Understanding Ceded Risk and Reinsurance with Ryan White
IN-the-Know
Ryan White serves as Assistant Vice President and Director of Ceded Reinsurance at UFG Insurance. He has held the roles of associate, commercial, and senior underwriter, underwriting supervisor, and the first underwriting manager of UFG Online. In 2021 he was named Assistant Vice President and recently transitioned into the newly created role of Director of Ceded Reinsurance. White holds extensive reinsurance experience, a BBA in Finance, and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He also holds the CPCU, ARe, AU-M, AU, and Associate in General Insurance (AINS) professional designations. He has...
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Product Strategy in the Ever-Changing Insurance Environment with Marisol Schulte
IN-the-Know
Marisol Schulte, CPCU, AIC, is a Senior Consultant of Personal Lines Strategic Planning and Insurance at TransUnion. Marisol supports in developing and executing TransUnion’s product strategy for the personal lines property and casualty markets. She has over 18 years of property and casualty insurance experience, beginning in claims, with additional positions in R&D and Product Management for State Farm, CSAA, and Farmers. Schulte attained her CPCU in 2017 and graduated cum laude from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in...
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Making Industry Risks into Opportunities with Dale Porfilio
IN-the-Know
In2Leadership keynote speaker Dale Porfilio, FCAS, MAAA, is the Chief Insurance Officer for the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) and President of the Insurance Research Council (IRC). In these roles, he leads the research and education activities of both organizations, working closely with Triple-I and IRC subject-matter experts to develop data-driven industry insights and analyses. Dale previously worked at Genworth Financial, Kemper, and Allstate for a total of 29 years. Dale is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries...
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Developing Niche Products for Healthcare Providers with Maia Jarvis
IN-the-Know
As Vice President of Operations at BLISCare, Maia Jarvis provides executive leadership for the company’s MGU activities, spearheads product development, and oversees the ever-evolving BLISCare insurance management platform. With over 10 years of experience in the insurance industry (focused on creating innovative, niche solutions) and more than two decades of leadership under her belt, Maia has mastered the art of problem-solving and resource-wrangling. A key player in the launch of the BLISCare captive, Maia now serves on its Board of Directors. Maia earned her BA from the University of...
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The Evolution of Captive Insurance with Nick Hentges
IN-the-Know
Nick Hentges is CEO of Captive Resources, which represents over 6,700 shareholders in 48 member-owned casualty and medical stop loss group captives, with a total annual written premium of $4.7 billion. He has an extensive background in insurance company, brokerage, and captive consulting and management operations. As Captive CEO since 2022, Nick has presided over unprecedented growth in the company’s casualty and medical stop loss group captive business. He has been instrumental in supporting the further development and expansion of the Risk Management and Insurance program at the University...
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A 2025 of Service and Growth for the CPCU Society with Sherry McFadden
IN-the-Know
This episode of In The Know features incoming 2025 CPCU President Sherry McFadden. Sherry recently retired from her position as Director of Enterprise Customer Care in Phoenix, AZ. Throughout her 34-year career with State Farm, she held various leadership roles in human resources, personal lines underwriting, and claims. Ms. McFadden has completed several insurance designations including CPCU, CLU, ChFC, and FLMI. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Human Resources from the University of North Florida and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Tougaloo College, MS. Sherry has...
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Unlocking Insurance Careers with Rajesh Narayan
IN-the-Know
Rajesh Narayan is a seasoned insurance industry leader with experience in driving technology innovation, operations transformation, and business agility. In his early industry roles at Majesco, IDP, and ValueMomentum he has architected and deployed core insurance systems across on-premises, cloud, and SaaS environments. In the last decade, he has taken on global roles at Genpact (AVP, Underwriting Transformation), RMS (Sr. Director, Analytical Services), and Gartner (Senior Director Analyst). In these roles, he has led teams in underwriting transformation, digital-first operational...
