It was a “stop the presses!” kind of moment. We were putting the finishing touches on this year’s Women in Insurance Leadership profiles when the announcement hit the wires — Teresa White, one of this year’s 10 award recipients, had just been promoted from COO to president of Aflac’s U.S. operations. Way to go, Teresa!
And way to go, Women in Insurance Leadership (WIL) Awards judges. For nine consecutive years, Insurance Networking News has combed the industry seeking out those female executives who are making the most outsized contributions to their companies and having the greatest impact on the insurance business overall. We solicit nominations from both insurers and their technology partners, and then submit them to our panel of judges, made up of WIL award winners from the prior year.
Each nominee must be endorsed by her management, which submits a detailed account of the candidate’s role, influence on and contributions to the business — no small acknowledgment in and of itself. To determine the WIL winners, our judges then rate each candidate on job complexity, management style, contribution to corporate earnings and track record of innovation, among other criteria. Teresa White’s new appointment is one more testament to their insight and acumen. Special thanks to all nine of this year’s judges — Robin Arendt, XL Group; Patricia Coffey, Allstate; Alice Gannon, USAA; Sabrina Hart, Zurich North America; Elizabeth Heck, Greater New York Mutual Insurance; Denise Lynch, Kemper; Marianne Petillo, ROM Reinsurance; Laurie Ranegar, Tower Group; and Kathleen Tierney, Chubb & Son — for lending their expertise and taking the time to evaluate this year’s impressive crop of WIL candidates.
Since 2006, INN’s Women in Insurance Leadership program has honored the extraordinary accomplishments of more than 70 professional women whose leadership and performance have helped redefine the insurance business and its application of technology. This year’s winners are insurance and technology innovators of the first order. Consensus builders, they are team players for whom collaborating is as fundamental to their business as setting rates and assessing risk. And wow! The global reach of their endeavors does not fail to impress. To learn more about all their varied accomplishments, please turn to our cover feature “Breaking New Ground”.
Our ten 2014 WIL winners received their awards at INN’s 7th annual Women in Insurance Leadership Forum in Chicago on Oct. 20. The forum was a dynamic event involving hundreds of industry executives and upand-coming professionals of both genders, and featured speakers like Maggie Westdale, global CFO at Aon Benfield, and Dawn Mortimer, innovation director for American Family.
For a full report on what took place, check out our coverage at www.insurancenetworking.com. Also, consider making plans to attend next year. We would love to see you there!
For more on this year's WIL winners, check out what's
