Bounce to winners | Bounce to methodology
Queens of protection
Ladies are the powerhouses of America’s insurance coverage trade, numbering 1.7 million and comprising 54.9 % of the full workforce.
Nevertheless, this dominance doesn’t prolong into management roles, which is mirrored in Insurance coverage Enterprise America’s Elite Ladies 2025 survey as 64 % of respondents really feel there’s a lack of girls leaders within the trade.
Knowledge from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirms that girls are nearly all of the workforce, aside from these in C-suite positions the place they quantity solely 22 %.
Knowledge from 2010 to 2023 additionally exhibits that girls have made up nearly all of professionals in roles similar to claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, claims/coverage processing clerks and underwriters. It differs for gross sales brokers, the place ladies haven’t all the time been within the majority however have by no means dropped under 45.2 % of the full.
These historic tendencies make the achievements of IBA’s Elite Ladies 2025 much more spectacular for navigating bias and structural boundaries to turn into profitable leaders and executives.
The winners earned their place after their achievements and initiatives over the previous 12 months have 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 Ladies
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Jenna Kirkpatrick Howard, Lockton
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Joi Blume, GenStar Insurance coverage Providers
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Kathy Quintana, HUB Worldwide
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Jennifer Sharkey, Gallagher
Blume says, “Research present that when ladies are on the desk and in decision-making positions, the group fares higher total, particularly so far as financially and with so lots of our pale, male, and rancid colleagues ageing out of the trade and retiring, it is a pivotal time.”
One other factor that stood out for Blume was how the Elite Ladies’s affect goes past their office.
“The group was gifted, they usually all look like excessive producers inside their organizations. We additionally noticed plenty of issues like group involvement, volunteerism and people who find themselves properly revered, not solely within the trade however of their communities,” she says.
For Mellard, what’s spectacular was the Elite Ladies’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 staff and anticipating others to advance.”
She additionally underlines the most important energy wanted to achieve the insurance coverage trade.
“Indubitably, it’s empathy and that interprets to emotional intelligence. It lets you perceive clients and staff members higher.”
Mindsets of the USA’s ladies 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 consumer going through.
“Insurance coverage is all I’ve ever finished, and I grew up via the ranks, and it hasn’t been simple,” says the senior vp. “There are all the time new issues to be taught, however the core fundamentals stay the identical, so being robust helps you get via. I used to be by no means the neatest, however I labored exhausting to be taught, perceive, and adapt along with holding my relationships and constructing new ones.”
“Rising a e book of enterprise or working a staff day by day is like being a firefighter as a result of consumer requests are available in, or they’ve a loss and your staff wants assist. It’s a really high-paced surroundings and you must keep on prime of it”
Kristen HandelAlliant Insurance coverage Providers
Being resilient can be one thing Rekha Skantharaja advocates. The CEO of Tangram Insurance coverage refuses to be put in a field and desires to point out the trade that girls leaders are greater than token figures. If requested to an tackle a topic like work-life steadiness or self-care, she refuses.
“At any time when I’m requested to present a keynote or converse on a panel round these matters, I politely decline to take part,” Skantharaja says. “My male CEO counterparts are usually not being requested to debate these items. They’re busy exposing their views on M&A and valuation tendencies, tech transformation and massive information, the artwork of negotiation, and constructing the following $1-billion unicorn.”
An enormous a part of Skantharaja’s ethos is being brave as a frontrunner.
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 boys.”
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 potential. Staying modern isn’t elective – it’s important to supply worth to our purchasers and reply successfully to rising threats”
Catherine LyleTokio Marine HCC – Cyber & Skilled Strains Group
Now, as senior vp, and head of cyber claims and incident response at Tokio Marine HCC, she spreads that power amongst youthful colleagues.
“Fortunately, there are numerous wonderful ladies inside or getting into the trade, and that is one thing I’m obsessed with,” Lyle says. “I consider in creating alternatives and providing steering to assist them navigate their careers. Mentorship is essential for constructing confidence, offering perspective, and empowering the following era of leaders.”
Echoing the necessity to enable others to showcase their expertise underlines the management maturity of Threat Placement Providers’ (RPS) Sharon Novasel.
“I oversee our summer time interns and goal to broaden their views on the varied profession alternatives throughout the insurance coverage trade”
Sharon NovaselThreat Placement Providers
“As a supervisor, I’ve discovered that empowering staff members to take possession of their tasks 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 progress. Refining her management type is one thing Christine Schneider, senior vp casualty claims at Arch Capital, locations a premium on.
She says, “I’m conscious of my weaknesses and know once I have to seek the advice of with colleagues and collaborate with the intention to effectively discover a decision or execute on a purpose.”
Consciousness and understanding the best way to get probably the most from themselves is a top quality shared among the many Elite Ladies 2025.
