Insurance Networking News is pleased to announce the results of its sixth annual program recognizing the distinct and outstanding accomplishments and contributions of women professionals in the insurance industry.
This year's six Women in Insurance Leadership Honorees are:
• Shohreh Abedi, Key Account Executive and CIO, Farmers Insurance Group (Nominated by Capgemini)
• Janice M. Abraham, President and CEO, United Educators Insurance, a Reciprocal Risk Retention Group (Nominated by CGI)
• Judith M. Davis, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, BlueCross BlueShield of SC (Nominated by BlueCross BlueShield of SC)
• Tricia M. Mackechnie, SVP and CIO Consumer Markets & Enterprise Operations Technology, The Hartford (Nominated by Sword Insurance)
• JoAnn Martin, President and CEO, Ameritas Holding Co. (Nominated by Ameritas Holding Co.)
• Kathy Owen, CIO and SVP of Global Services, Unum (Nominated by Unum)
Also receiving recognition are four Notable Achievers, who have successfully driven significant project and/or process improvements within their companies:
• Denise Blankinship, VP, Information & Data Support, Church Pension Group (Nominated by Oracle Insurance)
• Yvette Gonzales, CIO, VP of Information Services, Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. (Nominated by StoneRiver Inc.)
• Cyndy Smith, VP, Director of Technology, Haylor, Freyer & Coon (Nominated by Vertafore)
• Belen Tokarski, AVP Technology and Agency Solutions, CNA (Nominated by SeaPass Solutions Inc.)
Nominations were vetted by INN editors and narrowed down to a "WIL Top 10." Judges then ranked each candidate based on contribution to the institution's top and bottom lines, job complexity, corporate governance and ethics, and leadership and management skills. The final scores determined the winners and Notable Achievers. INN would like to thank the judges—five of the award program’s 2010 Honorees:
• Sallie Graves, Head of Insurance and Distributed Services IT, ING U.S. Insurance
• Susan Gueli, Senior Vice President and CIO, Nationwide Financial
• Sandra Parrillo, President and CEO, Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
• Pat Rayl, 2nd Vice President, Technology Services, Aflac
• Angelyn Scardino Treutel, President, SouthGroup Insurance - Gulf Coast
These winners will be featured in a special section of the September/October 2011 issue of INN, and will be recognized at INN's WIL Forum, Sept. 18-19, 2011, in National Harbor, Md. The 2-day conference—taking place in conjunction with the IASA Executive Edge conference—is dedicated to the professional development of women in insurance across all lines of business as well as the entire value and distribution chains. Designed to provide need-to-know information that will enable attendees to take a more strategic role within their organizations, the theme of this year's meeting revolves around providing a variety of information on technology, economic insight, risk management, communication, mentoring, negotiation and leadership. For more information about the forum, click
