Promoting a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) within organisations is fundamental to ensure innovation in the captive industry, according to several panellists at this year’s Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) International Conference.
DE&I was an underlying theme of the conference, with a keynote speech by Nick Ashburn, senior vice president and head of responsible investing at PNC Institutional Asset Management, examining how captives can take actionable steps to define, discuss and implement effective DE&I practices.
Looking at what has already been done in the industry, an Amplify Women panel session discussed how women in the captive industry can promote and foster female advancement, not just for themselves but for their peers.
In the session, Mary Ellen Moriarty, vice president for property and casualty and student insurance programmes at EIIA, highlighted that a key component of female advancement is refusing to perceive other women in positions of power as competition.
With women less likely than men to apply for jobs if they do not meet all of the criteria, Moriarty noted it is important for women to come together and support one another in applying for such higher positions.
This was echoed by Sandy Bigglestone, director of captive insurance at the State of Vermont’s captive insurance division. If there is not enough room at the table, whether metaphorically or literally, women must create space to enable and support each other, rather than feel threatened to compete over one token space — “leadership is an action, not a position or title,” Bigglestone added.
Kristen Peed, director of corporate risk management at CBIZ, noted that the ability to have a positive experience in her personal career was facilitated by earlier trailblazers in the insurance industry — therefore, it is important for the current generation of professionals to ensure this carries over to the next generation.
This can be done through constructing a mentorship network, comprising a lead mentor and co-mentors in the areas of research, career development and project management. Peed emphasised in the session that building this “personal board of directors” should include individuals that will help and educate throughout your career.
Echoing the value of women supporting women, whether within their own organisation or the wider captive industry, Rae Brown, director of captive operations at GPW and Associates, added that it is just as inclusive to support women that do not wish to advance.
In regards to mentorship networks, Brown noted that women do not just face a figurative glass ceiling of salary or capabilities, but also inner value — mentorship functions as a two-way street, so professionals should not feel they are presenting themselves as less intelligent if they ask questions or require guidance.
Agreeing that mentorship can act as a two-way street, Moriarty described the younger generation of professionals in general as inspiring in their unwillingness to accept microaggressions as simply ‘part of the job’.
With this new cohort typically less afraid to speak out if needed, the work of Amplify Women to visit college campuses and attract more innovative and diverse professionals into the insurance workforce is therefore vital.
CICA's NEXTGen committee is making similar efforts, as noted in a separate panel session at this year’s International Conference, made up of Prabal Lakhanpal, vice president of Spring Consulting Group, Josh Clark, director of business development at the State of Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, and Michael Zuckerman, professor at Temple University.
Launched as a task force in 2019 and formalised as a committee of CICA in 2020, NEXTGen aims to develop a platform to attract young professionals to engage with the captive industry through education, networking, exposure and inclusiveness.
NEXTGen has three subcommittees, comprising professional development and education, conference and networking, and recruitment and programme development.
In the session, Lakhanpal noted that there has been a recruitment shift to attract Gen Z professionals through social media, particularly through the platform of LinkedIn which is increasingly important for building network pipelines.
Examining the current conditions of talent attraction and retention, the panel identified that, in the ever-present dynamic of supply versus demand, the current problems lie in the supply, which is not sufficiently matching the available demand for positions.
With the hard market and COVID-19 pandemic fostering historic captive growth, the captive industry is well positioned to take advantage of the current market conditions to increase industry visibility through education, training, talent retention and succession planning.
The NEXTGen panel noted that the committee plans to expand its existing programmes — including speaker series, networking events, college visits, conference planning and internship programmes — to ensure the next generation of professionals are just as, if not more, innovative and empowered as the last.
