Recently, Newfront announced that Courtney Leimkuhler joined its Board of Directors. We introduced her, our company’s first independent Director, to the team in late July during a Town Hall where she shared her vision into the future of insurance, the role of technology, and the game-changing impact of diverse teams.

We are excited for her continued partnership and guidance as we modernize this industry! Here are a few things we took away from her fireside chat with our CEO, Spike Lipkin.    

• Insurance is one of the best kept secrets. I joined the insurance world from the New York Stock Exchange not knowing how much I would end up loving this industry. The business side was evolving quickly which fascinated me, and the culture and people were warm and welcoming even to me as a total outsider. Seeing how the traditional industry players were beginning to grapple with technology, I was hooked thinking about the potential of bringing a new way of exchanging risk and helping companies improve efficiency and the bottom line. Ultimately, I learned to keep an open mind and that a fresh perspective is always helpful.

• Unusual partnerships can enable faster progress. The opportunity to truly move the needle is based on trust, willingness to think laterally, and focusing on innovation. If a team is running like a well-oiled machine, you can trust in their execution and take the opportunity to focus elsewhere. As leaders, we must align on direction, push each other to dig deep, and explore new ways of doing things. The CEO at Marsh counted on me as CFO to bring a strategic lens to how we could evolve the business, right around the dawn of insurtech. There is similarly a huge opportunity here at Newfront, that again, with the people and culture, I find very compelling.

• People are the most critical aspect of insurance. While technology is certainly transforming how we do things, insurance is still about bilateral risk transfer between two parties, and therefore, I believe this industry will always require a human relationship element and judgment. Newfront intrigues me because the company has both industry-leading expertise and carrier relationships combined with industry-leading business operations and technology. Technology can and should still play a huge role in insurance, but we also must be laser focused on investing, attracting, and retaining talent into this high-touch, high-tech industry.

• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion is the right thing to do. I have become a stronger and stronger advocate for DE&I over the course of my career. As a founding partner of Springbank Collective, I’m passionate about identifying, investing in, and helping to grow the infrastructure that supports women and working families to close the gender gap. The fact that Newfront has had a long-term commitment to DE&I is super important to me. From a business perspective, competition absolutely thrives on human talent, creativity, ingenuity, and knowledge. Winning in this competitive environment comes down to who you can attract. If you don’t build an inclusive culture and commit to bringing diverse people to your team, you lose the talent war, and ultimately your business will not thrive.

• Joining the Newfront team was a no brainer. The company has the right strategy, the right people, the right attitude, and the right values. I’m excited to see how the company continues to transform the industry.

Courtney, we are thrilled to have you on board and work, love, and play with us, and we look forward to our partnership throughout the coming years. Welcome!