Breaking Down Walls: Insurance Women Ascend to High-Profile Positions

Three women with varied backgrounds have made their mark in the insurance world and continue climbing. They have ascended in their positions with hard work, determination and a desire to assist others.

Louise Canter, Carole Fleischman and Deborah Ryan have all taken different paths to success. However, all three agree that for young women just starting out in the field, the sky is the limit if they are willing to work hard.

Here is the story of three women who have progressed in the world of insurance and who continue to make it their policy to serve.

Louise ‘Bebe’ Canter
For Canter, senior vice president of Patterson/Smith Associates in Falls Church, Va., one of her most significant accomplishments was being named to the Executive Committee of the Independent Insurance Agents of America (IIAA). In doing so, Canter became the first woman elected to IIAA’s top leadership panel.

“It was a great honor,” Canter said. “Before you get to that stage, you have to go through your state chairs.” Canter noted that one of the overriding reasons she desired to be on the panel was to help break down some walls for women in insurance.

“Someone’s got to do it,” Canter said. “If I said ‘no,’ then you really can’t complain that women don’t have opportunities. It is a challenge, but the pluses are truly incredible and the people you meet…if you didn’t participate, you just wouldn’t have a chance on a day-to-day basis.”

Canter has been involved with the association on a variety of levels, having served the Metropolitan Washington Association of Independent Insurance Agents (MWAIIA) in a variety of capacities, among those state national director and president. She also serves as chairman of the Southern Agents Conference and is a member of the IIAA Large Agents Committee. A graduate of Fordham University, she has long been a strong advocate for independent agents with legislators and regulators and other industry organizations.

Managing an agency served as a very valuable educational experience for Canter. The reason she did that was to “see how agencies operated, the nuts and bolts. I had been in sales prior to that, and it was interesting, but I didn’t quite grasp how the entire agency worked. I thought the opportunity to manage a small agency would give me that info. I did everything from payroll to hiring and firing.”

What kind of challenges do women face in the insurance industry today? “They’re probably a little less today than 30 years ago,” Canter noted. “The walls have come down. Years ago, I would be the only woman in a room at times, now that there are other women there, you don’t even think about it.”

Canter said that today’s generation is growing up on the Internet, and computer skills remain of critical importance for both sexes going into the insurance industry. “To be successful in our industry, those computer skills are invaluable,” she said. “Insurance is a field which doesn’t require professional and college degrees. Anyone can go into it—your success in it depends on how good you are. Some people are oriented in that direction. I don’t think there’s any holding back now because you’re a woman.”

Although the industry doesn’t require degrees, Canter is still a big advocate of taking as much coursework as possible. “My mantra has always been: education, education, education. Take as many courses as you can.”

Canter said she thought insurance was an excellent field for women. “One of the statistics I saw not too long ago that I’m absolutely delighted with is that there are many more principals of agencies who are women. I think if you really look at the opportunities in the future, I think you’ll see more women breaking into the ownership ranks, which can bring other women along. I think that is just fabulous.”

No doubt many of those women will owe partial thanks to forerunners like Louise Canter.

Carole Fleischman
This is a great time for women to be in insurance, accord-ing to Fleischman.

Fleischman is president of the Managed Programs Division of Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc. in Pasadena, Calif., which is responsible for developing, underwriting and administering national wholesale programs. Fleischman created and developed the Contractors’ Choice program, a 50-state program with a 96 percent renewal rate since its inception in 1996.

She got started in the industry with CNA in New York. “I just really liked it,” Fleischman said. “I think it was the ability to have a thought process behind it—it was intricate, it was involved.” Fleischman transferred to California in 1970.

“[The industry] is very challenging,” Fleischman noted. “In 1970, there were several challenges. Women were not normally and regularly accepted in this business. I had to break down walls all the way along. Eventually you had to move from one job to another with that proverbial glass ceiling. I think that changed because there were females who were interested in what insurance had to offer and continued to pursue it.

“Now, women are widely accepted and there are more and more women who are respected for what they have to bring to the table. I think there are a lot of women who may not be the principals in agencies, but are as highly regarded as the men.”

Through the Contractors’ Choice program, Fleischman has written more than $100 million in general liability coverage. The program is designed specifically for general contractors and developers, and is being looked at as a model from which future programs are to follow. It offers coverage, risk management/loss control and claims administration for residential and commercial contractors, along with wrap-ups and project work.

Before joining Arrowhead, Fleischman worked as a senior vice president for Stewart Smith West where she was responsible for developing and managing underwriting programs, which included national programs for couriers and contractors.

“I never had aspirations to be president of a division of this size,” Fleischman said, referring to her work at Arrowhead. “I never thought I could do it in the environment I started out in.”

Ruth Summers, former underwriting manager at General Accident, served as a role model for Fleischman.

“I was fascinated with what she faced, [compared] to what I faced,” Fleischman commented. “She started out in the ’40s when the war was going on. When females took underwriting positions, they had to operate under a pseudonym—a male name—they couldn’t operate under their own name. I had great admiration for her, given what was going on in the industry and the non-acceptance of females in general. When I started out, equating that to what she faced, it intensified my desire to overcome the obstacles that she obviously overcame.”

Fleischman sees an industry that is opening doors for women; but they, like their male counterparts, must be willing to put the time in and meet the people they serve.

“I think it is a wide-open industry that needs talented females who are willing to commit to professional standards that the industry has…and they should pursue,” Fleischman said. “I think they’ll be welcomed with open arms. This is an industry where not only is networking important, but credentials are valued. With the exception of one industry college, you don’t learn insurance in college, so it is extremely important to take courses and take advantage of seminars for your own progression and to add value to your employer.”

Deborah Ryan
For Ryan, the insurance business has been a part of her life for decades.

Ryan’s grandfather opened Frank J. Ryan & Co. in Pasadena in 1930, running the agency alone until 1945, when his son Frank R. Ryan joined.

Deborah served at other agencies, but joined her father in 1974, was made a partner in 1977 and seven years later, purchased the agency. To keep the family name in the business, Deborah kept her maiden name as her professional name when she married as a courtesy to her long-time agency clients.

Ryan, who came from a family of 11, which included nine girls, said that she learned more by example from her father’s work. “My father was not a hands-on teacher,” she said. “I was more independent. Oddly enough, we never went out on calls together. We managed to keep a good separation between home and the office. In the office I was his partner; at home I was his daughter.”

At work in the field over the years, Ryan said she did see some resistance to women in certain situations. “When I applied with the companies for a trainee position, I could not get one. I had sons of friends of my dad’s who were in similar situations, similar education backgrounds, and they had no problem getting jobs. I remember being told point-blank by one of the companies that they did not want to hire me because I would get married and have children.

“I would say in the CPCU [Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters], which was more broad-based, you had less resistance to women. In the brokers’ association early on, it was very much the ‘Old Boys Club.’ People just don’t realize the level of discrimination and what it was like.”

Times have definitely changed. In 2001, Ryan’s company is doing well and she definitely has influence as an active woman in the insurance world. Ryan’s company is part of the United Agencies Group, a cluster of companies, where she is the only female agent.

Ryan sees great opportunities for women aspiring to be successful in insurance.

“It’s a very good industry geared towards them because insurance people are looked to by their clients as advisors and helpers for their willingness to help and understand their clients’ needs. I think women have a good empathy for doing that. They can do anything they want. It is also an industry you can gear your family life around, especially on the agency side. It is a very good industry for women.”

If you had a daughter, would you encourage her to go into the insurance field? E-mail your answers to dthomas@insurancejournal.com.

Topics Agencies Contractors Training Development