Founder
The Insurance Supper Club
Barbara Schönhofer can clearly attest to feeling out of place as a woman in leadership, having been the only female member on boards and thus considered “a little mad”.
She believes firmly that the power of women in these positions increases with numbers, and that has led to her efforts in helping set up networking spaces for women, such as The-Women’s-Insurance-Net-Work and The Insurance Supper Club.
The club was launched in 2008 for senior female executives and non-executives in the industry, and consisted of dinner events for networking, discussing business issues and promoting women in the industry.
In recognition of her efforts, Schönhofer received a Women of Excellence award in 2014 from the National Association for Female Executives. Her more recent initiatives include setting up HTS-Stargate to support faster advancement of aspiring women leaders and serving as Insuring Women’s Futures lead for women’s careers in risk.
She has 40 years’ experience in executive search and business leadership and has served as a partner with Korn Ferry, establishing the company’s insurance and reinsurance practice in London.
More recently she set up ejsSearch, a boutique executive search business that recently merged with The Jacobson Group and is now operating as Schönhofer.
THE INSURANCE SUPPER CLUB
Launched in 2008, The Insurance Supper Club provides a forum for senior women in the insurance industry from around the globe to engage with like-minded colleagues on business issues. The organisation has over 350 members across Europe and the US and is sponsored by major insurance groups.
