As a member of both Assurance’s executive management team and board of directors, Liz is responsible for the overall vision and strategy of the employee benefits department. She oversees the areas of healthcare reform, consumer-driven health plans, compliance and wellness. Liz is the top employee benefits professional at Assurance, advising the company’s benefits consultants and creating and maintaining strategic relationships with carriers and other vendor partners.
Prior to joining Assurance, Liz served as Senior Vice President, Practice Leader of Employee Benefits for a national insurance brokerage. Before becoming a Practice Leader, she held various roles in employee benefits including that of Producer, Account Executive and Account Manager.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
Growing up with two older brothers has taught me a lot. They always say you learn more from your siblings than your parents, and in a lot of cases this is true. My brothers taught me to be tough, they taught me loyalty and they taught me how to protect those closest to you. My brothers made me strong. They taught me never to make excuses, learn from your mistakes and when you get knocked down, you get back up. Also, being a collegiate athlete and playing volleyball for Northwestern taught me competitiveness, determination, organization, how to lose elegantly, how to win with grace and most importantly, don’t take anything for granted.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Assurance?
There are three main things that I learned early in my career that has brought me success at Assurance. In order to drive success, you need to get people on board with your vision and long-term plan; you need to be comfortable hiring people smarter than you, or your organization will stay stagnate; and you need innovation to grow. When you make a wrong decision or a bad call, own it. It takes courage to fall on the sword.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Assurance?
At Assurance, I’ve been fortunate to work with great people and be a part of a team that is recognized by our competitors as one of the best brokerages in the country. It has been very rewarding coming up with programs and solutions to help our clients during a very challenging time in our industry.
Historically, the insurance industry has been very stagnant and complacent, so bringing innovation to the industry requires a great team and flexibility, which we have at Assurance.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
When people ask what kind of business I’m in and I say, “insurance”, you can immediately see them lose interest in the conversation. However, our business truly has depth. Our focus every day, like most industries, is to make organizations better – both the company and employees. In insurance, we have the ability to impact each and every employee through the different programs we offer and provide. The insurance industry can be very meaningful when you think about how you are dealing with the health and wellbeing of a company’s greatest asset – their employees.
So my advice to any woman approaching a career in insurance, or really any industry for that matter, is to look beyond the surface and find the true meaning behind what you’ll be doing day-in and day-out. Understanding that impact will provide purpose and help shape your goals and objectives for years to come.
To bring that advice to life, my company – Assurance –created a company goal that tasked each employee with filming a selfie video explaining how their role directly contributed to our company’s tagline of minimizing risk and maximizing health. It was a great exercise in helping our employees look beyond the “uncoolness” of insurance and understand the value they bring. While we adopted this on a company-wide scale, all of us as individuals should step back and ensure we truly understand the value of our role within a company and industry. It’ll make for a more fruitful career.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
The most important lesson I have learned is to be real. People appreciate directness and honesty.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Well, with two daughters that are 8 and 5, this is a tough one. I don’t know that you ever escape “working mom’s” guilt. But, thankfully I work for an organization that appreciates the importance of family. Assurance allows flexibility, and because of this, I’m a better mom and better at work.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Being confident in our ability. The insurance industry is a very mature and male-dominated industry, so it was intimidating for me at first. But like everything in life, bringing new perspective and fresh ideas goes a long way. Have a voice, people are ready to hear it.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
I have been fortunate to have a person in my life who has mentored me both personally and professionally. What I have found is that you have to be willing to understand that there are people out there with greater wisdom and life experiences you can learn from. Be a sponge and know there is always something new to learn.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
There are two female leaders I admire, and believe it or not, they are competitors of mine – Jenn Walsh and Lisa Hawker. I have been fortunate to work with them through our industry association, CIAB, and they are mentors and great friends. I admire them for so many reasons, but mostly because they understand what is important in life. They are successful, yet humble. They are competitive, yet compassionate. They are strong, yet have the biggest hearts. They are smart, yet don’t take life too serious. They are successful business women, yet AMAZING mothers. They make me better.
What do you want to accomplish in the next year?
I’d like to see our team hit our “client value creation” goals, this keeps our focus on our clients. I’d also like to find more ways to incorporate this year’s company theme, the ‘Power of Love’ (yes, from Back to the Future) in the way we recognize and appreciate each other, our clients and our families. I’d like to see us carry out our theme in our professional and personal relationships – demonstrating how employee health and wellness transcends across multiple touchpoints in our lives and not just in the office.