On the core of her management philosophy is connection: Charlene Goodwin sees profitable advertising not as a numbers sport however as creating a real emotional bond between a company and its audiences. Her deal with recruitment advertising is about actually speaking tradition and values.
Nowhere is that this clearer than in Admiral’s Wild Facet marketing campaign, which she describes as probably the most thrilling tasks her staff has undertaken. Designed in opposition to the backdrop of an ageing insurance coverage workforce, the marketing campaign targets early-career expertise and goals to utterly upend drained perceptions of the sector.
By leveraging daring, ENS-inspired visuals and the invitation to “come work on the wild facet with us,” Goodwin reframes insurance coverage as revolutionary, difficult, and creatively rewarding. The tangible payoff is already evident in elevated curiosity and lead quantity flowing to recruitment groups, proving the facility of a differentiated employer model.
Goodwin can be a pioneer in utilizing expertise and information to serve each purchasers and the broader public. Earlier in her profession, she battled some resistance to utilizing social media for real-time disaster loss estimates, ultimately serving to place her agency as a go-to supply throughout occasions like Superstorm Sandy, with even New York State turning to them for perception.
“Proper now, we’re utilizing Instagram to get a way of who we’re for expertise that’s coming to us,” she says. “We use LinkedIn for product-related info and for recruitment. We’re capable of increase posts or use some LinkedIn advertisements to get a broader attain. One of many issues that we’ll be specializing in extra in 2026 is getting that consciousness of the insurance coverage {industry} typically after which extra particularly for Admiral.”
At the moment, Goodwin channels that very same forward-thinking mindset into refined advertising automation, constructing wealthy buyer profiles that help extremely focused, related communication quite than generic mass e mail blasts.
She says, “It’s with the ability to construct out a buyer profile as you’ll in a CRM. If someone is interacting with the web site, you’ll be able to mark their curiosity primarily based on what they’re taking a look at. You are able to do that as they’re registering for occasions or webinars or interacting along with your materials.”
And he or she provides, “I wish to ship related content material as a result of there are such a lot of locations to drag info from, and we use that to present a greater buyer expertise.”
Equally vital is how Goodwin makes it clear there isn’t a job she is unwilling to do alongside her staff, and he or she intentionally hires these with curiosity and problem-solving capacity quite than slim {industry} expertise. She invests closely in mentoring youthful professionals and interns, serving to them navigate company life and discover the numerous profession paths insurance coverage can supply.
As a lady in a senior function, she is conscious about the significance of visibility and illustration. She leverages her affect to increase past her division by way of worker empowerment teams targeted on recruitment, variety, inclusion, and belonging, and philanthropy – initiatives she says at the moment are deeply woven into firm tradition. A part of that is providing a platform for underrepresented voices to share their experiences with the corporate.
Goodwin says, “A whole lot of what we attempt to do can be construct within the team-building side so we will work collectively and study from each other whereas we’re doing good for our native communities.”
Senior Vice President and Head of Inland Marine
Amwins
Technical experience, entrepreneurial grit, and empathy
In the end, Heather Frain’s affect lies in her capacity to mix rigorous technical management with empathy, inclusion, and function. From the outset of her profession, she has demonstrated a builder’s mindset. She has launched a number of packages from the bottom up, together with Amwins’ contractor’s gear Inland Marine program and a logistics program, approaching each with meticulous consideration to element.
She explains, “I’m very element oriented, and I consider that everytime you’re placing something new collectively, it is advisable have the fundamentals and the foundations to allow that program to achieve success.”
In constructing the Inland Marine program, Frain was intentional about incorporating value-added providers, which embrace:
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a security providers staff that helps insureds establish and mitigate dangers whereas staying compliant with evolving regulatory necessities
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a particular investigations unit that protects insurers and insureds by way of proactive fraud detection and prevention
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a devoted claims staff that gives 24/7 help to resolve claims shortly and pretty
These assist insureds turn into stronger, safer companies quite than merely policyholders. In a crowded Inland Marine market the place everybody desires to put in writing, Frain ensures Amwins delivers high-quality service by embedding help, perception, and partnership into this system. “I actually really feel that by providing value-added merchandise to our insureds, that’s how we will actually stand out,” she says.
