Director/senior underwriter
SENECA INSURANCE COMPANY
Years in the industry: 30+
Machelle Allums has been in insurance for more than three decades and has dedicated much of that time to striving to make meaningful industry changes regarding diversity and inclusion. Allums is a former national board member and charter member of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of NAAIA and currently serves as the chapter’s vice president and educational director.
In her role as educational director, Allums coordinates NAAIA’s partnership with the InVEST Program, which provides insurance curriculum for high schools and colleges. She also serves as an advisor to the Academy of Finance at Emmett J. Conrad High School. Together, Allums and her members support the school by providing product knowledge and information about available insurance careers and job skills training, awarding scholarships, and participating in the school’s Executive Lunch program. Allums also serves as her company’s representative on Fairfax Financial Holdings’ internal Black Initiatives Action Committee.
“Before we can fix anything, we have to first recognize it’s broken,” Allums says. “It has taken many years, many prayers and, unfortunately, many deaths for us to get here, but I think we are at a time now where meaningful change is possible. I am excited about the process we are going through as a nation and industry. The dialogue and things we are going through are sometimes uncomfortable, and in some instances painful, yet I view them as necessary to foster major reform. Black lives matter. All lives – all nationalities, races, genders, etc. – matter. Now let’s make them all matter equally!”
