Alumni Recognition

We recently had 5 Katie School alumni identified as Rising Stars by Insurance Business America!

LAUREN MELZER (2008) Senior Manager National Market Relations and Branch Programs Gallagher

Early in her career, Lauren Melzer worked as a commercial accounts underwriter for two major insurance companies. As the director of technology for The Hanover’s Midwest region, Lauren led the P&L for a sixstate territory. She also co-founded the company’s Women’s Networking Group and was awarded the Community Hero Award for her work with the Junior League of Kane & DuPage Counties. Lauren joined Gallagher’s national market relations team in 2017 and currently oversees several of the company’s top carrier partnerships, providing oversight on strategic initiatives and driving profitable growth. Earlier this year, she was promoted to manage Gallagher’s US branch programs. “As we continue to adapt to our new environment, I hope to see inclusion and diversity continue to be a top priority for insurance companies,” Lauren said. “We need to attract more women and people of color to the insurance industry, and it starts by creating a culture of change and making diversity and inclusion a priority.”

VANESSA CONTRERAS (2009) Senior Vice President US Deputy Team Leader, Professional Lines SCOR Reinsurance Company

At SCOR Reinsurance, Vanessa Contreras assists with the strategy and direction of the casualty treaty portfolio by coordinating efforts among underwriters and managing client relationships. Prior to being promoted to her current role earlier this year, she served as vice president and senior underwriter. Contreras was inspired to get into insurance by her mother. “She helped low-income families understand their healthcare insurance options and utilize resources they otherwise may not have realized were available to them,” she says. “Seeing how her work positively impacted so many families made me want to understand the industry better. It drove me to seek a career that would challenge and fulfill me in the way that her job did for her.” For six years, Contreras served on the Reinsurance Under 40s board. She is currently a member of the Association of Professional Insurance Women and the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) and has successfully completed the LAMP program through PLUS and the ASPIRE Leadership Program through SCOR.

DOUG JOHNSON (2010) Senior Vice President, Property Underwriting Team Lead Munich Re US

As a property underwriting team lead at Munich Re US, Doug Johnson works with underwriters to provide property treaty reinsurance solutions to regional insurers, MGA programs and national writers. He also is responsible for strategy development and execution, as well as team training and development. Over the past 10 years, Johnson has worked with a wide variety of clients, which has taught him the importance of proactive risk mitigation and making good on the promise of paying claims. “I was recently given the advice that a lot more can be accomplished through your team than what you could ever take on individually,” Johnson says. “Previously, as an individual contributor, much of my work had to be completed by me. As a manager, however, I need to get things done through my team. The shift in mindset to embrace delegation was important. My team grew our portfolio over the past year and completed multiple projects led by my team members. It was the power of the team and the collective work effort that moved us forward.”

JON PERRY (2009) Underwriter, Executive Risk Beazley

As an underwriter for the US executive risk team at Beazley, Jon Perry is responsible for growing a profitable book of business. Perry entered the insurance industry in Travelers’ underwriting professional development program after graduating from college, then worked on the D&O team at Allied World before taking on his current role. In addition to his work as an underwriter, Perry is passionate about recruiting and developing young talent in the industry. He is a member of Gamma Iota Sigma’s board of trustees and volunteers as a mentor to students, helping to foster their interest in insurance and providing them with shadowing and networking opportunities to kickstart their careers in the industry. Perry was named the Katie School of Insurance Young Leader in 2018 and was also a Gamma Iota Sigma Alumnus of the Year.

JAKE TIMMINS (2011) Senior Vice President RT Specialty

Jake Timmins credits his mother with inspiring him to get into insurance. “I grew up in a blue-collar small town, and my mom – a broker in the recycling industry – was a tremendous mentor to me,” he says. “She often brought me along to work dinners, and those experiences fueled my desire to get into the business.” After studying insurance at Illinois State University’s Katie School of Insurance, Timmins began his career at Westrope, which RT Specialty acquired in 2013. Early on, he learned the ropes through the guidance of mentors on a large property team at RT before creating his own property team in 2018. In its first year, the team wrote more than $14 million in premium. In 2019, Timmins doubled his book, and he is on pace to finish 2020 with nearly $50 million in premium. Jake was recognized as the Katie School of Insurance Young Leader in 2016.

RISK & INSURANCE POWER BROKER 2020

A Risk & Insurance Power Broker is an individual who stands out among their peers for the exceptional client work they delivered over the past year. While brokers play many key roles in the insurance industry and risk profession, a Power Broker award recognizes problem solving, customer service and industry knowledge. We have two alumni who were recently recognized!

MATTHEW YODER Senior Vice President at Marsh

Analytics are one thing and they are important. But what about those soft skills, the traits that build trust in people and cement business relationships? Marsh’s Matthew Yoder has them by the bucketful, according to his clients. “Matt is very personable. He is a lovely person to work with,” said Vicki Telford, the director of global risk management for Hanesbrands. With the D&O markets hardening, Yoder was instrumental in helping Telford communicate the news about changing markets in a transparent way to her company’s CFO. When it came time to do dinner with representatives from her lead insurance markets, Yoder hosted a catered event at his condo in Chicago. “Not only was it a delightful occasion, but it gave us the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations,” Telford said. Stephen Harwell, a vice president of corporate operations for Francesca’s, said Yoder helped him navigate a very tricky situation. “We had an extremely challenging D&O renewal.” The rub? Part one was that the board was accustomed to a very comfy depth of coverage. Part of it was selling the company’s board on the idea of providing them less D&O coverage, not more. The trick was showing the board benchmarking stats showing where its desired level of D&O coverage stacked up against its peers. Once the coverage was right-sized in the mind’s-eye of the board, there was still the task of binding it. Yoder delivered a program that Harwell described as the “best possible” outcome in a market that is very difficult.

RYAN DOYLE Area Assistant Vice President at Gallagher

When the success of a business relies on donated and distributed products, insuring the giving journey from start to finish can be a gamble. With the help of Ryan Doyle, it is just the opposite. When it comes to insuring food banks, successful coverage is particularly difficult due to the specific needs of each location, but Doyle gets it done. “It’s not like you’re doing a group-buying program for McDonald’s. Everyone has different needs. To get everyone to hop on is like herding cats,” said Marshall Aster, CFO, Food Bank of the Rockies. Doyle was able to leverage a group buying program and dramatically cut costs for the nonprofit. “Not everyone can do what he did,” said Aster. The Food Bank of Santa Barbara County also enlisted Gallagher when it was in search of a group insurance program. “What’s really important is the complexity of our relationship with Ryan,” said Carrie Wanek, CFO. “We have expectations, and he had to figure out how to meet the requirements of all 15 of our food banks.” Doyle managed the task at hand, but he also resolved a difficult claim that resulted from a delivery truck accident. “Not only did he get the claim resolved, but he set up a training session with the carrier,” explained Wanek. “We had someone in our corner.”