One adjective in the English language really stole the show in 2020 – unprecedented. 2020 will go down in history as the year of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the year of unprecedented socio-economic and health challenges, the year of unprecedented lockdowns, social distancing and travel bans, and the year that digitalization flowered with unprecedented speed across many industries, including insurance.
When faced with so many unprecedented challenges and changes, the Canadian insurance industry has been a beacon of support, strength and solidarity. In the past 12-months, the industry has compressed multi-year digitalization roadmaps into weeks and months, incorporating technology to enable remote operating models, while also improving the customer experience and increasing opportunities for product innovation.
The brokerage community adapted quickly and imaginatively to a new reality where casual high street drop-ins and face-to-face business meetings were largely off the cards. They worked with carrier partners to find coverage solutions and premium relief for countless Canadians struggling to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic. And beyond COVID-19, the industry as a whole continued on its quest to build stronger and more resilient communities across Canada, advocating for action on climate change and the development of weather resistant solutions.
The call for nominations was open to all insurance professionals and organizations – including brokers, brokerages, insurers, underwriters, BDMs, MGAs, risk managers and service providers – from across Canada. Nominations were open from June 8, 2020, to August 7, 2020, and were free of charge.
The Insurance Business Canada team conducted research and drew on knowledge and information gained through Insurance Business to support and supplement nominations received and to ensure no one deserving of recognition was missed.
Once all nominations were considered and research was complete, finalists were selected in each category (except the Lifetime Achievement category) and notified. All finalists were then invited to complete a detailed submission, which addresses the category criteria in more detail.
All finalist submissions were forwarded to an independent judging panel comprised of insurance industry leaders and senior representatives. The panel assessed and voted for their winners in each category, according to the relevant category criteria.
Using a simple points system to aggregate judges’ votes, the finalists with the top scores in each category were names winners at the Insurance Business Canada Awards show in November.
Sharon Ludlow
Corporate Director
Josh Pillsbury - APOLLO Exchange
Sharon Bajwa - APOLLO Exchange
Sharon Sharma - CAA Insurance
Jill Fratpietro - Canada Life
Cameron Mitchell - Gore Mutual Insurance
Cathy Anderson - RSA Canada
Michael Craig - SGI Canada
Vedran Hodzic - Wawanesa Insurance
Jeremy Matheson - Zehr Insurance Brokers Ltd
CNA Canada
OVC Assurance
Red River Mutual
RSA Canada
Storm Insurance Group
The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company
Zensurance
CAA Insurance
Chubb Canada
CNA Canada
Intact Insurance
RSA Canada
Travelers Canada
Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company
Unica Insurance
Canada Life
Empire Life
Medavie Blue Cross
TD Insurance
ABEX Affiliated Brokers Exchange Inc.
Burns & Wilcox Canada
Cansure
CHES Special Risk Inc.
Evolution Insurance Inc.
GroupOne Insurance Services
Next Wave Insurance Canada
PAL Insurance Brokers Canada
Totten Insurance Group
Victor Insurance
Billyard Insurance Group
BrokerLink
GTI Broker Group Inc.
HUB International
Lloyd Sadd Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Sharp Insurance
Surex
Western Financial Group
Westland Insurance Group Ltd.
Simar Sidhu - Diamond Insurance Group Inc.
Brandi Hitchens - Jacobi Brien Insurance
Kevin Stedman - Jones DesLauriers Insurance Management Inc.
Matthew Ablakan - Millennial's Choice Insurance Inc.
Morgan Roberts - Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers
Sheri Clay - JT Insurance
Terence Cairns - Wilson M. Beck Insurance Brokerage Group
Aviva Canada
Burns & Wilcox Canada
Millennial's Choice Insurance Inc.
Park Insurance
Preferred Insurance Group
Red River Mutual
The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Western Financial Group
Youngs Insurance Brokers Inc.
Sharp Insurance
Armour Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Avant Insurance Brokers Ltd.
BMS Canada Risk Services Ltd.