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Building an Environmental Risk Management Program with James Pruitt
IN-the-Know
James Pruitt is the Vice President of Risk Management for GFL Environmental and is responsible for the risk management strategy, insurance and captive programs, claims management, and Enterprise Risk Management across North America. He joined GFL in the Fall of 2021 and served as a consultant to the CFO in a risk management capacity from 2018 to 2021. Prior to joining GFL, James was the Vice President of Private Equity Strategy at Risk International, where he was responsible for new business creation within the Private Equity space and led all due diligence strategy and program optimization...
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Advocating for Education and Inclusion in the Insurance Industry with Precious Norman-Walton
IN-the-Know
Precious Norman-Walton is an Account Executive with EG Bowman Co, based in NYC, and the Agent Program Manager for NAAIA (National African American Insurance Association). With over 18 years of Insurance Industry experience, she has served in Personal Lines Claims, Commercial Underwriting, and Agency Management. Prior to her current role, Precious was Director of Underwriting at Harbor AI, VP of Account Management at Insureon, and Chief Operating Officer for Diamond National Insurance Advisors. Precious is a member of the CPCU Society Leadership Council, and was Vice Chair of the...
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The Importance of Elevating the Adjuster with Nikki Jackson
IN-the-Know
Nikki Jackson is the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Marketing at MTI America. Nikki is a data-driven strategic executive leader with over 17 years of experience in the property and casualty insurance and benefits delivery industry. During her career, Nikki has affected almost every aspect of the claims management process, working with over 100 Fortune 500 companies, dozens of TPAs and carriers, and countless vendors in various roles from operations to strategy and marketing. She authored the insurance industry’s largest academic research study on the talent shortage and is...
info_outlineMichael Koscielny, MBA, CPCU, CIC, ARe, AIC, API, AIS, AINS, is chief executive officer and founder of Born2Lead, LLC. He has over 40 years of experience creating effective teams and innovative processes for underwriting and pricing for various insurance companies. He currently serves as Director of Marketing for Graduate Programs at The University of Olivet. He is an instructor for The National Alliance CISR and CIC designations and a Facilitated CPCU Study Group Leader for The Institutes. Koscielny has held many roles for The Institutes CPCU Society, including 2017 global president of the CPCU Society Leadership Council, 2017‒2018 President of the Underwriting Executives Council, and 2023 President of the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators. He has written numerous articles and given many presentations. He published his first book Born2Lead: Lessons in Leadership, in 2023. In today’s episode of the In The Know podcast, Chris Hampshire and Michael discuss his new book, the importance of training the next generation of leaders in the insurance industry, and the many mentorship and training experiences that led to success throughout his career.
These onsite episodes of the In The Know podcast are brought to you by Gallagher Bassett.
Key Takeaways
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Michael shares his unexpected journey into the insurance industry.
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Insurance became his calling when Michael realized that insurance serves as the next responder in natural disasters.
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An overview of the unique demands of the Florida insurance market.
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The “why” behind Michael’s short-lived retirement from the insurance industry.
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Writing a book successfully starts with not telling anyone that you’re writing a book.
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Michael shares additional steps to effectively writing and publishing a book.
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Born2Lead highlights 13 attributes that address the reality that behaviors are not natural, they are learned.
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Michael shares his experience with trust, one of the essential attributes that is outlined in his book.
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Strategies for effectively training people and developing leaders.
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Instilling leadership qualities in others starts with giving them opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise.
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Benefits of membership and active participation in the CPCU Society.
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For Michael, initial leadership opportunities were met with hesitation but additional training and mentorship led to success.
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Michael reflects on what he wishes he would have known at the onset of his career.
Quotes
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“When there is a natural disaster, the first people there are the first responders. And when they leave, who’s next?”
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“Most of the people I know in this business really care about the people they serve.”
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“There is a real need in our marketplace today for teaching leadership skills to emerging leaders.”
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“Acknowledge people, and not just the negative things they do.”
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“When someone does a great job, I want everyone in the organization to know.”
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“We’re all born to lead, it’s just a choice we have to make.”
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“As I made those steps in my career, more opportunities came to me in my work life.”