Since its inception five years ago, Insurance Networking News' presentation of the most influential women in insurance has profiled the extraordinary accomplishments of 32 individuals. We are pleased to add another 10 to that list—women who embody the strength, fortitude and determination necessary for their respective leadership positions. The six Honorees and four Notable Achievers featured this year—with titles ranging from director to CIO—prove that women can positively affect critical processes within the IT and business environments of their organizations.
Nominations were vetted by INN editors, and narrowed down to a "WIL Top 10." Judges then ranked each candidate based on contributions to the institution's top and bottom lines, job complexity, corporate governance and ethics and leadership and management skills. The final scores determined the Honorees and Notable Achievers.
INN would like to thank the judges-three of the award program's 2009 Honorees:
* Maureen Hegarty, VP, claims operations, Electric Insurance Co.
* Peggy Stewart, EVP & COO, Aon Risk Services
* Jane Tutoki, EVP and chief claims officer, Zurich in North America.
Sallie Graves
Head of Insurance and Distributed Services IT
ING U.S. Insurance
Much like others in insurance technology, Sallie Graves' career began in a different industry. Out of school, despite offers from consultancies, Graves took a mainframe programmer position at Milliken & Co., a private textile company. Six months into the job, one of the company's largest textile carpet facilities burned down. Because Graves worked on all of the Milliken's back-office systems, the company sent Graves to the site. "I was sent to help out with the rebuild effort and the insurance claims, determining what inventory was in the building when it burned and coming up with scenarios with the accountants," she says.
The company rebuilt the plant in eight months and implemented all new technology. While Graves spent a few months onsite working on the insurance claim, the company decided to implement a planning and scheduling system and moved Graves into the business side for a year. Graves ended up working at Milliken for five years, and she says the lessons learned were necessary.
Hesitantly, Graves moved on to consulting at PeopleSoft. "I needed to make an industry change so I did go into consulting, the one thing I didn't want to do out of college. I went to work for PeopleSoft, and they were trying to build their supply chain products at the time, but I also had a lot of background in financial systems. I helped them build the practice while consulting on financial systems."
On an integration project assignment in 2000, Graves worked with ING during its acquisition of Aetna Financial Services and ReliaStar. After Graves finished the projects, ING called her back to offer her a permanent position. The past nine years at ING-where she currently is Head of Insurance and Distributed Services IT-have been fast moving, from both a professional and personal view. "I had two kids-now two and five years old," she says. "They keep me grounded. I don't think I could have accelerated my career to the level I have without having kids. Before, I wasn't a good delegator, but after having my children, I had to rely on my team. I had to build strong teams and be a strong leader."
That leadership has played out in different roles at ING. Graves started working with cost managers across the country in ING's finance and HR areas on back-office applications.
Three years ago, Graves had the chance to enter new territory-become a divisional CIO of a life insurance division. "This opportunity came up to get into a line of business," she says. "I had been in back office the whole time and though I have no life insurance background, I looked at what I could offer the division. At that time they had just purchased and had implemented a package application for their policy admin system. I had a lot of experience in packaged applications and thought 'I have to do this.'"
ING had approximately 4,000 policies on the system when Graves joined the group, and they were still trying to convert policies from older systems-about 10,000 to 17,000 policies a year, mostly universal life and variable universal life. So the challenges were plentiful. "Feeding the peripheral systems that are around that old system and getting those systems to scale was a pretty big deal," she says. "We were able to accomplish that. We were doubling or tripling our volume on the system every month and we got up to around 250,000 policies a year now at term."
Now with 10 direct reports, Graves looks back on the decision to move into new territory. "This was a risk that I had to take and leave my comfort zone," Graves says. "It was such a big step for me and has opened so many more doors."
Graves hopes to see more women enter the insurance and/or technology field. "Technology is a field -especially when you get in to the really technical areas-made up primarily of men," she says. "So, it's great when I see a really strong technical woman. They add a different perspective and viewpoint that's very helpful to a group."
Her advice to those women? "Go after what you want," she says. "Go farther than you can even imagine because if you set your goals, you'll achieve them."
-Carrie Burns
Susan Gueli
SVP and CIO
Nationwide Financial Services Inc.
The day when The Ohio State University invited recruiters from Nationwide to campus might well be one for the record. As Susan Gueli recalls it, the recruiter left her with the impression that the Columbus insurer would make a host of challenging information technology opportunities available to her. Some 24 years later, Gueli, now SVP and CIO of Nationwide Financial Services Inc., is still successfully leveraging limitless opportunities to the benefit of all stakeholders.
