Investing in the Future: Educating the Next Generation of Insurance Professionals

By Kelly Ulrich

Monday, October 21, 2024

Students, faculty, staff, and a selection of honored guests gathered on October 14th, 2024, to hear from a panel of top professionals about career opportunities and emerging topics in insurance and risk management.

The event, hosted by the Insurance and Risk Management (IRM) team within the Department of Finance in the Broad College of Business, also recognized and celebrated the Alan J. and Sue Kaufman Endowed Professorship in Insurance. Professor Ryan Israelsen has been named to this prestigious endowed professorship, starting in 2024.

"Endowed professorships have an incredible impact on our Broad community. Thanks to the generous support of donors like the Kaufmans, our endowed professors are able to advance a growing body of research, expand their collaborative networks, and enrich the educational experiences of Broad students". -David Souder, Eli and Edith L. Broad Dean

Alan Kaufman (B.A. Finance ’70) is the chairman and chief executive officer of HW Kaufman Group. He has championed empowering the next generation of insurance professionals at Broad, including offering internships at his insurance organizations and hiring many Broad Spartans upon graduation. He has also established The Kaufman Institute, an online classroom hub dedicated to expanding insurance professionals’ knowledge and skills.

Speaking to the assembled, Kaufman noted that one of the biggest concerns in the insurance industry today is the lack of talent. “There are amazing benefits for students when they enter the insurance world, both financial as well as all the other rewards that come from the insurance profession, but there is a shortage of talent. Not only in the United States but worldwide…The insurance industry is begging for people to come into the industry. It’s an amazing place for talent” -Kaufman. Broad students, especially those who participate in various insurance & risk management programs within the college, are uniquely prepared to enter the field with the skills needed to succeed.

I’m very proud of the program and what it’s accomplished in a short period of time, the fact that it’s now a minor, and now that we have an endowed professorship of insurance. Not only am I proud of the school, but I’m proud of what’s been accomplished over the last couple of decades in the business school. It keeps going up in rankings, it attracts great talent and I know that the insurance industry will benefit from that in a big way. –Kaufman

"Back when I was in the shoes of these students and trying to decide what I wanted to do, I decided I wanted to become a professor. It wasn’t because I wanted awards or accolades, it was because I wanted to generate new ideas and share those with the academic community. I am deeply honored and grateful to have been chosen to receive this professorship and I wanted to personally and publicly thank Alan and Sue for their incredible generosity". –Israelsen

Meg McKeen, a long-time insurance professional and founder of Adjunct Advisors, LLC, a values-based consulting firm for professionals in the insurance industry, gave a keynote speech and facilitated a panel discussion with some top industry professionals:

Gretchen Cross, Global Client Executive, Liberty Mutual Insurance

Caroly Hofstee, President HUB MWE, HUB International

Gerald Chiddick, Regional Executive, Midwest, Zurich North America

Bill Gatewood, Senior Vice President, H.W. Kaufman Group

Panelists shared their personal journeys to insurance and how they built fulfilling careers in the insurance industry. As the panelists noted, the insurance industry is so massive and far-reaching, that there is room for every interest, ambition, and specialization new graduates may have. “Where is your passion? Think about your passion as you think about your career, and I will bet you that there is something in insurance that you can facilitate through your passion as a career here in this industry”– Gerald Chiddick.

As students go out into their first careers, Gretchen Cross emphasized the need to marry passion with natural strengths and a desire to evolve: “Have some self-awareness about your strengths and weaknesses so you can pursue a career that aligns with who you are as a person. Lucky for us, in the insurance industry, no matter who you are or what your interests are, there is a role for you”.

Another benefit to being in the insurance industry? Being the drivers of innovation and creative solutions for the fastest-moving technologies of the day. As Bill Gatewood shared, “So much creativity happens in the insurance space…For example, there was a time before Uber existed. When Uber first came onto the scene, from an insurance standpoint, people were like ‘So you’re going to get in a stranger’s car and that stranger is going to drive you to where you want to go and you’re going to pay that person. How in the world are we going to insure this?’. So the insurance industry had to come up with solutions for Uber, Airbnb and all the other things that we see are changing. Insurance is always on the front end of innovation”.