It all started in her sophomore year in high school – Yiana Stavrakis, who desperately needed an after-school job, met someone at a bar mitzvah who changed her life forever.
Stavrakis fondly remembers how her gym teacher, who was aware of her situation, introduced her to Steven Gross at the event. Gross, who was then the CEO of Metro Insurance Services, coincidentally needed someone to fill a part-time spot. The rest is history.
Metro Insurance Services opened a lot of doors for Stavrakis. With extensive underwriting experience, she landed positions at Preferred Concepts as assistant vice president for operations and at AmWins Group as vice president for relationship management. Stavrakis currently holds the chief sales officer position at Specialty Program Group where she creates and implements sales, training, development, marketing, and community involvement strategies.
Insurance Business talked to Stavrakis to get her insights on the industry.
Steven Gross helped me grow from a disadvantaged youth in New Jersey to a successful insurance professional. He believed in me, showed me the importance of volunteer work in our insurance community, taught me the fundamentals of insurance, encouraged me to obtain my licenses, CPCU, and ASLI and most importantly, taught me work ethic.
Melanie Alberico, SVP of client relationships & resources for AmWINS, was also very instrumental in my career; she taught me behavioral techniques to help me succeed as a woman in this industry. Her influence is most important as I develop into leadership today and when I encounter a stressful situation, I always think of what she would do before reacting. She guides me daily without physically being here.
Finally, Chris Treanor, CEO of Specialty Program Group, has had a huge impact in my career. He taught me how to evaluate and operate businesses & P&Ls – he taught me the true meaning of EBITDA while also showing me how to lead with the greater good always in mind. Chris is bringing me to the next level in my career and each advocate I have been lucky enough to engage has played an instrumental role in my life for different reasons.
This will elevate all of us into the next level where solutions are going to change based on the changing demographics of our consumers and employees. I am grateful I get to witness it first hand and hope we can all influence our community the way she is and has been able to do.
