“The banking business in the UK has really stepped up on


the issue of women on boards and now it looks as though the insurance business is following suit,” says Hurvenes.


She set up the Professional Boards Forum in 2003 following the


Norwegian government’s 2002 drive for 40 percent women directors on company boards. The initiative was backed by tough legislation. Business communities and chairmen were outraged, claiming they did not know where, or how, to find qualified women.


Hurvenes agrees that this was a problem, partly because they


were unlikely to find women in the places they traditionally looked for candidates.


“When I started the forum, board members were typically


recruited from chairmen and investors and the CEO’s network of friends and business associates—if that’s where you recruit your non-executive directors (NEDs) from clearly there’s not going to be enough women,” she says.


“Traditional recruiting practices have definitely been an issue. In


the UK, headhunters have used the same talent pool for NED roles as they have for executive roles and they have had a larger pool of men to choose from.”


Another issue was that women were not putting themselves


forward for the top roles. “Study after study shows that in order to achieve the career success desired, one needs to continuously make that desire known to others in an organisation or industry,” says Zdroik. “We (men and women) do ourselves a great disservice by thinking that these positions simply fall into a person’s lap.”


“It is so important that women promote their capabilities and


interest in these board seats,” agrees Theresa Schugel, executive vice president of BMS. “Women need to actively support and promote one another, and they should not be afraid to take on ‘stretch positions’ that may be outside their comfort zone.”


A number of women currently in leading roles in reinsurance


report having struggled to reconcile the demands of career and family life.


Lara Mowery, managing director, head of global property specialty at Guy Carpenter & Company, sums up the problem. “If married women who work take on significantly more home and childcare responsibilities than married men who work, as the data currently indicate, women either gradually fall behind or drop out altogether. Many women understand the level of sacrifice reaching the top levels requires and just don’t want to make a choice to give up that much of the rest of their lives.”


NETWOrkINg Is EssENTIAL


An added complication is that it takes more than just doing your job well to get promoted. Successful women agree that networking


is vital for career progression. With this in mind, RenaissanceRe has set about making internal networking easier for women, says Jean Hamilton, a private investor independent consultant on the company’s board of directors.


“RenaissanceRe has a terrific organisation called the Women’s


Forum open to all employees, designed to build networking within the company and provide exposure to the thinking of people in the industry, by inviting internal and external speakers,” Hamilton says.


She is also involved in plans to promote broader networking for


women. “Some women who are board members of reinsurance companies have begun to get together. We are just in the early stages of identifying all the women directors and senior managers in the industry, but I am pleased to say that there are quite a few more than there were even a year ago.


“I believe that we will be able to create a network that will


provide valuable support for women directors and for members of the companies on whose boards we serve.”


Another valuable set of networking opportunities comes from


the APIW, whose events and speakers centre on a common theme of giving professional women the opportunity to achieve the career success they aspire to while providing an environment of personal professional development.


“There’s lots of hard work and a strong networking component


which goes before achieving these types of executive roles,” says Zdroik.


As a source of inspiration, the APIW has its annual Woman of


the Year events. In 2013, Joan Lamm-Tennant of Guy Carpenter was honoured with this award for her success as a businesswoman, her industry group activities and her support of women in the insurance profession.


“These actions and those of past recipients embody what the


APIW stands for: supporting, encouraging and publicly recognising the achievements of women in insurance,” says Zdroik.


Meanwhile, the Professional Boards Forum holds regular events


attended by board-ready women and chairmen seeking to appoint NEDs, which regularly lead, either directly or indirectly, to the women being offered boardroom positions. When designing the structure for these events Hurvenes recognised that women are often uncomfortable with self-promotion.


“We don’t like to be left in self-promotional roles and we very often end up on the back foot, asking all the intelligent questions and listening,” she says. With this in mind she decided to hold a simulated board meeting at each event, giving the women a chance to shine in a discussion setting.


May 2014 | INTELLIgENT INsUrEr | 3


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