The Insurance Coffee House with Nick Hoadley

“I am a big believer in continuous learning, in cultures that are rich in performance feedback so that people know how they're doing, what they could be doing better and what they need to focus on in their development”, says Amy. A first generation college student, Amy describes her multi-industry career journey from Case New Holland through consultancy and in to the insurance sector.  She de...

“It's difficult to launch an EVP. It's something that has to be felt and experienced through those employee lifecycle touch points”, says Faye. “If you come back and say, ‘this is us now, this is what we are’, it’s not going to land well if it differs from what you are currently. Authenticity is key but also to factor in an aspirational component.” Faye shares how she fell in to the insurance indu...

“We are very proud of our legacy and where we've come from. We're also really excited to evolve into a more contemporary, consumer focused, compassionate, purpose driven company”, says Stacey as she highlights Guardian’s aim to support consumers through a framework of mind, body and wallet. "Inspiring well-being enables us to think differently about the kinds of products and services we provide. D...

“People do not apply for agency owner opportunities. The way that you find candidates is definitely by hunting. Referrals is our number one source”, says Regan. “Going to current agency owners and asking for referrals is critical. We have sales leaders that are in the community. Being in the community is critical.”  Regan charts his own career journey from Deloitte accountant in to the insura...

"About 10 years ago, the company brought in a new CEO to bring the organization together and operate as one. He set the stage to have a leadership team working together to drive the business forward and rebuild our internal brand as one organization”, says Alisa. IAT Insurance Group’s CHRO talks about her journey in to the insurance industry, joining IAT 8 years ago and transforming employee engag...

"We've spent some time over the years trying to put words to it", says Amanda as she describes the unique culture at Holmes Murphy. "We really try to take a well rounded approach in recognizing that we're people first and then how we provide opportunities in a growing organization for people to accelerate and leverage their strengths." Amanda shares her 20 year HR journey and the business' growth...

“We have incredible people across the organization at all levels and it matters that the leadership really cultivates the kind of space where people can say, ‘I didn't actually like the way you spoke to me. I want to work through this’. This is going to happen, it's an insure-tech, the two are different, trying to hold hands and partner. If you don't feel safe, you're not going to get the best out...

"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...

“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...

“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 Nor...

“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 descri...

"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...

“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 f...

“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 Te...

“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 thei...

“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 landin...

“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 V...

“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,...

“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...

“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...

“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...

“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 In...

“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 trainin...

“A large majority of our talent is in the fourth quarter of their career innings”, says Nidhi Verma. “We want to have a very strategic workforce management approach towards buying and building our talent profile.” Nidhi discusses her journey from consulting roles to joining Crawford & Company in 2014, where she oversees the talent lifecycle and ESG strategy at the largest publicly listed claim...

“It's important that we're a part of that bottom line and at the end of the year, meet those business goals” says Alisa as she discusses managing and building an internal recruitment team. Alisa describes her journey in to recruitment and joining the insurance industry, which she initially perceived to be ‘boring, slow and old’. Now managing a team of 13 recruiters and adding over 1800 team member...