100 influential women in re/insurance
“ I left the Gen Re office still not sure what reinsurance was, but I knew it would give me an opportunity to work with interesting and engaging people on a wide range of topics. I actually had fun at my interview.”
Name: Janice Englesbe
Company: Gen Re Job:
Board member and deputy chief risk officer
Timeline: 2013—Board member and senior vice president, Gen Re 2011—Deputy chief risk officer, Gen Re 2009—Enterprise risk management, Gen Re 2007—Practice leader, Gen Re Capital Consultants 2002—Vice president, Gen Re Capital Consultants 1998—Client Investing, Gen Re 1991—Property facultative underwriter, Gen Re Philadelphia
Janice Englesbe is Gen Re’s deputy chief risk officer and a member of the board of directors of General Re Corporation, where she is responsible for coordinating Gen Re’s ERM and risk management infrastructure globally. Englesbe started with Gen Re in 1991 as a property facultative underwriter in Philadelphia. In 1998, she moved to Gen Re’s home office to assume a role in client investing. She has also held roles in Gen Re Capital Consultants, a fee for service consulting practice focused on enterprise risk and capital management for property/ casualty insurance companies. Additional responsibilities have included rating agency communications and the Gen Re Annual Report. Beyond her regular board duties, Englesbe is co-sponsor of two
of the four corporate meritocracy initiatives: mentoring@GenRe and Holding Managers Accountable for Developing People. For the corporate risk committee and the risk committees of the
five US domiciled insurance companies, she leads the annual risk assessment process and coordinates risk committee projects. For the three major international insurance subsidiaries, Englesbe acts as the lead liaison with local CROs for planning and development of best practices for delivering an effective and efficient approach to identifying, managing and monitoring risk across the Gen Re Group.
40 | INTELLIGENT INSURER | 2015
Why did you choose to work in this industry initially? In February 1991, I was a senior at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. I was travelling across town with a friend, and we saw the Meridian Bank building on fire. We spent the next few hours watching the blaze engulf the 38-storey building. My interview for the position of property underwriter with Gen Re was the following week. At the interview we discussed my up close and personal view of
the blaze. I left the Gen Re office still not sure what reinsurance was, but I knew it would give me an opportunity to work with interesting and engaging people on a wide range of topics. I actually had fun at my interview.
What has been the highlight of your career so far? The highlight of my career was being named to the board of General Re. I have worked at Gen Re since I graduated from college, and the organisation means the world to me. I’ve learned so much at Gen Re. I feel honoured to be able to contribute not only at an operating level as deputy CRO, but also at the board of director level.
What has been the biggest challenge you have
encountered? The biggest challenge I’ve encountered, both personally and professionally, was being diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in 2007. I continued to work at Gen Re throughout my treatment which included chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. For the support that my associates at Gen Re gave me, I will be forever thankful. I hope that I can continue to support others as well as I’ve received.
If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been? I rowed competitively in college and for the first two years while working at Gen Re at the national level. At one point in the mid- 1990s, my college rowing coach asked me if I would be interested in coming back to coach the freshman women’s crew. I very seriously considered this offer as the experience of collegiate rowing was one of the best and most formative of my life. I am glad I did not choose that as my long-term career path, but the opportunity to coach and share that wonderful experience with other women remains appealing.
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