Ahead of this weekend’s International Women’s Day, Insurance Business is proud to reveal the industry’s Elite Women for 2025.
Each year, Insurance Business invites industry professionals from across each of its regions to nominate exceptional female performers. These are women who are leaders, breaking through barriers or inspiring those around them. Nominators were asked to outline their achievements over the last 12 months – and those achievements were then put to an independent panel of judges for assessment. In America, that panel consisted of:
The judges reviewed the nominations and narrowed the list down to more than 60 Elite Women across the USA.
Among those celebrating a place on the list in the US are:
Andrea Larkin, Westchester, a Chubb company
Brenda (Ballard) Austenfeld, RT Specialty
Christine Schneider, Arch Insurance
Karen McCarthy-Hawn, Risk Placement Services
Kristen Handel, Alliant Insurance Services
Lisa Lang, Arch Insurance
Nadia Hoyte, USI Insurance Services
Rekha Skantharaja, Tangram Insurance Services
Sharon Novasel, Risk Placement Services
Stephanie Peters, Risk Placement Services
Aaisha Hamid, Alliant Insurance Services
Aileen S Berry, Amwins
Amy Lugar, HUB International
Betty Shepherd, Great American Insurance Group
Catherine Lyle, Tokio Marine HCC – Cyber & Professional Lines Group
Jennifer Dimura, Alliant Insurance Services
Jennifer Spence, Alliant Insurance Services
Julie Whitley, Alliant Insurance Services
Leanne Berry, Vantage Risk
Margeaux Giles, Irys Insurtech
Nicole Blum, Amwins
Nicole Sorrells, HDI Global Insurance Company
Sherita Hardy, Amwins
Susan L Combs, Combs & Company LLC
Suzette LeSane, Assurant
Tracey Estes, MSIG USA
Yajaira Villegas, Amwins
In addition, to the Elite Women list, the report contains vital insights on how the industry is progressing in terms of gender equality and presenting genuine opportunities for women to succeed.
For example, survey data showed that 64% of respondents feel there is a lack of women leaders for younger women to look up to and aspire to follow in their footsteps, while 33% believe their gender has slowed their career progression.
