Pandemic lessons push WSIA board VP to look to the future

CRC Group CEO Dave Obenauer enjoys helping other insurance professionals succeed and advance in their careers.

This wholesale, excess and surplus lines executive believes that teamwork and camaraderie are important to success in the insurance business. (Image: apghedia/Shutterstock)

As Dave Obenauer looks back on his three decades in the insurance industry, he recalls knowing he was in the right place when he took his first job out of college with United Educators, a startup captive insurer that is still going strong today.

Driven by a desire to help others, Obenauer quickly appreciated how the insurance industry impacts clients’ lives and businesses in a positive way, from guiding them in preparing for risk to supporting them in recovering from loss.

He is still finding great satisfaction in a career that brought him to Marsh, as managing director, and then led to his current position as CEO of CRC Group.

Obenauer also enjoys helping other insurance professionals succeed and advance in their careers. He believes the “internal” side of the business, assisting associates within his industry, is as important as the “external” side of of the business, supporting those who are insured. Obenauer also spends a lot of time thinking about ways to help both colleagues and clients achieve their goals.

During leisure hours, CRC Group CEO Dave Obenauer and his wife delight in spending time with their family, including the newest addition, a granddaughter, who recently turned five. (Provided photo)

It follows that this executive is enthusiastic about serving on the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA) board of directors. He is also a legacy member of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) Board of Directors.

Here, Obenauer shares lessons learned during the pandemic and thoughts on how the industry can continue to thrive going into 2023 and beyond.

PC360: With more employees working remotely, how can companies still promote a feeling of camaraderie and being part of a team/?

Obenauer: I believe teamwork and camaraderie are important to success. Teamwork is based on trust and friendships, and impacts our ability to execute consistently and be the firm we want to be. While personal, face-to-face interactions are ideal, the pandemic opened our eyes to how we can promote teamwork even among people who work in different cities.

We learned that an important part of promoting teamwork in a virtual environment is providing space for the interactions that would happen naturally in person. If you walk into a conference room, you will naturally have casual conversations before the meeting starts and you get into your agenda. So, when holding meetings virtually, it’s good to create time for those conversations among colleagues.

The pandemic also taught us ways we can better serve our clients. We’ve been challenged to think more about client-carrier interactions than ever before. Clients have changed the way they work and working with them does not always have to require travel. Before the pandemic we would never have thought about virtual meetings, but now we can offer that flexibility to our clients.

PC360: What have been the most significant changes for the insurance industry over the last decade?

Dave Obenauer: One change is the impact of private equity firms investing heavily in the space, which has driven consolidation in retail and wholesale firms. This ongoing trend has created large-scale organizations in both retail and wholesale. Another is the specialization of underwriting, especially around MGA programs. MGAs are building products and facilities for specific niches and industries. The third change is the impact of data, which has grown every year. We are using data more and more to serve clients and build products.

PC360: What are some of the benefits of working in the insurance industry?

Obenauer: The industry has so many parts to it. One can choose to be in the industry and do many different things, whether you’re on the insurance company side or the distribution side. The insurance industry works with so many other businesses, with a view across the entire economy. It is consistently a business that regardless of the economic cycles we are in, tends to perform very well — especially E&S, as the world gets more risky and more insurance products are needed to respond to those risks.

PC360: Who have some of your mentors been throughout your career?

Obenauer: Each of the four bosses I’ve had in my career were true mentors to me. This is not always the case, so I feel very fortunate. I’ve learned and grown from each of them at different stages in my career, and I feel indebted to all of them. They taught me leadership skills, the importance of interpersonal relationships in business, and the virtue of patience. I am not inherently willing to wait, and sometimes that’s important to do.

PC360: What is the biggest threat to the insurance industry?

Obenauer: I’d say complacency. We need to be constantly innovating — coming up with better ways to better serve our clients, utilize technology, and use data. If we don’t, others will beat us to the punch.

PC360: What have you been doing in your role within WSIA over the last year?

Obenauer: As vice president of the WSIA Board, I get the pleasure of working closely with the other members of the WSIA Executive Committee as well as the WSIA team. The past year has marked the return to in-person WSIA meetings and events, something the Board and the WSIA team have carefully planned each step of the way. It is exciting to see the record turnout for the Annual Marketplace here in San Diego.

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