2024 MVPs: Top CSRs and Account Managers

Ann Samuelson joined TrueNorth in September 2020 and hit the ground running. Though she came into the agency with no insurance experience, she passed her insurance exams within her first 30 days and was helping the TrueNorth team with policy comparison spreadsheets within two months. After quickly completing the Cincinnati coverage class, being named account manager, and completing all her CISR classes, Samuelson was promoted to service manager team lead in 2021 and senior account manager in 2022.

She currently is a senior account manager within the agribusiness practice. “I grew up with an agricultural background, so joining the Agribusiness team allowed me to align my career with my passions,” Samuelson says.

“My leadership team at TrueNorth, Dory Stevens & Lane Danielsen, have been instrumental in encouraging and supporting me throughout my insurance career,” she adds. “Being open to learning opportunities, finding comfort in the uncomfortable, and experiencing challenges within the industry have truly helped me grow.”

“She is a leader within our team and TrueNorth,” her nominator said. “I am excited to see what the future holds for her!”

Alicia Poole has over 40 years of industry experience, launching her insurance career as a receptionist at a mom-and-pop agency in 1984. She quickly moved into the personal lines, insuring homes, autos and boats.

“After about two years, I was in much need of a challenge and moved into the commercial lines department, insuring condominium associations; the rest is history!” Poole told Insurance Journal. Today, she focuses on working with residential condominium associations. Most of her book of business is high-rise condominium tower buildings on the Florida Gulf Coast.

Poole served as president of the Insurance Women in Collier County and has won multiple employee of the year awards while at Acrisure. She credits her professional success with surrounding herself with other professionals who share her drive, desire, passion for the industry, and vision for the future. That includes helping the future generation of insurance professionals.

“I continue to lead and mentor the new generation of insurance professionals,” she said. “I enjoy sharing my knowledge and watching each one of them grow.”

From sticky buns to soup for a sick client — Michelle Fischer goes the extra mile to serve her customers.

“I’ve met clients in parking lots to give them their ID Cards or get signed forms,” Fischer said. “I’ve gone to their homes to take pictures for underwriting or claims. I’ve taken clients to doctor’s appointments. I’ve taken them soup when they are sick. Made them sticky buns to brighten their day or taken them chocolate covered strawberries just to see a smile.”

Fischer, a private client account manager at Crest Insurance Group began her insurance career in 1997 as an executive assistant/receptionist. After a year, she joined the personal lines department. Soon after, the agency encouraged her to obtain her property and casualty license.

“I pushed myself to learn all aspects of insurance,” she said. “I wanted to understand why something was being done and what we could do to protect a client’s assets. I built strong relationships with underwriting and company representatives and always asked questions so I could understand.”

She says that strong relationships with clients help her to identify exposures and find solutions that make everyone happy. Clients remember the extra effort, she said. “A client does NOT forget,” she added.

An MVP uses every opportunity as a learning opportunity, according to Sara Wilson. “Even if something feels like defeat, an MVP never quits,” she says.

Wilson, an account manager at Relation Insurance Services in Fresno, California, began her career in the insurance industry 22 years ago as an assistant with no prior experience.

“I took advantage of every training opportunity and insurance course available to me and quickly worked my way up the ladder,” she said. “From assistant to account manager, unit supervisor, senior account manager and finally account executive, I enjoyed every single role and valued both the experience and the relationships each position bestowed on me.”

Today, she handles a diverse book of business, from property managers, developers, and non-profit organizations to for-profit hospitals, contractors, farmers and lawyers.

“No niche, you name it, and I’ll learn it and handle it with utmost care and expertise,” she said.

She credits her growth to working with people who share core values and dedication to excellence creates success for the team and for the client.

“While I have never set my sights on a sales role, I prioritize the relationship between myself and the producers I work with,” she said. “It is truly a team effort, one that ultimately benefits our greatest asset — the client.”

She added: “Every day, I get to help at least one person; that makes me an MVP.”

Crystal Nielsen says the most critical thing a personal lines account manager can do is listen.

