Vermont Department of Economic Development
Vermont’s Brittany Nevins shares how the Vermont Captive Insurance Emerging Leaders programme is aiming to educate students and insurance professionals on the benefits of a career in captives
Can you provide an overview of the Vermont Captive Insurance Emerging Leaders (VCIEL) programme and its key goals?
It is no secret in the captive industry that most professionals stumble into it. Few intentionally seek out the career path, though once they find it they tend to stay and find the work meaningful and challenging.
Given the continuing hard market, there is considerable growth in the captive industry every year, but not enough people are entering the workforce to meet the demand.
Groups such as the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA), NextGen and Amplify Women are great industry-wide initiatives that have built the foundation for more localised efforts. Here in Vermont, we needed to do more to introduce young talent to captives, so we have taken local action to preserve and build on our essential captive infrastructure for the industry to be supported for decades to come.
The VCIEL is made up of about 30 local captive insurance professionals that meet on a regular basis. We raise awareness about the many career paths in the industry and support rising professionals to nurture their leadership skills.
We are working to accomplish these objectives in a number of ways — for instance, creating a ‘resource library’ of captive educational materials for students and existing professionals, as well as organising networking events.
The emerging talent group was formed in March 2023 as an affiliate of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA), with the support of the Vermont Department of Economic Development.
The group was established to address the serious workforce deficiency which, in 2022, was identified as one of the three main obstacles facing the entire industry.
How has the programme developed and grown since its launch in April 2023?
Since starting last year, we have hit the ground running. I am proud to say we have engaged VCIEL members who have a vested interest in the next generation of captive professionals. They have formed various committees focusing on networking events, captive career educational resources and developing relationships with local colleges, ensuring that captive insurance has a permanent presence on campuses across the state.
VCIEL has also worked closely with the VCIA conference task force committee, ensuring that there are panels for new and emerging captive insurance professionals and representation among speakers at the annual conference — the largest gathering of captive insurance professionals in the US. Additionally, VCIEL partnered with the VCIA to create a student sponsorship programme, where students can attend the conference for free and shadow members of the emerging leaders group. There is an educational career page on the Vermont captive insurance website with resources. The VCIA has also created a web page with more information about the initiative and student sponsorship.
What initiatives or events has the emerging leaders group organised so far to educate students and professionals about career opportunities in the captive insurance industry?
The VCIEL has hosted two formal networking events in the region, with the latter focusing exclusively on education for students. Many students and higher education faculty came to a local brewery and pizza restaurant in Burlington. They engaged in a speed dating-type structure, going from table to table learning about the different roles in the captive industry.
We also created an online resource that breaks down the different roles in the industry and lists companies in the region for each role. This provides students with names to contact directly to search for opportunities.
Every other month, the group meets at different places in the region for an informal networking gathering to form connections with other captive insurance professionals in the area. In March, the VCIEL hosted a How to Network event with the University of Vermont Entrepreneurship Club. In addition to this, the VCIA also hosted a luncheon with the VCIEL for students and faculty in the region to network, before the VCIA Vermont Roadshow educational event on 27 March. Admission was free for students and local professors were working to provide credit and transportation for students in their classes who attend.
How has the programme collaborated with educational institutions in Vermont over the last 10 months to build awareness of captive insurance careers?
The initiative has an education committee that is tasked with working on building relationships and opportunities with the educational institutions in the region. We have drawn upon the group’s connections to universities and colleges in the region, as many went to school in Vermont and have subsequently built an extensive list of contacts. We have had multiple panels in front of students, with more scheduled this spring. It is clear that when local educational institutions are exposed to captive insurance and the incredible opportunities students have here in Vermont, they do everything they can to help us.
After all, according to an economic contribution study we conducted in 2019, the captive insurance industry pays on average, approximately US$92,000 a year, and it is likely that number has increased.
As far as I am aware, there is no industry in Vermont that provides such good, high-paying jobs for its residents — at least not where they can stay and enjoy our nature and simple way of living, while also having access to C-suite executives around the world and helping companies and organisations solve real-world insurance challenges.
Can you share any initial impact or successes the programme has seen in its first year of operation in terms of attracting new talent to the industry?