Gueli is actually back where she started. Joining Nationwide Financial as a programmer, she rose quickly to management positions in the insurer's Application Services and Development Competency Centers, where she managed a portfolio of core applications spanning Internet, voice response units, contact center, financial management and data warehousing. As VP, Information Risk Management, Gueli faced a larger challenge: providing enterprise leadership and strategic planning for the development and execution of Nationwide's information security, continuity and crisis management programs.
Today, she again serves Nationwide Financial, this time as SVP and CIO, responsible for more than 1,000 direct and indirect associates, an annual operating budget of $120M and a project portfolio of $75M.
"I've been incredibly fortunate being able to experience almost every aspect of IT," Gueli says, "and build a broad IT resume at Nationwide that I otherwise might not have, had I moved from job to job outside the company."
Over the years, that broad base of experience across business units helped shape Gueli's ambition and desire to make a difference in IT management.
"I love being in IT and being an IT leader," she says. "I thoroughly enjoy leading technically strong people and appreciate the delicate balance of business practicality and technical eloquence that goes into the job."
Gueli's passion and positive attitude has been tested along the way, especially in light of her varied experiences throughout the organization. Yet her approach is a winning one. "All my challenges have been positive challenges-I have a crazy, half-full perspective."
During her tenure with Nationwide's information technology risk management practice, Gueli describes one of many opportunities to hone her analytical, communication and leadership skills.
"At one time when I worked in Nationwide's infrastructure area, I served in a capacity where I had to get things done across the enterprise," she explains. "I had to make my priorities the priorities of others across a broader organization, and while it was difficult, it taught me how to address that age-old quandary: how to drive and influence decisions well beyond your organizational authority. That was a muscle I acquired that helped me execute in my next role in information risk management."
And it was here that Gueli learned to create an agenda that had the supporting facts necessary to drive buy-in from a broad audience, and allowed her to create a compelling story based on those facts. That story, which reflected a common goal shared by business leaders, IT leaders and information risk management professionals, brought a new understanding to mitigating risk appropriately across the enterprise. It also helped shape Gueli's management style, which she describes as collaborative. "I'm very clear and deliberate to tell folks when they can help shape a decision," says Gueli, "and I value that input. Based on all this experience, I've learned to make decisions based on facts, not necessarily from the gut or on emotion."
Gueli also learned that leadership skills do not come from corporate life alone. A proponent of volunteerism in the community, Gueli serves on the board of a Columbus not-for-profit group, helping steer an organization that helps children make better life choices.
"It's dramatically different than what you do every day as a leader, a professional, a wife or as a mom of a 12-year old son," she says, "and I've been fortunate to be able to offer some of the foundational leadership skills I've developed at Nationwide to a positive end."
Gueli's success is contagious, and she doesn't hesitate to offer advice for women coming up the trail behind her: "Have a passion for what you do and don't be afraid to show it," she says. "If others see that you love what you're doing, that passion and energy just gets fed, with more responsibility, accountability and opportunity."
-Pat Speer
Shannon McLaughlin
Director, Fulfillment Operations
Genworth Financial
Love what you do—that's Shannon McLaughlin's advice to young women seeking a healthy work/life balance. And, she certainly loves what she does.
McLaughlin began her career in 1997 at General Electric in its modular office trailer division, but it was two years later when she moved to GE Capital Assurance (now Genworth after an initial public offering in 2003) that she entered the insurance industry. McLaughlin filled a number of roles, from running a call center for policyholder services to leading e-business, where she got her first taste of the technology side of the business. After that she shifted into Six Sigma-a master black belt-then became the quality leader for the long-term care business, where she focused on process improvements and working with statistics to drive that improvements or changes in process.
Three years ago, McLaughlin moved into her current role-fulfillment operations leader-where she has 15 direct reports and a collaborative team. "My job is to work with my team to develop solutions to make it easy at the front end for an agent and brokerage general agent (BGA) to submit business."
The team developed Genworth's Life Quick Request Process (Web-based tool)-across life, long-term care and annuities-which enables producers in the field to fill in basic demographic information and some suitability information with a consumer, then submit the application online or via fax through their BGA office.
As a result, Genworth has seen a higher placement ratio and a reduction in cycle time by 11 days. "The process has been running for over a year and a half, and those stats stay consistent," McLaughlin says. "We have an 84% conversion rate, which means for every application an agent submits, 84% turn into full-fledged policies, and the industry has seen a rate of 69% to 73%."