Heather FrainAmwins
She focuses not simply on product design but additionally on creating sustainable constructions that can help long-term development and stability, a trademark of a strategic chief. What units her aside is her insistence that insurance coverage packages ship greater than capability and worth.
Frain’s management is equally evident in how she manages threat and alter. She is proactive in recognizing protection gaps and figuring out rising points resembling quickly rising gear values and the affect of tariffs. Slightly than penalizing insureds when circumstances shift, she works carefully with capability companions to make sure purchasers are protected, demonstrating a robust advocacy orientation and a dedication to doing insurance coverage the proper manner.
She additionally retains a eager eye on the {industry}. “I really like to take a look at my opponents’ types, to be trustworthy, to see what they’re providing and see what they’re doing,” Frain says.
Her affect, nevertheless, extends past underwriting. As each an alumna and a steering committee member of the Amwins Girls’s Management Program, Frain invests closely in cultivating the following technology of girls leaders. Drawing on her personal expertise founding an MGA whereas elevating younger kids, generally closing huge offers along with her oldest daughter (now in regulation college) sitting on the desk in a highchair, she fashions what it means to pursue ambition with out sacrificing authenticity or household. Her core message to rising leaders is grounded and trendy: settle for that steadiness isn’t 50–50, and lead with out ego as a part of a real staff.
Frain is keen about serving to insured corporations turn into higher and, in flip, making the {industry} higher for everybody who works in it.
Government Vice President and Chief Working Officer
Fortegra
Imaginative and prescient, operational tenacity, and future-focused
Abbie Taylor’s function spans greater than 500 associates throughout a number of nations, with a transparent mandate to place operations as an enabler of underwriting and development. Her management is rooted in listening to government friends, direct stories, and frontline groups in workplaces – and utilizing these insights to establish and take away limitations so others can succeed.
“I’m there to ensure they’ll deal with underwriting the enterprise and rising the enterprise profitably. After I take into consideration the collaboration, it’s how do I be sure that we’re doing the entire operations successfully,” she says.
With a management philosophy pushed by values and integrity, Taylor believes in aligning her private values with these of the group and factors to Fortegra’s emphasis on “unwavering integrity” as foundational. From there, she prizes disciplined execution and deep technical experience in a single’s craft, recognizing that insurance coverage is advanced and calls for rigorous, detail-driven professionals.
She says, “I’m at all times making an attempt to have lunches with broader teams and to have one-on-ones with a wider vary of individuals, as a result of it’s by way of these avenues that you just perceive the place the challenges are.”
Taylor can be a extremely collaborative downside solver who operates comfortably throughout features and geographies. She just lately led a cross-functional, worldwide initiative to optimize Fortegra’s UK and European operations, bringing collectively stakeholders from operations, compliance, finance, underwriting, and expertise to align processes finish to finish – from underwriting by way of to the monetary ledger.
Abbie Taylor Fortegra
This structured collaboration, rooted in respect for native regulatory nuance and knowledgeable by US greatest practices, illustrates her capacity to translate technique into tangible operational enhancements.
Below Taylor’s management, Fortegra has invested in trendy, configurable platforms to help the specialty enterprise globally, with one other platform launching to serve guarantee, embedded, and associated packages. She pairs these platforms with sturdy information engineering, guaranteeing high-quality information and environment friendly processing, and a pointy deal with information science to refine underwriting selections throughout greater than 100 packages, the place even small enhancements in mixed ratio translate into significant worth over tens of millions of {dollars} of premium.
Maybe most notably, she places expertise and inclusion on the heart of Fortegra’s long-term success. She champions Fortegra Community of Girls (NOW), the corporate’s ladies’s ERG, as each a proper and casual mentorship engine that expands networks and fosters a tradition of belonging for ladies in insurance coverage.
