Girls Leaders in Insurance coverage within the USA | Elite Girls

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 going through.

“Insurance coverage is all I’ve ever accomplished, and I grew up by way of the ranks, and it hasn’t been simple,” says the senior vp. “There are at all times new issues to be taught, however the core fundamentals stay the identical, so being robust helps you get by way of. 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 operating a group every single day 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 it’s important to keep on prime of it”

Kristen HandelAlliant Insurance coverage Companies

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 ladies leaders are greater than token figures. If requested to an deal with a topic like work-life steadiness or self-care, she refuses.

“Each time I’m requested to offer a keynote or converse on a panel round these matters, I politely decline to take part,” Skantharaja says. “My male CEO counterparts should not being requested to debate these items. They’re busy exposing their views on M&A and valuation developments, tech transformation and massive knowledge, the artwork of negotiation, and constructing the following $1-billion unicorn.”

An enormous 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 sometimes 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 aim is to make the claims course of as environment friendly and supportive as attainable. Staying modern isn’t non-compulsory – it’s important to offer worth to our shoppers and reply successfully to rising threats”

Catherine LyleTokio Marine HCC – Cyber & Skilled Traces 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 various wonderful ladies inside or getting into the trade, and that is one thing I’m keen about,” Lyle says. “I consider in creating alternatives and providing steerage to assist them navigate their careers. Mentorship is important 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 season interns and purpose to broaden their views on the varied profession alternatives inside 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 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 must seek the advice of with colleagues and collaborate with a purpose to effectively discover a decision or execute on a aim.”

Consciousness and understanding how one can get essentially the most from themselves is a high quality shared among the many Elite Girls 2025.

“My strongest qualities are my capacity to strategically downside clear up, analyze conditions, weigh dangers, and make considerate choices which can be in the most effective pursuits of our shopper and/or the group,” provides Schneider.

Ryan Specialty’s Brenda Austenfeld has carved out a fame by setting requirements.

“My aim is for our group to be the perfect, not simply in numbers or metrics, however in the best way we conduct ourselves and the extent of excellence we set.”

It’s been below a yr since Stephanie Peters took on the function of vp of shopper relations at RPS.

 

“All ladies in management ought to embrace being a job 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 job 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 assist of my group and the way the group embraced the modifications.”

Resilience and willpower mark out the Elite Girls 2025, as they’ve needed to come by way of difficult circumstances straight or battle structural bias.

IBA’s survey knowledge exhibits that 33 % of respondents consider they might have achieved extra seniority in the event that they weren’t feminine.

Sharon Novasel relishes working at RPS, the place there’s a robust deal with 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 usually wasn’t taken critically, generally mistaken for the supervisor’s assistant, and was ceaselessly dismissed and talked over in conferences. For instance, when interviewing an company for an appointment, I used to be ceaselessly 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’d like to say that there have been no roadblocks and that everybody was supportive of a girl 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 exhausting to make sure my voice was heard in rooms the place ladies had been underrepresented. These challenges additionally fueled my drive to excel and create pathways for different ladies within the trade.”

IBA Elite Girls 2025 decide Mellard acknowledges there are fewer limitations for girls than there have been traditionally. To proceed this development, she feels ladies need to be extra emphatic about their talents.

Mellard says, “There may be larger acceptance of broader talent units that ladies carry, however limitations nonetheless exist as a result of too usually corporations are rewarding those that they know versus who you’re. I don’t suppose right this moment it’s since you’re a girl versus a white man, however I do suppose the barrier is ladies must 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 observe chief at USI Insurance coverage Companies. She recollects being “second and third guessed” after which attaching a which 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 ladies leaders are breaking by way of and emphasizes how necessary 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 change into allies and take a real curiosity in our success, to see us not simply as competitors, however an equally highly effective drive.”

What is obvious from the Elite Girls cohort is how keen and in a position they’re to information others. They create time of their schedules to make sure they’ll assist, educate and upskill the following technology of insurance coverage professionals, significantly 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 group.

“I’m very proud to be part of hiring and bringing on some new group members but additionally mentoring a number of of them,” she says. “I’ve those that have helped me from day one, and I nonetheless converse 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 individuals, 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 truly expanded who you may be taught from and who you may 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 those that I by no means actually would have labored with carefully.”

Lyle is one other who’s keen about being there for the “many wonderful ladies” getting into the trade.

“I consider in creating alternatives and providing steerage to assist them navigate their careers. Mentorship is important 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 way of 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 area for everybody.”

One other defining mark of this yr’s cohort is leaving an enduring 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 accomplishment.

“My strategy to my profession and my life is to be grateful however at all times a little bit stressed. It’s best to depart 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.