It is hard to quantify the success, but it feels like we are finally making inroads with local educational institutions and people are constantly reaching out to learn more.
On the new careers page I have been contacted by 33 different people, both students and existing professionals, looking to begin a career in captive insurance. I work to set up meetings with them to explain the nuances of the industry and the best ways to find jobs.
This is necessary as there is no highly utilised, central job board for the captive industry; and knowing where to look is not intuitive. I make connections where I can and this appears to be actively leading to filling positions. It has been incredible to see students start at captive insurance internships who now let me know that they are working within the industry.
I have seen evidence that students who attend the VCIA Conference are blown away by the magnitude of this industry and how innovative it is. When I asked about how things were going, they would usually respond with something like, ‘What is next? How do I work in this industry?’
What are some of the unique challenges the captive industry faces in recruiting and retaining emerging talent?
Insurance is not something that is widely acknowledged and understood as a great career path. We need to break down the stigma associated with working in the insurance sector and make the benefits clear to the broader public.
The benefits are even less known when talking about captive insurance. The more we can all do to highlight our experiences working in this industry, and the value it can bring to organisations, the more we will see new talent entering into it. We all have a role to play in engaging and developing the next generation of captive leaders.
That involves sending emerging professionals to conferences, giving them the opportunity to expand their education and actively engaging in succession planning. Having the intentional support for growth internally is key.
What are the next steps and plans for VCIEL as it enters its second year to tackle the talent gap? How can students, early career professionals or others get involved with VCIEL going forward?
The VCIEL plans to host two larger networking events each year in Vermont and informal networking events every other month. We will also have a strong presence at the 2024 VCIA Conference and are currently strategising how to make an impact there. Committees will continue to meet to plan specific initiatives to reach our goals, including giving more in-class presentations on captive insurance. In addition to this, the group is also considering attending career fairs and engaging in more targeted efforts at high schools.
Any student or new and emerging professional in Vermont can get involved as a member of the group by reaching out to myself or the VCIA; you can also sign up for email updates on the VCIEL page of the VCIA website. Everyone in the industry can show support, however, by using their networks to raise awareness about captive insurance as a career path in their region and focus area. Reach out to your alma mater and see if you can organise a panel with the VCIEL to talk about captive insurance, or highlight an exciting story of captive formation or innovation in the industry in any way you can. These seemingly small efforts can make a big difference if we all contribute in our own way.
In what ways does VCIEL aim to foster diversity and inclusion within the captive workforce in Vermont?
The captive industry has been very homogenous throughout history, something that has certainly been changing significantly over time, but still has a long way to go. Part of the intention behind encouraging more diverse speakers on panels is not only to give these emerging leaders opportunities that might be harder for them to obtain on their own, but to also change the narrative around what it means to be an ‘expert’ in the industry. Certainly, we have our industry veterans, and their knowledge is very important, but we can undervalue the level of knowledge and new ideas that can come from having diverse speakers on educational panels.
We have to be deliberate in welcoming all people and working to break down barriers that have existed historically. When speaking in front of students, we aim to have a variety of different roles and educational backgrounds represented. We also try to be intentional about representation among race, class and gender. Having grown up in Vermont, similar to many of the VCIEL members, we thought we had to leave the state to have career opportunities such as this. When they see alumni from the very schools they are attending, with the same history of growing up in rural areas, students see that they don’t have to leave. In fact, Vermont is the centre of excellence for this industry, and you want to stay where the action happens. Frankly, if students cannot relate to the people in front of them in a variety of ways, they won’t believe that they belong or take that first step to enter into this industry.
How does Vermont’s status as a leading captive domicile benefit those building a career in the industry locally?
Many Vermonters do not know Vermont is a global centre of excellence for captive insurance regulation and services, or there are many opportunities in Vermont to enter into this industry and grow to become exceptional leaders. They can become, for example, world class regulators, captive managers, actuaries, auditors, investment managers or attorneys, right here in the state.
A key part of what the VCIEL does is to make the captive insurance industry more accessible and understandable. There are endless people here that emerging professionals in the local community can tap into, but first they have to know about Vermont’s role as a global leader and understand on the most basic level what captive insurance is. It feels good to know that we are getting there together.