She attributes much of the success to her team. "If something goes wrong, we all own it; if something goes well, we all own it," she says. "If there's a problem, we'll all be there to help. My team works extra hard because they know we're all in it together."
Behind a successful team usually is a successful leader, and McLaughlin's accomplishments in past roles with Genworth played a part in her leading the Life Quick Request project. "They brought me over from long-term care to build this," she says. "It was a combination of Six Sigma, lean and e-business-all of those roles came together and helped make this [successful]. This is the best thing I've done so far."
McLaughlin looks forward to the future and has an expansive vision to match. "We have an opportunity to completely overhaul the insurance servicing platform. That's a goal-to have us lead the charge for the industry into a very simplified service model that really reaches out to the consumer as well as the producer and the BGAs in such a simple way across all product lines."
McLaughlin says curiosity and flexibility are important to achieve such goals. "I believe you own your path," she says. "I also believe that you never know what opportunities and challenges are going to be around the corner, and as long as you're open to them and make the most out of them, the job stays exciting and energizing and motivating in many aspects."
While informally mentoring both men and women, McLaughlin finds herself expressing this more with women. "Mentoring men and mentoring women is different because women seem to share their challenges more vocally around work/life balance," she says. "[The balance] is becoming more of a challenge because women are rising further up in ranks and are presented with different challenges and opportunities, so they're struggling in some ways."
The advice she gives women follows what has worked for her. "You should love what you do so much that it motivates you to get out of bed in the morning," McLaughlin says. "That's what I do-I have a 2-year-old daughter and I love what I do. It makes taking care of my family manageable. As long as you are filling your life with the right types of challenges, it all becomes blended. That may be healthy or it may not be, but it works for me."
-Carrie Burns
Sandra Parrillo
President and CEO
Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
Thirty-three years may seem like a very long time, unless you are successfully growing personally and professionally-and doing what you love. Such is the case with Sandy Parrillo, who has risen up the ranks to president and CEO of Rhode Island-based Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Co. in true Horatio Alger form. Along the way, Parrillo has earned a number of "firsts" as an insurance industry professional.
From humble beginnings as a college intern, Parrillo began her tenure with Providence Mutual by filling in for vacationing underwriting department staff. Once graduated, she joined the organization full-time, and today, thanks to hard work, determination and expert leadership, oversees the firm's day-to-day affairs as well as its long-range strategic objectives.
To hear her tell it, there are distinct benefits of staying with one company to further your career. "Having worked at Providence for so many years, you really get to know the organization and its place within the industry," she says.
The fourth oldest mutual insurance company in the United States, Providence Mutual is well capitalized, offering personal and commercial lines coverage to more than 65,000 policyholders. Parrillo takes pride in the fact that her company embraces the culture of a mutual company.
"We are fortunate that we can take more of a long-term perspective of our business," she says, "and service, security and stability guide our company, and help frame the best possible decisions for our members."
Those decisions have paid off. As one of the driving forces behind the company's first-ever entry into the auto market (Providence had been primarily a property carrier for 200 years), Parrillo knew this was a bold venture, but convinced leadership to consider fostering a business model that would include a full cadre of products to its members.
"We approached this with due diligence," she recalls, "but I wanted the company to be in control of its own fate." Currently the auto line represents 5% to 7% of the company's total book of business, and continues to show growth, with a 30% increase expected this year over last.
Parrillo asserts that the size of the business and its rate of growth is not necessarily a factor in determining a success path. "When you work for a smaller company, people think it's limiting," she says. "I would suggest it's not limiting but rather broadening since you have the opportunity to be involved in all phases of the organization's operations and experience all aspects of the business."
Parrillo proved her point some years ago by asking Providence's then-president to support her efforts in obtaining her Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation, setting the stage for the first woman at Providence to earn the title. Shortly thereafter, she asked for support in earning her MBA.
Years later, when Providence's board of directors was considering her for the CEO position, Parrillo again applied due diligence, as she found herself facing yet another company-first.
"It took me six months to decide," she said. "I knew I could run the company, but I had to ask myself-do I have the vision it takes to lead this organization into the future? It's very different when you are the No. 2 person versus the No. 1 person-when everyone turns to you to make the decision and ultimately to shoulder the responsibilities."
Like all challenges before her, Parrillo forged ahead, studying how her "vision" could help the company expand and prosper. Since being elected president and CEO in 2000, Parrillo's leadership efforts have helped Providence grow from $26M in direct written premiums to $65M in 2010 via expansion of both territories and product lines.