Nielsen, a personal lines account manager with Leavitt Group in Cedar City, Utah, began her insurance career in 1996, working in personal lines, life insurance, health insurance and small business. Today, she oversees a personal lines department of 51 personal lines account managers. “As I train and develop personal lines account managers, I feel the most important trait a personal lines account manager should have is being a good listener,” she said.

Nielsen says that showing empathy for customers and truly listening to their needs is an important key to being successful in insurance. “These traits are especially important in the insurance market today,” she added.

Today’s often challenging insurance market conditions puts added responsibility on account managers to educate and inform clients about changing insurance markets, and offering the best solutions to help them solve their coverage needs, she told Insurance Journal. “They will only understand this by an account manager showing understanding and empathy and listening to the insured needs,” she said.

Working in personal lines, Nielson says she’s rewarded by the “feeling that you have helped someone with their needs. Even [though] we don’t win all the time due to the hard market, I feel we win the respect from the insured showing we care.”

Laurie Graves’s exceptional service and sales acumen make her an MVP at Inszone Insurance Services.

“She not only meets but exceeds expectations in every aspect of her work,” said Inszone, who nominated Graves for the MVP award.

Graves is a commercial account manager team lead with over two decades of experience in the insurance industry. She worked as a personal lines service and service manager for the first seven years of her career, then shifted to commercial lines for the past 17 years, specializing in contractors.

“Laurie Graves has been an exceptional asset to our team, demonstrating unparalleled expertise and dedication in her dual roles as a commercial lines account manager and a top-tier sales producer,” said her nominator. “Her ability to manage complex accounts while consistently driving sales growth has been instrumental in her professional success.”

Her nominator said Graves’ commitment to continuous learning extends to helping her team members continue their learning as well.

“The support she gives to our growing account managers as they follow in her footsteps is vital to the growth of our team and our company.”

Jamie Yang has found the champions she needed in other successful women working in the insurance industry.

“Being surrounded by supportive and encouraging women has been the most helpful in my career,” Yang said. “These women have lifted me up and encouraged me to pursue educational opportunities and promote myself throughout my career, even when that meant moving on to another role,” she said. “I’m very fortunate to have found this support!”

Yang began her insurance career in 2014 as a client services specialist for a brokerage in Chicago. Relocating to Los Angeles in 2015, she transitioned into entertainment insurance. She has spent the last five years with IMA Financial Group focusing on technology, life science and cyber. Yang said specializing in tech and life science means each client has a unique product and/or service and needs a highly specialized insurance and risk management program.

“I take time to fully understand the exposures (through conversations with the client and additional research) so I can craft the most comprehensive program,” she said. “I lean on my relationships with my underwriters to negotiate top-of-theline coverages at competitive rates.”

Since joining IMA, she earned her CIC and CRM designations, and recently co-presented on social media regulations and risk management at the Tech Assure Spring 2024 Member Conference. She also participates in IMA’s Women’s Network+ and in the firm’s Leadership Mentoring Program as a mentee. “I hope to pay it forward as a mentor in the future.”

Jessica Carroll turned a job at her agency’s receptionist desk into a 20-plusyear career in the insurance industry. She is now a senior commercial lines account manager at LP Insurance Services LLC where she specializes in construction, real estate and car dealership accounts.

She holds an associate’s of leadership degree from United States Liability Insurance and has earned both the CIC and CISR designations. “I’ve formed a remarkable history of effectively overseeing and directing a large book of business consisting of middle to large-sized accounts,” she said. “In doing so, I’ve created a collaborative leadership style; expertise at leading and influencing teams to ensure high levels of performance; built a talent for spearheading intricate commercial lines accounts, delivering best-in-class client service, and fostering robust client relationships.”

She attributes success to her strengths which include identifying potential business opportunities, promoting cross-selling to existing clients, and driving marketing outcomes.

Mentorship is critical to navigating a successful insurance career, Carroll added. She participates as a mentor for The Risk & Insurance Professional Studies Mentorship Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“I hope by mentoring those within my organization/team, participating in the University’s insurance mentorship program and being an open resource that I’m helping to guide the next up-and-coming insurance generation,” she said.