“A lot of the obstacles could be overcome with collaboration and a willingness to implement the change wanted to take away the limitations to success,” she says. “Once I current any obstacles found within the claims or techniques work product, I at all times count on to be an lively participant in serving to discover options or to offer coaching to alter future outcomes.”

Regardless of developments in group constructing, together with tech instruments and AI, there may be nonetheless a must roll up the sleeves and work exhausting. Handel resides proof and credit her success to by no means dropping sight of that.

She feedback, “Grit remains to be necessary. I don’t suppose there’s any magic tablet or technique that takes that away. You continue to need to work exhausting and stick with it.”

• Alison Wynne
  
  Senior Vice President, Aviation Follow Chief
  
  Brown & Brown
• Amy Carnahan
  
  Senior Vice President
  
  Gallagher
• Andrea Ash
  
  Chief Working Officer, Pure Assets
  
  CAC Group
• Angela Dybdahl Oroian
  
  President
  
  Society of Environmental Insurance coverage Professionals (SEIP)
• Angela Taylor
  
  Associate Strategist, Life Insurance coverage Enterprise Growth
  
  TruStage
• Annett Okay. Hoak
  
  Proprietor/Dealer
  
  Focus Advantages and Insurance coverage Options
• Beth Diamond
  
  Group Chief Claims and Litigation Officer
  
  Beazley
• Beth Marsh
  
  Supervisor of Private Traces Underwriting Operations
  
  COUNTRY Monetary
• Bethany Theisen
  
  Shopper Advocate/Property Workforce Chief
  
  WTW
• Brittany Stahl
  
  Managing Associate
  
  Higginbotham
• Candace Funsch
  
  Dealer
  
  CRC Group
• Catherine (Seto) Marincel
  
  SVP, Govt and Skilled Traces
  
  Berkshire Hathaway
• Danielle Lenzi
  
  Vice President, Head of Threat Administration and Insurance coverage
  
  Rudin Administration
• Erica Rangel
  
  Supervisor, Skilled Legal responsibility
  
  Burns & Wilcox
• Jamie Neumann
  
  Vice President, Multinational Follow Dealer Chief
  
  Brown & Brown
• Jasmine James
  
  Senior Product Specialist Technical Underwriting Regulatory Affairs
  
  Zurich North America
• Kara MacDonald
  
  SV, Managing Director – Center Market
  
  Lockton
• Karen Stuttman
  
  Senior Vice President, Legal responsibility Claims
  
  AmTrust Monetary Companies
• Karin Venegas
  
  Managing Director/Regional Gross sales Director/Follow Chief – Actual Property, Healthcare
  
  Higginbotham
• Kathleen Tierney
  
  President
  
  Berkley One, The Berkley Company
• Kim McBee
  
  Senior VP, Specialty Traces Gross sales Chief
  
  Basis Threat Companions
• Kimberly Jenis
  
  Chief Monetary Officer
  
  Brown & Brown
• Krista Scott
  
  AVP, Territory Chief
  
  Zurich North America
• Kym Clevenger
  
  Principal
  
  Oakbridge Insurance coverage
• Liz Walker
  
  Analytics Options Chief, US and Canada
  
  Marsh
• Maribel Arias
  
  SVP, Business Follow Chief Skilled and Companies, Schooling, Cultural Establishments and Retail
  
  Chubb
• Mary Russell
  
  President Personal Shopper Service
  
  Higginbotham
• Meryl Golden
  
  President and CEO
  
  Kingstone Insurance coverage Firm
• Michele Lamarre
  
  VP, Head of Range, Inclusion, and Belonging
  
  QBE
• Pamela Wheeler
  
  Chief Range and Inclusion Officer
  
  NFP
• Ria Thomas
  
  SVP, Head of Cyber Enterprise Resilience
  
  Truist
• Sara Kane
  
  Govt Vice President
  
  CAC Group
• Shannon Groeber
  
  Chief Govt Officer
  
  CFC
• Shantelle Cabir
  
  Senior Vice President, Enterprise Insurance coverage Advisor
  
  Newfront
• Shoshanna Simmons
  
  Senior Director of Captive Administration
  
  Foxen
• Stacy Parker
  
  Managing Director – Monetary Companies Group, Business Threat Options
  
  Aon
• Stasi Bobo-Ligon
  
  Vice President, International Relationship Chief
  
  Zurich North America
• Susan Johnson
  
  Chief Range, Fairness and Inclusion Officer
  
  The Hartford
• Susanne Figueredo Cook dinner
  
  EVP, Chief Working Officer, International Threat Options
  
  Liberty Mutual Insurance coverage
• Yosha DeLong
  
  International Head of Cyber
  
  Mosaic Insurance coverage