lady versus a white man, however I do assume the barrier is girls have to do a greater job to deliberately and confidently clarify their array of expertise.”
One other of 2025’s Elite Girls resonates with Nadia Hoyte, cyber nationwide follow chief at USI Insurance coverage Companies. She recollects being “second and third guessed” after which attaching a that means to that which chipped away at her confidence, earlier than she understood the place these views come from.
IBA decide Blume is happy to see how girls leaders are breaking by and emphasizes how essential it’s to maintain the momentum.
She provides, “We’re actually at a crossroads, and I believe we want extra of our white male counterparts to grow to be allies and take a real curiosity in our success, to see us not simply as competitors, however an equally highly effective pressure.”
Girls leaders in insurance coverage act as mentors
What is obvious from the Elite Girls cohort is how prepared and in a position they’re to information others. They create time of their schedules to make sure they will help, educate and upskill the following technology of insurance coverage professionals, significantly youthful girls.
Alliant’s Handel has seen spectacular development figures in her area over the previous 12 months, which wouldn’t have occurred with out her group.
“I’m very proud to be part of hiring and bringing on some new group members but additionally mentoring just a few of them,” she says. “I’ve folks that have helped me from day one, and I nonetheless communicate with them going again 27 years. I need to be that for the long run and pay that ahead. The relationships I’ve constructed and the belief I’ve garnered with a few of our newer folks, along with sustaining my shoppers, might be the factor I’m most pleased with.”
The recognition of video conferencing has additionally strengthened Handel’s affect.
“It’s really expanded who you possibly can study from and who you possibly can mentor since you’re not simply with the folks inside your workplace. I’m working with folks in Florida, Atlanta, California, Boston, and assembly all these folks that I by no means actually would have labored with intently.”
Lyle is one other who’s enthusiastic about being there for the “many wonderful girls” getting into the trade.
“I consider in creating alternatives and providing steerage to assist them navigate their careers. Mentorship is vital for constructing confidence, offering perspective, and empowering the following technology of leaders,” she says.
One other who’s lively in ushering the following technology by is Novasel.
She says, “As a mentor to many ladies in entry-level positions, I supply steerage and encourage them to problem themselves, constructing their confidence and assertiveness, and fostering an equal enjoying discipline for everybody.”
Legacy of 2025’s Elite Girls
One other defining mark of this yr’s cohort is leaving a long-lasting affect. Regardless of being a minority within the C-suite, the winners are in a position to implement methods that have an effect on not solely their organizations however the wider insurance coverage trade.
For Skantharaja, it’s instilling a tradition of feat.
“My method to my profession and my life is to be grateful however at all times a little bit stressed. You must go away issues higher than you discovered them and lift the bar,” she says.
Threat Placement Companies’ Karen McCarthy-Hawn promotes the have to be guided by “an moral or ethical compass”.
The declare advocacy supervisor does this by making a collegial tradition.
“Many of the obstacles may be overcome with collaboration and a willingness to implement the change wanted to take away the obstacles to success,” she says. “After I current any obstacles found within the claims or techniques work product, I at all times anticipate to be an lively participant in serving to discover options or to supply coaching to alter future outcomes.”
Regardless of developments in group constructing, together with tech instruments and AI, there may be nonetheless a have to roll up the sleeves and work onerous. Handel resides proof and credit her success to by no means dropping sight of that.
She feedback, “Grit continues to be essential. I don’t assume there’s any magic tablet or technique that takes that away. You continue to need to work onerous and stick with it.”
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Mosaic Insurance coverage