“My strongest qualities are my potential to strategically drawback remedy, analyze conditions, weigh dangers, and make considerate choices which might be in the very best pursuits of our consumer and/or the group,” provides Schneider.
Ryan Specialty’s Brenda Austenfeld has carved out a status by setting requirements.
“My purpose is for our staff to be the easiest, 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 underneath a yr since Stephanie Peters took on the position of vp of consumer relations at RPS.
“All ladies in management ought to embrace being a task mannequin for feminine friends”
Stephanie PetersThreat Placement Providers
She has handled the problem of elevated duty of managing a staff and has launched new methods of working.
“I used to be beforehand ready 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 notably pleased with the help of my staff and the way the staff embraced the adjustments.”
Resilience and willpower mark out the Elite Ladies 2025, as they’ve needed to come via difficult circumstances straight or battle structural bias.
IBA’s survey information exhibits 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 ladies seldom occupied high-level positions.
She says, “I typically wasn’t taken significantly, typically mistaken for the supervisor’s assistant, and was regularly dismissed and talked over in conferences. For instance, when interviewing an company for an appointment, I used to be regularly requested when my supervisor would make the choice, despite the fact that 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 girl with a voice. Nevertheless, that was not the trail,” she says. “One of many greatest challenges has been overcoming unconscious biases. Early in my profession, I needed to work exhausting to make sure my voice was heard in rooms the place ladies have been underrepresented. These challenges additionally fueled my drive to excel and create pathways for different ladies within the trade.”
IBA Elite Ladies 2025 choose Mellard acknowledges there are fewer boundaries for girls than there have been traditionally. To proceed this pattern, she feels ladies should be extra emphatic about their talents.
Mellard says, “There’s better acceptance of broader ability units that girls convey, however boundaries nonetheless exist as a result of too typically firms are rewarding those that they know versus who you’re. I don’t assume right this moment it’s since you’re a girl versus a white man, however I do assume the barrier is ladies have to do a greater job to deliberately and confidently clarify their array of expertise.”
One other of 2025’s Elite Ladies resonates with Nadia Hoyte, cyber nationwide follow chief at USI Insurance coverage Providers. She remembers 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 choose Blume is happy to see how ladies leaders are breaking via and emphasizes how necessary it’s to maintain the momentum.
She provides, “We’re actually at a crossroads, and I feel we want extra of our white male counterparts to turn into allies and take a real curiosity in our success, to see us not simply as competitors, however an equally highly effective power.”
Ladies leaders in insurance coverage act as mentors
What is obvious from the Elite Ladies cohort is how prepared and ready they’re to information others. They create time of their schedules to make sure they’ll help, educate and upskill the following era of insurance coverage professionals, notably youthful ladies.
Alliant’s Handel has seen spectacular progress figures in her area over the previous 12 months, which wouldn’t have occurred with out her staff.
“I’m very proud to be part of hiring and bringing on some new staff members but in addition mentoring a number of of them,” she says. “I’ve people who have helped me from day one, and I nonetheless converse with them going again 27 years. I wish 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 individuals, along with sustaining my purchasers, 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’ll be able to be taught from and who you’ll be able to mentor since you’re not simply with the individuals inside your workplace. I’m working with individuals in Florida, Atlanta, California, Boston, and assembly all these people who I by no means actually would have labored with intently.”
Lyle is one other who’s obsessed with being there for the “many wonderful ladies” getting into the trade.
“I consider in creating alternatives and providing steering to assist them navigate their careers. Mentorship is essential for constructing confidence, offering perspective, and empowering the following era of leaders,” she says.
One other who’s lively in ushering the following era via is Novasel.
She says, “As a mentor to many ladies in entry-level positions, I provide steering and encourage them to problem themselves, constructing their confidence and assertiveness, and fostering an equal taking part in discipline for everybody.”
Legacy of 2025’s Elite Ladies
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 capable of 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 accomplishment.
“My method to my profession and my life is to be grateful however all the time a little bit stressed. It’s best to depart issues higher than you discovered them and lift the bar,” she says.
Threat Placement Providers’ Karen McCarthy-Hawn promotes the should be guided by “an moral or ethical compass”.
The declare advocacy supervisor does this by making a collegial tradition.
“Many of the obstacles will be overcome with collaboration and a willingness to implement the change wanted to take away the boundaries to success,” she says. “Once I current any obstacles found within the claims or techniques work product, I all the time count on to be an lively participant in serving to discover options or to supply coaching to alter future outcomes.”
Regardless of developments in staff constructing, together with tech instruments and AI, there’s nonetheless a have to roll up the sleeves and work exhausting. Handel resides proof and credit her success to by no means shedding sight of that.
She feedback, “Grit remains to be necessary. I don’t assume there’s any magic tablet or methodology that takes that away. You continue to should work exhausting and stick with it.”
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Mosaic Insurance coverage