"I've always been a student-and I have always wanted to better myself," she says. "As a woman, I needed more credentials along the way in order to prove myself in this business."
Parrillo notes that she was fortunate to receive both encouragement and support, and wants others to know they can succeed too. "I hope mentoring starts with me, but we all have a responsibility to do this," she says. "Having experienced the benefits of some great mentors along the way, if our employees have an interest we'll support them."
Others at Providence know this, as Parrillo's reputation for consensus-building, encouragement and her participative management style precedes her. By walking the mentorship talk, Parrillo has distinguished herself within the organization by being the example of a professional who encourages others to do what she does: seek and achieve professional success both within their organization and to the betterment of the industry at large.
The industry at large seems to recognize Parrillo's bent for leadership as well. She recently became a trustee for the American Institute for CPCU's Board of Trustees and in September will become the first-ever woman chair of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Company's (NAMIC) Board of Directors. In this role, she will oversee NAMIC's interests in its 1,400 insurance company members representing more than 40% of the P&C insurance premiums in the United States.
"I have a passion for this industry and believe it's a great, noble business," she says. "We help people put their lives back together when things go wrong. Plus, there are a host of opportunities for those entering an exciting industry filled with great people."
A healthy work/life balance continues to fuel Parrillo forward (her retired husband is credited for providing critical home support so they can spend quality time together with their son and daughter).
"My family understands that I love my job, and that it makes me a better person," she says. "You have to love what you do, because you'll probably be doing it for a long time. For me, there are times when I want more hours in the day just so I can keep doing this, because time just flies."
-Pat Speer
Pat Rayl
2nd VP, Technology Services
Aflac Inc.
For a woman, re-entering the workforce after extended time off presents a number of challenges. After five years at home with her family, Pat Rayl prepared herself for those challenges, and re-entered the workforce with drive.
Before returning to work, Rayl went back to school to take classes and brush up on the latest skills. This, she says, prepared her well for an enduring career in insurance technology-seven years with Indianapolis Life and 18 years with her current employer, Aflac.
Rayl has worn numerous hats within the technology side of the business, but for most of her career at Aflac, she worked in application development. Five years ago, she was offered the opportunity to move more into the infrastructure side of the organization. "I thought about that long and hard because it was really going to be a change," she says. "But it had a lot of appeal from the standpoint that it really would help broaden my background and knowledge, and also bring an increased view and perspective of what the application organization needs from an infrastructure organization."
Accordingly, she accepted the role of 2nd VP of technology services. She has responsibility for Aflac's data center, guiding the overall operation and direction of the company's Network Operations Center and Computer Operations Center. In addition, her department is responsible for managing IT's mainframe infrastructure and database platforms.
As part of her responsibilities, Rayl was tasked with getting Aflac's SmartGreen program off the ground and running from an IT perspective. Looking to reduce paper usage and conserve energy, Rayl's strategic initiatives and experience has played a significant role in the success of the program, saving the insurer an estimated $4 million annually.
Rayl is extremely proud of IT's contribution to the green efforts, especially when it comes her strategy in purchasing hardware. "We typically get two or three quotes, but if the capability is comparable, the determining factor can very well be energy efficiency. It's started to influence our purchasing and how we run our overall infrastructure."
Rayl considers these sustainability efforts and being able to move into so many different roles some of her greatest accomplishments. "Being promoted to an officer of Aflac has really confirmed that my efforts were fruitful and beneficial."
These achievements didn't just fall into Rayl's lap, she conducted due diligence to understand the roles she was filling. "[My success is attributable to] striving to understand how the technology meets business needs, and matching those two up to the advantage of the corporation," she says.
Another way Rayl strived to understand all aspects of the business may be what others would label a sacrifice. "A couple of times throughout my career, I took a step back from a position and level to begin an opportunity to learn and then advance in a new area," she says, recommending the same for others entering or re-entering the insurance technology field. "Think about taking a lateral move or maybe even a step back to experience a different place or situation. I've definitely done that in my career and it's always proven to, in the end, move me forward."
Rayl recognizes the forward movement of women in the workforce over the course of her career. She says there are differences between men and women in the workforce, "but not to the degree of when I first started my career."
This may be a result of women being able to better balance work and life. "I've been able to balance that fairly well," she says, noting only one regret. "There was a time when I was working long hours. I probably could have done a little better at balancing that, but I'm much better at it now."