“It’s a two-way avenue the place it’s ladies and leaders which can be being very intentional in reaching out and making an attempt to deliver up future leaders,” says Taylor. “Nevertheless it’s additionally people who’re extra junior being proactive in creating these alternatives. And that’s why one thing just like the NOW is so vital, as a result of it permits the 2 to return collectively.”
Company Supervisor
Comparion Insurance coverage Company
Efficiency rigor, cultural advocacy, and revolutionary
Leaning closely into forming private connections, Luz Wolford invests within the particular person behind the producer, utilizing easy however significant gestures: birthday shoutouts, handwritten Christmas playing cards, staff lunches, and light-hearted video games that spotlight colleagues’ private tales, like guessing “who labored at McDonald’s after they had been 21?”
These practices decrease guards, foster belief, and remind brokers that they’re valued as individuals, not simply quota carriers. She says, “I wish to make certain my staff is aware of that I take care of them as people. For me, it’s placing individuals first.”
On the identical time, Wolford is very efficiency pushed and unafraid to guide from the entrance. Having spent nearly 15 years as a gross sales agent herself, she insists on being “knee to knee” along with her staff, keen to leap on calls, promote insurance policies, and safe referrals alongside them.
She says, “It’s ensuring that I do know what the job entails as a result of it’s exhausting for a frontrunner to guide a staff once you don’t know what the job actually is or what it takes.”
Luz WolfordComparion Insurance coverage Company
This credibility underpins a tradition of accountability and excessive requirements, the place success is well known publicly. Her adaptive mindset was examined and confirmed in the course of the pandemic. Promoted to supervisor, she was informed to “rent and practice” a discipline gross sales power fully just about – one thing she had by no means performed. She pivoted shortly, transferring teaching to Groups and FaceTime, shifting periods into evenings to accommodate brokers’ childcare tasks, and relentlessly troubleshooting remote-work friction. This willingness to rethink schedules, codecs, and instruments saved manufacturing on monitor and strengthened loyalty in a second of industry-wide disruption.
As a Spanish speaker, Wolford can be a robust advocate for Hispanic clients and bilingual expertise. When Liberty Mutual, house owners of Comparion, created their Amigos@Liberty + Allies program, Wolford was desperate to turn into a distinction maker by way of the brand new initiative. There, she earned precious mentorship alternatives for her new management function whereas additionally mentoring Hispanic brokers herself.
This initiative has additionally seen important enterprise outcomes for Wolford and her staff. She says, “I bear in mind as an agent not having sufficient materials. I’m bilingual, so I knew a number of clients, but it surely was exhausting for me to present them paperwork when it was all in English. If we wish to go after a number of Hispanic purchasers, now we have to have that help.”
Recognizing that “half of the inhabitants is Hispanic” in markets like Texas, she has highlighted the necessity for correct bilingual documentation and help so brokers can construct belief with loyal, underserved clients.
“I needed to remind the brokers that even when it’s one thing small, you’re making a distinction throughout the firm. You may not see it proper now, however I promise you, ultimately it’ll be so huge that you could possibly look again and say, I used to be a part of that change,” she says. “It took us a couple of 12 months and a half, and we had been capable of get a number of that materials that we had been engaged on on the market and accredited.”
Lastly, Wolford champions innovation, notably round AI and social media. She understands that clients more and more choose to textual content or purchase on-line and is coaching brokers to mix AI and native presence by utilizing video, academic content material, and digital channels to humanize themselves and attain trendy patrons.
