Executive Insights: AXIS Capital Wholesale Division CEO Carlton Maner
This E&S insurance leader shares his thoughts about new business opportunities, preparing the next generation of professionals, and more.
Carlton Maner is CEO of the newly-formed Wholesale Division of AXIS Capital. He has been in the wholesale, excess and surplus (E&S) lines insurance sector throughout his career, and he unequivocally states that he loves what he does!
Encouraged by family members who enjoyed their own careers in the insurance industry, Maner opted for a college major in risk management. Insurance, they said, would be a great choice because of the array of opportunities it offers such as underwriting, claims adjusting, loss control, accounting, finance and marketing. Maner was also attracted to insurance for its career stability and the important role it plays in our global economy; he observes that no matter what happens, businesses continue to need insurance to thrive.
What does Maner love most about his work/? He finds the insurance industry to be dynamic and intellectually stimulating. Excellent policyholder servicing and underwriting, he says, require smarts, strong business acumen, adept problem solving, and creativity.
He also enjoys getting the chance to interact with people from other industries, from risk managers of Fortune 1000 companies to small family-owned business entrepreneurs who need help getting back on their feet after the unexpected happens. Building strong relationships is what great insurance work is all about, Maner says.
When he’s not working, this executive enjoys spending time with family, racing cars and grilling on his Big Green Egg.
Here, Maner shares his thoughts about how the insurance world can make the most of new opportunities; prepare the next generation of professionals; and promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).
PC360: Where do you see the most opportunity for the insurance industry?
Maner: Businesses across all sectors are evolving and becoming more diverse in their service and product offerings. As this quick pace of change creates new risks, there are opportunities for the insurance industry to rise to these challenges and demonstrate its ability to respond and flex to the needs of customers.
The specialty insurance market must continue creating new products with enhanced coverage capabilities to better handle the emerging risk and multiple exposures presented by insureds. At AXIS, we’re investing in both product innovation as well as data and technology, so we can be more intentional in targeting our customers’ needs and grow profitably with our partners.
PC360: What do you see as the top three priorities insurers should be focusing on now?
Maner: The first is attracting and retaining the people required to successfully operate in the fast-growing specialty insurance industry. At AXIS, a core strategic priority is to be a top destination for talent. This requires a combination of investment in training and development to support their professional growth, building a positive and flexible working environment, and offering attractive reward and benefits amid considerable competition for talent.
Second is investing in talent. Blending seasoned underwriting acumen with the technological skills of new talent entering the industry in a collaborative environment ensures that the core skills of underwriting are passed on while newer skills that are becoming ever more important to our industry are embedded in our processes.
The third priority is effectively utilizing data to enable insurance carriers and brokers to better understand previous performance, which leads to better decision making for future activities. We have the data, what our industry is striving to do is organize and analyze that data to improve our performance and service to customers.
PC360: What skill sets should the next generation of insurance professionals be developing?
Maner: In some ways, the skill sets required to operate effectively in a fast-paced global environment have been consistent over the years, even if the trading environment has changed. The most important are critical thinking skills (having the ability to think quickly and solve problems without an instruction manual); a global mindset (being prepared to operate in unfamiliar geographies/territories and with diverse cultures); a high level of adaptability, as in our industry change is a given; and customer focus, because relationships and excellent customer service matter!
PC360: What is happening with the WSIA Diversity Foundation?
Maner: The WSIA Diversity Foundation’s mission is to promote diversity in the areas of race, gender, disability and to the LGBTQ+ community by influencing meaningful progress in the diversity of the wholesale, specialty, and surplus lines insurance industry and its talent pipeline. Over the last 12 months we’ve had several key accomplishments.
Through our outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and INROADS, we sponsored 10 summer internships as part of our Diversity Internship/Scholarship program. Given our success in 2022, we will host 15 interns in 2023.
We licensed DE&I learning content from Blue Ocean Brain to provide resources to each of our 720 member firms and their employees at no cost. At this time, we have nearly 100 firms with direct access to the DE&I content, the purpose of which is to provide culture development tools to all firms, whatever the stage of their DE&I journey.
WSIA signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge and is encouraging all member firms to join and take advantage of the resources and collaborative exchange of ideas available from CEO Action.
We have operationalized DE&I within many of our WSIA communication, education, decision-making, and association governance processes, including implementation of WSIA’s Diversity Statement and revisions to WSIA’s Code of Ethics.
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