Recognizing lessons learned and having great management helped develop Rayl's collaborative management style and desire to help others. "I do what I can to help them promote their careers and give them my perspective on areas they may find beneficial to learning and growing."
-Carrie Burns
Angelyn Scardino Treutel
VP/CIO
Treutel Insurance Agency Inc.
Angelyn Treutel credits her parents' "can-do" attitude with her ability to help grow the third-generation insurance agency she runs with her husband David-in spite of some unimaginable challenges along the way.
The oldest of 10 children, Treutel says she didn't have much choice but to embrace and develop her leadership skills from an early age.
"My parents were leaders, and I learned from them," she says, recounting one of their favorite axioms, "Those to whom much is given much is asked."
Much has been asked, both personally and professionally, of Treutel, who has proven time and again that no challenge is insurmountable.
A CPA, Treutel began her career at Exxon, and while there developed an ability-and love-for technology and efficient workflows. "I consider myself bilingual-I can speak operationally as well as in technology terms," she says.
A long commute led to a quality of life decision that brought her closer to home and into the family insurance business on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Today, she is responsible for complete office management of the 8-member agency, and oversees the agency's technology implementations, network administration, website development, Internet marketing and social networking activities.
Treutel credits her belief in Deming's continuous improvement philosophies, which she applies to the agency's every day operations. "I am team oriented, and there is strength in a team - no one can achieve alone, and our entire team has played a role in our success."
Under Treutel's leadership during the past 10 years, the implementation of technological efficiencies, training techniques and best practices for business development has resulted in the company's tripling its profits.
Recognized by the Independent Agents and Brokers of America and Reagan Consulting as a Best Practices agency for 12 consecutive years, Treutel is still modest. "Insurance is a diverse field, but it's logical and contractual in nature," she says. "It's also a relationship business, and a business that helps people."
To say that the insurance industry has given Treutel the opportunity to help others is an understatement. She recounts the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall; the day she found everything she and her husband had worked for gone. The storm had destroyed their home as well as their office, and left the community in shambles. Minimizing their own personal losses, the Treutel's focused instead on their efforts to stay in business.
"We did what any agent would do-we went to work, erected a tent in the middle of a destroyed parking lot and started helping people."
The automated agency, which represents more than 100 different carriers and provided services on more than 8,000 claims, had backups of its in-house server and was able to salvage the data in order to recreate its database online. In the days following Katrina's wrath, the firm quickly implemented a mobile technology plan to process a variety of home, wind, flood, auto, business and inland marine claims.
The tent became a focal point for other volunteers and carrier partners who brought in supplies, as the Treutel's and their team (80% of whom also lost their homes) helped served food, water and more to storm victims waiting in line. "You stand in 100-degree heat under a tent and hug your clients-and you realize that these people are going through the same thing you are going through," she says.
Within a month of the Katrina disaster, and before the agency could move to a temporary trailer, Hurricane Rita hit. "Four of us held on to the tent polls, but ultimately, our tent blew away," she recalls.
The agency ultimately moved into a trailer, and after six months, into a renovated building next to the trailer, where they still conduct business today. "The entire experience confirmed to me what a great industry we work in-we can help people rebuild their lives."
Treutel's love of the industry motivates her to share her leadership skills with industry organizations such as the IIABA, where she chairs the Agents Council for Technology. She has taken her passion for technology and improving workflows on the road, speaking to hundreds of agents, national and local carriers about the inherent business benefits of real-time, download and other agent-carrier productivity improvements.
"We refer to our situation as being in a war against keystrokes," she says. "We must come together as an industry and exchange data in a standardized fashion."
Treutel's desire to spread the good word about insurance has not been limited to efforts within the IIABA. For the past two years, she has served as co-chair in a joint industry initiative with ACT, the American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA), ACORD, and the National Association of Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) to improve the automated interfaces in the MGA/program business and brokerage marketplace.
Treutel also enjoys speaking to high school and college students about the insurance industry's value proposition. And as incoming president of the Hancock Chamber of Commerce, she will lead a team focused on local business development. Treutel also finds time to serve as the treasurer of the Housing Resource Center working to provide housing for low-income citizens.
"Despite the severe catastrophe, I have been provided with so many opportunities to help people, and to grow personally and professionally," Treutel says. "I always felt I would give back, but I have always found that the more I give the more I get."
-Pat Speer
2010 Women in Insurance Leadership Notable Achievers
Also receiving recognition this year are four leaders who have successfully driven significant project and/or process improvements within their companies.
