"We are in professional services. We're going to treat people like adults and with that is individual responsibility with freedom”, says Janine “It’s giving them the ability to do what they do best without all the other stuff that gets in the way. It's refreshing, it attracts people.” Janine charts her career journey from HR Administrator and the different view of HR at HNI that led her to joining the business as Director of People in 2014. Janine gives insight in to HNI becoming an agency...

“We really look for a person that lives the Graham values versus having insurance technical expertise. Of course, there's times where you really need that but if we're proactive and know how we need to hire, what our growth goals are, how we've historically performed, then we're going to prefer to grow our own, even if they have 15 years experience”, says Karen. Sharing her 15 year career journey from HR Assistant to SVP Human Resources, Karen discusses the growth of Graham Company over the...

“We usually start off with a base job description, and then we have conversations with people, it's really important that we grow our own”, says Danielle. ONEGROUP’s Chief of Staff charts her career journey from hospitality in to insurance and overseeing the business’ marketing, communications, IT and agency operations. Danielle highlights the growth trajectory the company is on throughout the North East as well as South Carolina and Florida.  She talks through ONEGROUP’s strategic M&A...

“We listed immediately following what was the worst public market environment in modern day. The IPO market was completely shut down. Our S-1 had been confidentially filed and we ended up having almost 60 ‘Testing the Waters’ meetings with investors. It allowed us to learn about how investors thought about our company and the market. It ended up being incredibly valuable,” says Andrew as he describes Skyward’s turnaround journey to the first successful IPO of 2023. Andrew shares the benefit...

"Everybody's incredibly focused and just talking about it shows a level of commitment to it. It's about being really selective with the organisations that you work with, look to acquire and vice versa”, says Andy. He describes Gallagher’s global growth, the 25 tenets of the Gallagher Way, maintaining cultural consistency as the business has scaled from it US roots to 45,000 colleagues globally and the world’s 3rd largest insurance broker. Andy shares Gallagher’s selective approach to...

“Part of it simply is the tone from the top and walking the four corners. Early on there would be people who would walk up to me and say in the 10 years or 15 years, I've worked here, I've never spoken so much with the CEO”, says Todd. “I do love a good chat with folks and talk about their lives and their futures and we continue to work on that.” Todd and Susan talk through their career journeys from M&A Lawyer and Corporate Banking to joining Atlanta-based Builders Insurance Group as...

“Our culture has gotten us through a lot of different challenges. 2020 opened a lot of doors to do things differently”, says Laura. “Now that people are working differently, how do we recreate opportunities for people to connect to our culture and thrive, keeping that drive to win, succeed and do right by our people.” Laura gives us an insight in to her career paths of HR and Insurance, joining Team Phly and the journey to becoming a business with $4bn of premiums, 2000 employees and...

“Cultures are not just based on what we measure and how we reward, but they're based on storytelling. At the end of the day, a culture is really just ‘what do we care about and equally what do we not care about’”, says Tom. “We don't care about bureaucracy, we don't care about hierarchy, we don't care about titles. We do care about creating an empowered organization, where everybody can bring their true authentic self to work.” Tom shares his journey, from being in HR his entire career with...

“When I start speaking to someone in an initial phone conversation, I want them to be hooked”, says Kylie. “That has to continue with onboarding. Even if they're remote, we’ll fly them to home base so they can be in the culture and meet the leadership team that's here.” Kylie shares her career journey from aspiring doctor to falling in love with people, going on to study a Masters in HR and landing her first HR role with Grant Thornton. She stepped in to the world of insurance when she...

“We've hired people who have had strong reputations, what I call talent magnets”, says Nikki. “Great people want to work with great people.” Nikki shares her career trajectory – from an internship with a manufacturing company through established brands including GE, The Hartford and Axa XL to Chief Talent Officer – and what she’s learned along the way along with the role she’s played in building Vantage Risk’s headcount from 5 to almost 300 since October 2020. “We've been really thoughtful...

“We're trying to highlight how flood is happening continuously. Since 1996, 99% of the Counties in the US have seen flood in them”, says Cyrena. “It's not an if, but more of a when question. We're trying to help people understand that 40% of the floods that happen in this country don't happen in a flood zone.” Cyrena shares her journey from meteorologist and stormchaser to CMO at flood insurtech, reThought Insurance, and the approach they are taking to close the protection gap, as a...

“The industry has evolved but not as fast as the consequence that climate risks have had on economies and large corporates”, says Violaine. “We are in the right moment to combine both new data capabilities, satellite imaging, connected data sets to those new climate risks in order to really offer something more relevant and more appropriate for today's challenges around natural risks to corporate plans.” Following roles with large corporates Axa and Swiss Re, Violiane says the time was...

“You don't necessarily always have to have insurance experience for most of these roles. There's a lot of transferable skills. We value people who can problem solve, communicate and build relationships, who can lead inclusively”, says Neil. “Most insurance companies have good training programmes. You can train on the processes and policies and regulations.” Neil shares his insurance journey from a frontline claims role to HR and joining Progressive 33 years ago. “Taking on a frontline...

“Instead of having broad job categories that everybody has to fit into, you tailor a person's job around their specific skills and capabilities”, says Jon. “It could be where people work, the work that people do and how much people work. We want to enable as much flexibility as possible.” Jon shares his career journey from the U.S. Air Force to his first HR job with Siemens before transitioning to financial services, holding positions with HSBC and Wells Fargo before joining Principal...

“To change it for the long run you have to really invest in people much, much earlier,” says Kristin. “It doesn't necessarily mean that if you're [studying to be] an accountant, you have to go to one of the big four. You can go to an insurance company.” Following in her mother’s footsteps, Kristin shares her HR career journey from NYC-based hedge fund to private equity before joining Transverse Insurance Group in 2022. A common theme running throughout her career has been a passion for...

“We should definitely be expanding and looking critically at where we're attracting talent from”, says Caryn. “But we also need to be extremely deliberate, thoughtful and intentional in terms of our talent development opportunities.” Caryn shares her transition from law to joining Tokio Marine’s relatively small U.S. operation back in 2001. “In many respects, the size [in 2001] was a great training ground for me because it was part of such a larger global entity.” Caryn discusses how...