Gillons Insurance Brokers
Hubbard Insurance Group
KASE Insurance
Leibel Insurance Group
Oracle Insurance Risk Management Services Inc.
OVC Assurance
Stanhope Simpson Insurance Ltd.
Storm Insurance Group
Salini Uthirakumaran - Sun Life Financial
Joshua Krenus - Alteri Insurance Brokers
Andrew Bradley - AndrewWBradley.ca Financial Services
Lyle MacDougall - Bakerview Financial Solutions Ltd.
Steven Burke - CHES Financial Services
Yingying Yuan - RBC Insurance
Chris Karram - SafeBridge Private Wealth
Dave Watson - WFS Wealth & Financial Strategies
APOLLO Exchange
Alteri Insurance Brokers
CHES Special Risk Inc.
Gore Mutual Insurance
HUB International
Millennial's Choice Insurance Inc.
PAL Insurance Brokers Canada
RSA Canada
The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company
BrokerLift
Custom Software Solutions Inc.
DSB Claims
FIRST Insurance Funding of Canada
Goose Digital
Guidewire
LowestRates.ca
Verisk Analytics
Vertafore
Jeff McCann - APOLLO Exchange
Gina McFetridge - Archway Insurance
Cameron Copeland - Cansure
Gary Hirst - CHES Special Risk Inc.
Tina Osen - HUB International
Tracy Archer - Knight Archer Insurance Brokers
Chad Leibel - Leibel Insurance Group
Silvy Wright - Northbridge Insurance
Sherif Gemayel - Sharp Insurance
Tim Shauf - The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Danielle Tkachyk - Savante Insurance Inc.
Gurpartap (Garry) S. Pandher - Able Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Armin Habibi - Insureit Group Inc.
Cody Macpherson - KASE Insurance
Haaris Karimullah - Leibel Insurance Group
Aun Japanwala - Lyon & Butler Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Ryan McKenna - McDougall Insurance Brokers
Adam Skube - ONELIFE Wealth Management Inc.
Cathy Su - Park Insurance
Tiffany Reider - Reider Insurance
Margo Lyons - APOLLO Exchange
Gisela Carere - Benchmark Benefit Solutions Inc.
Jennifer Savage - Cambrian Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Jacki Detablan - CNA Canada
Robin Shufelt - Duuo
Melanie Jeannotte - Gallagher Canada
Monica Woldring - InsureLine Brokers Inc.
Jurenda Landry - KASE Insurance
Sabrina Carbe - Marsh and McLennan
Julia Marshall - Sharp Insurance
Apex Surety & Insurance Ltd.
Alteri Insurance Brokers
Cheep Insurance
Diamond Insurance Group Inc.
Fuse Insurance Ltd.
Louis Meier Insurance Broker Ltd
Millennial's Choice Insurance Inc.
Wells Insurance Services
APOLLO Exchange
BrokerLink
CFC Underwriting
Charles Taylor Adjusting
Simply Benefits
Storm Insurance Group
Surex
TD Insurance
The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
Trufla Technology
Unica Insurance
UW Insure
Wawanesa Insurance
Zensurance
CFC Underwriting
Charles Taylor Adjusting
Crawford & Company (Canada), Inc
Everest Canada
HUB International
Kernaghan Adjusters
Louis Meier Insurance Broker Ltd
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd.
Travelers Canada
Steve Hrab - Burns & Wilcox Canada
Sydney Knowles - Cansure
Andre Prasad - CHES Special Risk Inc.
Faical Cheblaoui - CNA Canada
Manuela Ziemer - Evolution Insurance Inc.
Nicole Hachey - Intact Insurance
Cristian Altobelli - Markel Canada
Kelli Hunt - Next Wave Insurance Canada
Steven De Piero - Northbridge Insurance
Lori Craig - RSA Canada
Kim Blenkhorn - Travelers Canada
Alastair Cartwright - Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company
Caitlin Bartolini - Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company
Deby Mottola - Youngs Insurance Brokers Inc.