Conclusion – what it takes to be an Elite Girl in 2026
Taken collectively, the tales of this 12 months’s honorees reveal a transparent profile of what it takes to be an Elite Girl in 2026:
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a people-first, relationship-driven chief who prioritizes real connection
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a deep dedication to growing others by way of mentoring, teaching, and sponsorship
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a robust advocate for inclusion, variety, and underrepresented voices in insurance coverage
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a hands-on, lead-from-the-front model grounded in actual technical and operational experience
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a future-focused innovator who makes use of expertise and information to enhance buyer and enterprise outcomes
Meet the judges
- Agnesa Bakhshyan
Chief Progress Officer
The Buckner Firm - Alexis Faber
Chief Working Officer
WTW - Alka Manaktala
Managing Companion
Insurance coverage Workplace of America - Ashley Stivers
Director, Brokerage and Placement, Insurance coverage Companies
Franklin Road - Becca Faust
Government Vice President and Department Supervisor
USG Insurance coverage Companies - Berri Willis
Vice President
Burns & Wilcox - Beth Diamond
Group Chief Claims and Litigation Officer
Beazley - Chartenya Cleveland
Director of Underwriting Options
The Hanover Insurance coverage Group - Christina Colby
Chief Buyer Officer
Guidewire Software program - Christyn Yoast
President, USA
BOXX Insurance coverage - Concetta Barrineau
Company Proprietor
Sumter Insurance coverage Group - Cristina Varner
Government Vice President, and Life Sciences and Healthcare Follow Chief
CRC Group - Grace Hanson
Co-Founder and Chief Government Officer
Elysian - Holly Could
Workplace President and Dealer
CRC Group - Iliana Sadler
Vice President and Strategic Consumer Advisor
Lockton - Jenna Kirkpatrick Howard
Senior Vice President
Lockton - Jennifer Kessel
Chief Working Officer
USG Insurance coverage Companies - Karen Williams
Senior Managing Director
Danger Methods Firm - Kelly Bryant
Managing Director and Nationwide Tug and Barge Business Chief
Aon - Kelly Stearns
Senior Vice President, Head of Main and Surplus Markets
HSB – Hartford Steam Boiler - Kimberly Hans
Government Vice President and Head of Distribution
Munich Re Specialty – North America - Mandi Constantino
Affiliate Vice President, Enterprise Growth
AmTrust Monetary Companies - Marife Molina
Companion and Government Vice President of Income
C3 Danger & Insurance coverage Companies - Mary Keiser
Senior Vice President and Nationwide Meals and Beverage Follow Chief
HUB Worldwide - Melissa Hill
Head of Claims, North America
Allianz Business - Merial Brown
Assistant Vice President, Operations
Berkley Choose - Meryl Golden
Chief Government Officer and President
Kingstone Insurance coverage Firm - Monique Gilliam
Senior Supervisor, Claims Technique and Operations
DoorDash - Nancy Mellard
Government Vice President and Normal Counsel
CBIZ - Neha Thaker
Chief of Technique and Market Intelligence Officer
HSB – Hartford Steam Boiler - Rashmi Melgiri
Co-Founder/Chief Government Officer
Purposeful Finance - Raven James
Vice President – Human Sources and Director of Range, Belonging and Inclusion
Brown & Brown - Rebekah Ratliff
Mediator/Arbitrator
JAMS - Reina Gregorio
Divisional President, Skilled Legal responsibility
Nice American Insurance coverage Firm - Rhonda Velez
Gross sales Government
CRC Group - Ria Lizuka
Underwriter II, Cyber and Expertise E&O
AXA XL - Sheila Vivid
Affiliate Director Coaching and Schooling, HIGG U
Higginbotham Insurance coverage - Shruti Engstrom
Managing Director – Cyber and E&O Product and Claims
Aon - Snejina Zacharia
Founder and Chief Government Officer
Insurify - Susan Combs
Chief Government Officer
Combs & Firm - Whitney Ross
Government Vice President and Chief Claims Officer – North America
HUB Worldwide
Insights
Insurance coverage Enterprise America invited {industry} professionals from throughout the US to appoint distinctive feminine leaders for the eleventh annual Elite Girls record. Nominators had been requested to supply particulars of their nominee’s achievements and initiatives over the previous 12 months, together with particular examples of their skilled accomplishments and contributions to the {industry} as a complete.
To pick out the winners, the IBA staff relied on the assistance of an unbiased and esteemed panel of judges that included:
The judges and the IBA staff reviewed all nominations, analyzing how every particular person had made a significant contribution to the {industry}, to whittle down the record to the ultimate 73 Elite Girls. Self-voting and voting for family had been prohibited to keep away from conflicts of curiosity.
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