All rise in praise of the storytellers

Marketing, as one of the women on our shortlist put it, is often seen as the ‘colouring in department’ in many companies. But the truth is that what these departments produce is the face of the industry. It is what engages the customer or the broker and they deserve the respect that their results demand. Maybe I’m a wee bit biased here (bearing in mind my background) but it’s still true … respect the marketers and communicators because without them you’d be selling into a black void of indifference.

And then we have the stand-out young women navigating their way through the labyrinths of the corporate insurance world. It’s not easy to get noticed when there are thousands of people vying for attention and recognition so it takes some doing to stand out from the crown in this environment. Check out the ones who have managed to do just that below.

Finally, don’t forget that you have an opportunity to influence which woman is going to be recognised as the stand-out woman in the industry. It won’t take a minute and it will give you a break from all the Brexit chat.

Category 1: Marketer of the Year

Aaida Abu Jaber, IGI

Having worked her way through several industries in a variety of roles, Aaida found her real love lay in marketing and communications so when an opportunity arose to form just such a function at IGI, she jumped at the chance. Not many get the chance to set up from scratch but Aaida took it with both hands, developing a strategy, setting up a D&I initiative and spearheading local, regional and international efforts.

Heather Armond, Allianz

As head of internal communications for a global company, Heather has her work cut out communicating effectively with a range of individuals across disciplines in over 30 countries. But she has managed to win the trust and respect of the business and the executive team and despite significant personal challenges, continues to excel in her role and for her employer.

Sarah Chastney, LV=General Insurance

Sarah has progressed from marketing assistant to senior marketing strategy manager in her 11 years in insurance and is able to boast personal and campaign award wins for her efforts. She has significant responsibility in her role but has stepped up to take on extra responsibilities in the absence of a colleague. This hasn’t impacted her work as she continues to develop and launch impactful marketing campaigns.

Anna Cole, LV=General Insurance

Anna started out in claims but soon realised that her heart lay in marketing so set out to make that happen. Which was a good choice as she is now broker marketing director and sits on the exec team of her business responsible for business strategy and marketing. She has faced a challenging year with a high-profile joint venture but has continued to excel with her team racking up a series of industry award wins for their efforts.

Laura Flandin, Euler Hermes

Moving to a new country and adapting to a new culture is never easy as Laura found out when she moved to the UK but she has pushed through and worked hard to build a high performing team. Her efforts have seen the marketing function receive the recognition it deserves and her team clearly contributes to the financial success of the business.

Lynn Harris, Axis

Lynn is slightly unusual in marketing in that she is ACII qualified which, she believes, allows her to speak the language of her stakeholders and understand what they and their audience need from marketing. This has allowed her to change the conversation with stakeholders and shift the function to a position where it is respected as an integral part of a business’ overall customer proposition.

Alexandra Lewis, Aon

As international head of marcomms, Alexandra is focused on reinforcing the social impact of insurance and the strategic impact of marketing and communications. Her track record shows that her initiatives not only promote the importance of insurance but generate concrete opportunities for her business. But she also understands the importance of creating and maintaining a strong marketing and communications community across a global business and has implemented several strategies to achieve that.

Becca Watts, Travelers Europe

Although she has only been in insurance and her role of director of communications for 18 months, Becca has made an immediate impact. She has had a significant impact on employee engagement, embedded the company’s first set of corporate values, delivered the company’s first strategic vision and mission to the wider population and, according to her boss, has changed the dynamic in the leadership team. Not bad for a newbie!

Joanna Williams, LV=General Insurance

Joanna has taken a digital-first approach to marketing to challenge the marketing mix, grow digital, reduce reliance on aggregators and meet the business’ overall objectives. As a digital and marketing manager, Joanna’s leadership has resulted in her team delivering an increase of well over 100% in online sales with digital performance overtaking call sales on car and home. A true example of marketing driving business performance.

Paula Wilson, Liberty Specialty Markets

As the global head of Liberty’s marketing, Paula has certainly made her mark in the last year. She led her team in reducing the number of brands from 14 to four, launched a global brand for the reinsurance business, rebranded the Bermuda and Asia Pac businesses, overhauled the social media strategy and presence, doubled PR output all while bringing operations in-house and reducing reliance on agencies. A busy year!

Category 2: Young Insurance Woman of the Year (large firms)

Jacqueline Carter, LV=General Insurance

Jacqueline is a junior content producer who started out in customer service before moving into underwriting. But it seems that 10 months ago, she found her niche as a content producer and since then has led and delivered many digital projects that have had a measurable and significant impact on the business’ digital presence.

Sian Cassie, Towergate Insurance Brokers

Four years ago, Cassie took a hard left in her career trajectory changing from a fast food company graduate programme to join Towergate’s equivalent. Since then, she has completed a host of placements across a variety of disciplines and has introduced innovative methods to drive sales. She is also president of her local CII institute, chairs a council of local volunteers and has hosts talks on financial resilience for women.

Maisie Gallagher, Marsh

One of only 20 to have been selected from 1,200 people vying for a place on Marsh’s graduate scheme, Masie completed the programme in 2018. Now a client executive, she is responsible for the overall account and programme management for her clients. She also works with a local business charity and has helped set up a women in business roundtable group.

Lauren Glover, Sedgwick

Lauren has an interesting role in that she doesn’t actually manage claims but helps customers through the claims process and managing their expectations to allow the adjusters to get on with the technical aspects. An active public speaker, she has also delivered internal training to help her colleagues recognise when a customer is struggling and how to intervene.

Jessica Heaton, Zurich

Starting out in Bolton as a claims handler, Jessica has progressed well in her 11 years in insurance but what stood out for the judges was the work she has undertaken to promote women in the industry. She founded the Women in Manchester Insurance Network, is in the process of setting up a multi-disciplinary mentoring scheme across the Manchester market and has been a regional chair of Zurich’s Women’s Innovation Network.

Charlie Lawson, Hiscox

Charlie got going in insurance via the Hiscox graduate scheme in 2014 and she has motored through her career since then, having been promoted twice in the last year from development underwriter up to regional underwriting manager. This makes her both the youngest and the first female regional underwriting manager but despite the challenges this brings, she still finds time to mentor and train others.

Suzanna Nodder, Zurich

Suzanna joined Zurich in 2016 as an underwriter and after two years moved to assistant underwriter, specialising in mining, making full use of her geology degree. She is a committee member of Zurich’s London Women’s Innovation Network, volunteers for the Wellbeing Team and has been nominated by her colleagues for an internal award.

Emily Santer, Zurich

A third young star from Zurich! Emily started out on AXA’s graduate scheme and rapidly rose through the ranks ultimately assuming responsibility for corporate strategy, project management, communications and the executive office while also being the youngest person to reach director level. At Zurich, she has taken on similar responsibilities but this time for EMEA. Exuding energy and enthusiasm, Emily admits that her gender and age have sometimes been an issue for others, but she just keeps on keeping on.

Leanne Scott, Uris Group

Joining Uris as an account executive in 2013, Leanne progressed to account manager in just two years whilst simultaneously securing her CII qualifications and completing ILM management training. She is obviously well regarded in her organisation and can point to clear financial and operational improvements in the projects she has worked on.

That's it but tomorrow I will be publishing the final three shortlists. It’s been a dense couple of weeks of content but I hope you’ve enjoyed it and that it has given you all a bit more insight into why these women are being held up as the best in the business.