The value of diversity initiatives in E&S insurance
Amwins Executive Vice President Terrance Meade shares his perspective on insurance-industry growth opportunities.
Amwins Executive Vice President Terrance Meade says he wasn’t aware of the vast career opportunities in E&S insurance before he was was recruited by past-Amwins President Skip Cooper.
“I was the 3rd hire [in the Amwins Birmingham office],” he says, adding that the place felt very much like a startup at the time. “We had no laptops, printers, files, paper or pens.”
But they did have a refrigerator, so one of the Meade’s first tasks was to stock it for the office: “I knew then that it was going to be a fun ride!”
That was 15 years ago. Now Meade co-manages the Birmingham Brokerage division alongside Will Cooper. He also serves on both the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association’s Education Committee as well as the WSIA Diversity Foundation.
Outside of work, Meade stays busy with two boys who are active in sports.
PropertyCasualty360.com recently connected with Meade via email to get his take on opportunities and diversity initiatives within the specialty insurance business. What follows is an excerpt from that interview.
PC360: Where do you see the most opportunity in the specialty insurance space?
Meade: Because the specialty insurance space has continued to have incredible premium growth (including overall market share for property/casualty direct written premiums) over the last 20 years, there continues to be opportunity in all lines of coverage. I am a property guy, so I may be a little more bullish on property as we continue to navigate through this hard market.
As a broker, I see the most opportunity in continuous specialization within firms, which creates tremendous value to our retail and underwriting partners.
As an underwriter, I believe it’s more important than ever to partner with brokerage firms that are well-positioned for continued growth with retailers that, in this hard market, are requiring brokers to have vast market access, specialized expertise within broad classes of business, and value-added resources and intel.
PC360: Where do you believe the insurance industry can improve when it comes to diversity and inclusion initiatives?
Meade: I believe the insurance industry has made great strides in the workplace with diversity, equity and inclusion [initiatives], especially within the last few years. We have seen a compilation of firms create and execute on key strategies in developing diverse workforces and cultivating environments that provide opportunities for everyone. At Amwins, senior leaders have been committed to D&I, which resulted in the creation of our D&I Council and a long list of employees who have raised their hand to help in:
- Ensuring diversity within recruiting;
- Partnering with associations supporting diversity;
- Achieving an inclusive workplace; and
- Career development and advancement.
One of the partnerships we have seen significant value from was the creation of the WSIA Diversity Foundation, which has seen tremendous growth in less than 2 years. The Diversity Foundation has been focused on student/talent outreach and WSIA member-focused culture initiatives in their mission to promote diversity in the broadest and most inclusive manner, and to attract diverse talent, and influence meaningful progress in the diversity of the wholesale, specialty and surplus lines industry and its talent pipeline.
Because we know sustainable progress doesn’t happen overnight, I believe we need to continue down the paths we have created and capture the data to make sure we keep the needle moving.
PC360: What skills should the next generation of insurance professionals be developing?
Meade: Because more distractions continue to fight for our attention, I believe the ability to focus on your daily priorities is a very important skill.
Also, critical thinking skills continue to be what I look for in our teams/office as well as what our teams look for in our leaders. In this business, we run into problems daily, so our abilities to be resourceful and find solutions ultimately creates stronger teams.
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