From: Captive Insurance Times
Discussions around diversity and inclusion in the captive insurance industry are more dynamic compared to the broader insurance industry, but progress is still somewhat slow, according to a panel at the Vermont Captive Insurance Association’s (VCIA) virtual conference.
During the ‘Rise up: advancing women in captive insurance’ panel session, Nancy Gray, regional managing director for the Americas at Aon, noted that the captive industry has done “quite well from a gender perspective, but this is not necessarily true throughout the overall insurance industry”.
Wilda Seymour, vice president and corporate director of professional liability at Franklin Casualty Insurance, highlighted that captive managers are most likely to address a problem in a parent company when a diverse group of people engage in discussion to create solutions.
Seymour said: “Therefore, from a business perspective, diversity can help to advance strategic objects.”
Following this, Stephanie Mapes, president of Paul Frank + Collins, affirmed that a lack of diversity in firms prohibits a helpful understanding of and response to clients’ needs, as diversity among the workforce translates into diversity of thought, ideas, and approaches.
Mapes added: “If you look around the table and everyone looks like you, you have eliminated all other existing universes and lines of thought.”