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Introducing Hearing from Her

By Emma Corcoran
Distribution Strategies Manager

As we navigate our altered realities due to the coronavirus pandemic, including remote learning, virtual working, social distancing, and trying to differentiate Tuesday from Saturday, one of the things I miss most about pre-pandemic life is in-person networking. As someone involved with Selective’s Women Agency Leadership Initiative, one aspect of my role that I most enjoy is finding ways to network with influential, strong female leaders across our industry, agency plant and organization. And while 2020 has us looking at this initiative a little differently, the need to network and stay connected is as important as ever.

This is why Selective has introduced our Hearing from Her blog series. This new channel will help champion the voices of female leadership across our distribution partner network and the entire Selective organization, and broaden the reach of our initiative to support and empower women in insurance. I am so grateful to work in an industry with such talented and supportive women that inspire and motivate me. Wanting to help others find the same was one “aha!” moment that led to the launch of Selective’s Women Agency Leadership Initiative. Let me explain.

Back in 2016, Teresa Caro was promoted to Senior Vice President, Regional Manager of the New Jersey region, making her Selective’s second female regional manager. In her first year in this elevated position, she recognized the importance and benefits of building a strong network of female leaders across her agency plant. Teresa turned this “aha!” moment into a New Jersey women’s leadership initiative in 2016 and convened a group of female agency owners to discuss the initiative and get their ideas and feedback on the types of support and training they’d found most valuable.

Based on this feedback, Selective started offering DiSC® behavioral assessment training to owners and their key managers; leadership training for the owners; a networking opportunity for female managers and producers; and formally established the New Jersey Women’s Leadership Council later that year, consisting of 12 agency owners (most from the original initiative group Teresa pulled together). We have held this Council meeting every year since.

In 2017, Teresa asked me to lead a DiSC® training for the New Jersey Women’s Agency Council. It was the first time I had been at a women’s only event and I LOVED it. The energy, the support, the idea sharing – it was almost too good to be true. And I wanted more for me and for other women in the insurance industry. The next day, I walked into my boss’s office and declared the need for a countrywide Women’s Agency Leadership Initiative at Selective to build upon the success of the New Jersey Women’s Agency Council. I got the green light and, with the incredible support of several colleagues, we held Selective’s inaugural “Women’s Agency Leadership Conference” in October 2017. John Marchioni, then President and COO, closed out our conference by sharing two personal anecdotes with the audience of over 60 female agents:

The event was his first time he was the only man in the room – in that moment, he gained a newfound respect for what each woman in the room often experiences in meetings and events in our industry.
This was one of his most proud moments at Selective (insert an image of me smiling so broadly you could see ALL of my molars).

It’s been nearly three amazing years of building out our initiative across six regions and expanding it to include our Excess and Surplus and Flood divisions. In that time, Selective also launched our internal Women at Work initiative with 80 volunteers from across our entire organization. It’s rewarding to see so many women supporting other women. And even without in-person events and activities, we are still able to maintain the strong relationships we’ve built.

Blogs on this Hearing from Her channel will focus on topics and issues most relevant to women in the insurance industry to further our goal to connect, share, empower, and learn. Be sure to visit this site monthly for new content. And if you have any ideas or want to contribute a blog, please share! Just send me an email at Emma Corcoran or Tracy Morato after September 11. 2020.

To learn more about Selective’s Women’s Agency Leadership Initiative click here.

About the Author

Emma Corcoran, Distribution Strategies Manager, is responsible for agency consulting programs, agency councils and listening posts (CX Council, Producer Council, Annual Agency Survey, Women’s Agency Leadership Initiative), agency licensing, agency compensation and field operations support. Emma joined Selective as a summer intern in 2009 and has worked in roles within Customer Experience, Agency Relations and facilitation. In her current role, Emma is credited with developing the Agency Customer Experience (ACESM) program and launched the Women’s Agency Leadership Initiative (WALI), two unique programs that were the among the first of their kind developed specifically for independent agents within the insurance industry.

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