Jill Bookman
CEO
American Collectors Insurance
For Jill Bookman, insurance is in her blood. Currently CEO of American Collectors Insurance, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based specialty provider of collector car, truck and motorcycle insurance and collectibles insurance, Bookman ascent to the top of the family owned and operated company took a circuitous route.
Bookman's father insisted she first venture elsewhere into the business world to gain some experience before joining the agency. Bookman did and had a successful career in marketing before she joined American Collectors in 1993. "My father thought "real world" experience was important," she says. "But the day did come when I decided to go for my agents license and start at the bottom. I began in the mailroom and have worked in every part of the agency."
Promoted to CEO 2004, she is now responsible for the firm's strategic direction, including building alliances with insurance brokers and carriers and the company brand through marketing and advertising.
Given her background, it is not surprising she has excelled at marketing aspects of her job, but she has also overseen a technological revival at the agency. Currently, the company is overhauling its policy management tools to make it easier for customer pays bill and request policy changes online. "We honing those things and making them better," she says. Yet, no matter how much the company grows under her watch it will be hard for Bookman to forget its roots. A few years back, when the company was undergoing going the transformation to a paperless enterprise, Bookman noticed her childhood handwriting on some of the folders containing documents to be scanned.
- Nominated by Aartrijk, on behalf of American Collectors Insurance
Dalia Dannenberg
Fidelity & Surety Staff Services Manager
Capitol Insurance
Dalia Dannenberg is no stranger to taking on big challenges. As senior staff services specialist for Middleton, Wisc.-based Capitol Insurance Cos., she has taken a lead role and managed three large projects to completion that have directly impacted the way that Capitol's Fidelity and Surety Department operates its business.
Firstly, Dannenberg led the effort to replace the company's legacy bond administration system with a new Web-based offering on the OneShield Dragon platform. Next, she took lead in the design and implementation of the F&S automated underwriting system, which was built on top of the new bond administration system. Most recently, she analyzed the existing processes and procedures of the regional F&S underwriting offices and implemented the centralization of the back office processing in order to achieve better efficiency and consistency.
By centralizing the processing of business, Capitol has seen an increase in the ability to identify process improvements, efficiencies, increased consistency in file documentation and communication. Indeed, a large part of Dannenberg's role is to research and develop various policies and procedures applicable to underwriting of F&S business and also to provide underwriting leadership at a corporate level with a focus on product strategy.
- Nominated by OneShield
Regina Carter
Managing Director
Aon Risk Insurance Services West
Regina Carter is the consummate team player. As managing director for San Francisco-based Aon Risk Services West Inc., Carter leads the Construction Services Group (CSG) Insurance Practice for Aon in San Francisco as well as the Public Entity Practice for all of California. Carter directs the gamut of client services from brokering to claims.
Under Carter, the CSG practice has grown by $4.0 million in revenue since 2007 and the Public Entity practice has grown by $2.0 million in the same period. What's more, the units have achieved their revenue growth with very little additional expense, but rather with a better utilization of existing resources. Indeed, the realization by staff that they can accomplish more solely through better organization has been instructive.
Carter also leads by example. Although accustomed to taking lead of such programs, she agreed to act as a team member on acquisition lead by another company. By subordinating the corporate ego, the team was able to achieve its goal as Aon is seeing significant revenue as a result.
- Nominated by Aon Risk Insurance Services West
Susan Kostro
SVP, specialty casualty
Ironshore Inc.
Susan Kostro hits the ground running.
Kostro was hired as SVP of the Specialty Casualty Division for Hamilton, Bermuda, Ironshore Inc. in March of 2009. By May of 2009, she launched the Public Entity division, which has become one the young company's two fastest growing units.
She is also responsible for the management and continued expansion of Ironshore's Energy Product Lines. Kostro is especially adept at utilizing technologies resources to enhance performance. Her team developed a system of oversight in adherence to the Ironshore policy of integrating the underwriting and claims functions within each division.
She also takes her role as mentor seriously and believes in encouraging career development opportunities so more women can have a valued place and play a significant role in insurance leadership.
Prior to joining Ironshore, Kostro was VP of Casualty at Lexington Insurance Company where her responsibilities included oversight of both the Excess and Public Entity books of business. In her 16 years with the company she held various positions including senior vice president of the Global Energy Division and underwriting positions within the National and Construction Groups.
- Nominated by Torrance Co. on behalf of Ironshore Inc.
- Bill Kenealy