Erinn Stringer is a third-generation insurance professional. In 2010, she started her career in the mail room and as the receptionist for her family’s brokerage in Portland, Oregon.

“I’ve since worked as a P&C broker, promoted from assistant to client manager, and now AVP/senior client manager,” she said. “I’ve worked as a broker for more than a decade, and it’s never a dull moment.”

Stringer joined Relation Insurance in Walnut Creek, California, in 2022 as a part of the acquisition of G2 Insurance Services, a San Francisco-based brokerage. Her focus is on large and middle-market non-profit organizations, wineries and contractors.

“Caring about my clients and the people I work with has been most helpful in my professional career,” she said. “Getting to know the people I work with gives meaning to the work I do and invigorates seemingly monotonous tasks.”

Stringer said she fosters trust with her clients through client advocacy, marketing expertise, carrier negotiations, reliability and transparency.

“I’m always willing to go the extra mile to help someone out and support my community, whether it be training, backup support, attention to details, volunteering, or simply putting in extra time and effort when needed,” Stringer said.

“I thrive on being a trusted advisor and advocate for others,” she said. “Insurance is a great career.”

Kelly McMahan’s journey to success was made by collaborating with clients every step of the way.

“I have worked with independent agencies since I started in the business,” McMahan said. “I have always worked as a CSR/account manager; however, with the position I’m now in, I actually service the accounts from quoting to writing and servicing.”

She has been in the industry since 1995 and earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix in 2016.

“I take pride in working with new clients to make sure they have the coverage that they need for the best price per the coverage,” McMahan told Insurance Journal, adding that building those client relationships is critical.

“I strive to give the best customer service to new and existing because word of mouth (bad and good) is the best kind of advertisement,” she said. “I have learned over the years to underwrite the risks that I quote as this helps the client as well as the company.”

McMahan, a native North Carolinian, serves on the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina’s Government Affairs Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

She offers one tip for others — keep learning. “I strive to learn at least one thing a day in the insurance industry as it is an ever-changing industry,” she said.

David Accurso joined Inszone Insurance Services in 2023 with little experience but “a positive, go-getter attitude.”

While new to insurance, the commercial lines account manager immediately began learning about public entities, small business and farm accounts alongside his producer.

Accurso said his uncle got him interested in insurance. “My uncle was a commercial lines producer for 16 years. His passion and success in the industry inspired me to start my career in insurance. In the summer of 2023, he helped me get my start at Inszone,” he said.

In his nomination as an MVP, Accurso was cited for his “passion for commercial insurance account management,” which “drives him to continuously enhance his expertise in the field.”

His firm said: “He eagerly looks forward to leveraging his insurance knowledge to cater to the unique needs of his business clients.”

His nominator added that Accurso’s attention to detail, his enthusiasm to support others around him, and his willingness to embrace change make him an invaluable team member.

“His hard work and dedication are something to admire and for others to strive for,” they said. For his part, Accurso cited several things he finds to be most helpful in is job: “Keep showing up; Striving to make small improvements every day; Being surrounded by teammates with high levels of knowledge and expertise in the industry.”

Brea Berschig’s clients stay put. The account manager boasts a 90%-plus retention rate, month over month, at Presley Insurance Group.

Berschig started at the agency in 2021 and has been “tenacious” in navigating this hard market, said her nominator at Presley Insurance. “She manages $6 million of my book of business, while the agency has a total book size of $14 million that she assists with,” they said. “If there is an account manager deserving of this honor, Brea is definitely a fit!”

Berschig told Insurance Journal that after Covid she struggled as a single mother to two young daughters. “During this time my cousin was working in the insurance industry and she suggested that insurance would be a good fit for my outgoing personality.” She spent the next two weeks studying and passed her licensing test on the first try.

Berschig says she has “always enjoyed working with people,” and credits her success to empathy and compassion for her clients especially in the past few years as inflation has put strain on many financially. She admits the work is “testing at times,” especially in today’s hard market.

In addition to empathy, being a good listener helps, she says. “Once I learned how to listen to the client understandably express their frustrations and not take it personally, it allowed me to then educate them on the market conditions.”

Brea’s most helpful tool in her bag is the fact that she shows up each day,” her nominator wrote. “She shows up ready to execute.”

Brandy LiCausi is an MVP when it comes to cross selling, upselling and turning referrals into sales for the agency, according to Arbor Insurance Group. In her MVP nomination, her nominator said: Brandy’s “dedication to putting customer first is what I feel makes her the ultimate customer relationship manager on the team.”

“I love helping people and solving their problems or misunderstandings with insurance,” LiCausi said, adding that her teaching degree has helped her in educating customers about their insurance needs. Licausi is licensed in both personal lines and life insurance, and has been a personal lines insurance advisor for Arbor Insurance Group for more than 15 years. She left the agency in 2022 to work for a direct carrier but returned to Arbor in October 2023 with added knowledge and expertise that has helped to support her growth at Arbor.

“My manager Roberta Kates at Arbor has been a huge inspiration to me. I look up to her for so many reasons and honestly she should also be receiving an award for the BEST manager in the world!! I have always been an overachiever and multitasker but she has taught me how to perfect those skills,” LiCausi said.

“I always treat my customers the way I would want to be treated. When I tell them I’m going to get back to them by such and such time I do and if I can’t they always get a call from me with an update,” she said.

“Brandy plans out her day to conquer what comes at her, solve the issues and move on to the next,” said her nominator. “Brandy loves to learn, and, in the market today, every day is a learning process.”

If you need it fast, and you need it right, ask Yolanda Carrillo. That’s the mantra at TCP Insurance where Carrillo has been an integral part of the team for 21 years and now serves as the agency’s most senior account manager.

“Yolanda has excelled in servicing clients’ everyday needs, managing client relationships, and has been a pillar in helping our agency navigate the fast-paced and ever-changing industry,” said her nominator.

“She has acted as an advisor, confidant, and advocate to our clients to ensure coverage is appropriately and fairly placed,” they said. She has built a rapport with our clients that makes them feel as though she is a partner in their own business; they look forward to speaking with her and sharing their successes, new upcoming projects, challenges they may face, and just overall catching up!”

Carrillo also has built strong relationships with underwriters, and she invests her time with newer agents and account managers to help foster a growth mindset and help them strive for continued success. In addition, “Yolanda has honed the ability to juggle multiple clients and their complexities to ensure our insureds’ needs are addressed and solutions provided,” said her nominator.

“Although we have supporting staff members, Yolanda can personally oversee that our insureds’ requests are being completed from beginning to end as needed,” they added. “She has the knowledge of every procedure to get the job done.”

Lindsey LeClair built the foundation of her insurance career at her family-owned agency, Staite Insurance. When Staite was acquired by Kaplansky Insurance in 2021, LeClair seamlessly transitioned, bringing her dedication and expertise into a new environment and her role as an account manager in the company’s Needham, Massachusetts, office.

“In 2018 I was looking for a career change and I was not exactly sure what I was looking for, LeClair said. She joined Staite Insurance, owned by her aunt and uncle at the time, at their suggestion. “So, without any real knowledge of insurance I took a chance, unknowing at the time beginning my new career,” she said.

Since then, she’s excelled, her nominator told Insurance Journal.

“Driven by her commitment to her clients and our organization, Lindsey is consistently surpassing her target goals and pushing forward successfully,” said Kaplansky in nominating LeClair as an MVP.

In addition to maintaining her property/casualty licensing, LeClair is currently pursuing other designations. “At Kaplansky Insurance I have learned even more working with a multitude of different carriers and have also become licensed in life insurance,” she said.

“Lindsey’s depth of knowledge and willingness to learn helps her effortlessly navigate complex client needs with confidence and expertise,” said her nominator.

“Lindsey is an invaluable asset to our organization, and we are fortunate to have her on board,” they said.