The 100 Best Insurance Leaders in the USA
Insurance Business America has unveiled its annual ‘Hot 100’ list for 2025, celebrating the exceptional leaders and key players who have driven the insurance industry forward over the past year. The list showcases individuals whose contributions have significantly shaped the sector.
“We are a resilient industry. We’re always there, people always need insurance,” said Catherine Pipitone, executive vice president and senior operations manager at Alliant Insurance Services.
Pipitone’s sentiment underscores the industry’s steady presence, despite economic fluctuations.
Industry Performance Overview
The U.S. insurance industry experienced a robust turnaround in financial performance, according to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Insurance Outlook.
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Non-life (Property and Casualty) Sector: Reported an underwriting gain of $9.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024, a considerable improvement over the previous year’s $8.5 billion loss in the corresponding quarter. This improvement was supported by increased rates and a strong focus on risk management.
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Combined Ratio: Improved to 94.2% year-over-year, with the personal lines sector experiencing rate increases that outpaced claims costs.
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Pretax Operating Income: Increased significantly, surging by 332% year-over-year to $30 billion in Q1 2024 due to underwriting gains and a 33% rise in earned net investment income.
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Premium Growth & Reduced Expenses: The sector’s net premium growth of 7.4% and a 2.2% reduction in incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses further strengthened the financial position.
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Life and Annuity Sector: Total US annuity sales in 2023 reached $385 billion, reflecting a 23% rise year-over-year. Fixed annuities saw a substantial increase of 36%, totaling $286.2 billion. In the first half of 2024, total annuity sales increased by 19% year-over-year, to $215.2 billion, with registered index-linked annuities and fixed-income annuities achieving record sales.
Leadership Strategies and Challenges
Deborah Dioguardi, Jencap’s professional lines national practice leader, attributes her success to returning to fundamental principles, especially amidst heightened competition.
“It’s a soft market in professional liability and there’s a lot of capacity, a lot of people to keep happy, a lot of carriers that we’re dealing with. It’s not an easy marketplace for us to grow, but we are growing,” Dioguardi stated.
Dioguardi, who took on her role in March 2023, added:
“I’m proud of how hard everyone has worked on the team to grow. We’re substantially a new business, which is amazing in this marketplace right now for professional lines. We’re going out and looking for it, we’re getting it and being successful with it.”
Market Projections and Key Players
The U.S. insurance market is anticipated to:
- Reach a gross written premium (GWP) market size of $3.79 trillion in 2024.
- Have an average per capita expenditure of $11,080.
The U.S. holds the highest global nominal value and is projected to grow by 3.49% annually, resulting in a market volume of $4.50 trillion by 2029.
Nate Reznicek, president of Captives Insure, plays a key role in this growth.
“We are fiercely independent. If we don’t save our clients a whole bunch of money, then we don’t get paid anything and that’s where we’re always focused,” Reznicek emphasized.
Reznicek focuses on helping clients manage risks and transactions, with captives acting as reinsurers. His contributions in 2024 include:
- Generating a net-new GWP of $63.4 million.
- Implementing solutions that return 50% to 85% of GWP as reinsurance premium to captives, with placements yielding a combined $41 million.
- Launching EmpoweredRE, the first open distribution, turnkey captive reinsurance solution, directed towards clients, especially in property and casualty, who experience high premiums but have low claims.
Jeff Rodriguez, president and CEO of Brown & Riding, highlighted dealing with uncertainty as a key challenge.
“Planning is much more challenging today than it’s ever been and more difficult because of the uncertainty as the indicators are not as clear maybe as they have been in the past,” Rodriguez noted.
Despite this, Brown & Riding has shown consistent performance. Rodriguez explained his firm’s strategy.
“That is to invest in our people and focus on our customers to build an organic growth machine and a people development machine. The tactics around that may change from year to year depending on circumstances, but the strategy is always the same, so we’re very boring in that way.”
Adapting to Future Trends
Insurance companies are increasingly integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and focusing on climate change. Jencap’s Canaan Crouch, an executive vice president with a background in geology, is guiding his firm in this area.
“I get a number of common questions: one is climate change, one is ESG, and neither of those are insured in the domestic insurance marketplace in the US. Some climate change exposures may be addressed in the reinsurance market, but what we’re doing is we’re cleaning up contaminated properties.”
Crouch and his team find coverage for challenging risks, including construction and demolition sites, hazmat cleanup, and more. In the past year, Crouch managed $60 million GWP in business.
Nora Deveau, deputy chief claims officer at Arch Insurance North America, shared her experience with a major acquisition.
“My style is to listen to people. I want their input. I like contrarian voices. I want different ideas at the table and then I balance what the best result is for the organization.”
Mark Lange, also part of the Hot 100, was promoted to chief middle market executive at Arch Insurance at the time of the acquisition. He emphasized the importance of trusting his team in this new role.
“I was fortunate early in my career to have a few people that took me under their wing. Now, I’m in a position where I can give that back to others and help them learn and share some of my mistakes,” Lange said.
Pipitone emphasized the importance of in-person collaboration and maintaining company culture.
Catherine Pipitone, Senior Operations Manager at Alliant Insurance Services.
“It was about trying to get everyone to come back and understand that this is not meant to be punitive in any way. It’s really about bringing everyone together to strengthen the business, and to also help them grow and develop,” Pipitone stated.
Predicting the Future
Lange anticipates similar trends in 2025 as in 2024, specifically with casualty markets remaining firm and continued challenges from reserve development.
Dioguardi expects a continued focus on fundamentals and anticipates the need to remain agile in the market.
Reznicek foresees a continued influx of funding and reinsurance carriers into the captive insurance space, especially where they are willing to share risk with insurance companies. This evolution should, in turn, aid in driving the costs and barriers of entry down, and potentially allow more middle-market businesses to enter the arena, where now it may not be financially viable.
Additional Insurance Leaders
The ‘Hot 100’ list features a wide array of professionals from various sectors of the insurance industry. Some notables include:
- Danette Beck, Executive Vice President and National Director of Broker Operations, Astrus Insurance Services
- Edward McCormack, Chief Executive Officer, RT Specialty
- Janice Hamilton, Chief Financial Officer, Ryan Specialty
- Kevin Doyle, Chief Executive Officer, Risk Placement Services
- Michael Cusack, Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Director, Alliant Specialty Alliant Insurance Services
- Nick Carozza, Area Senior Vice President, Risk Placement Services
- Ron Borys, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Alliant Financial Institutions, Alliant Insurance Services
- Sharon Novasel, Area Vice President, Marketing and Risk Services, Risk Placement Services
- Tiffany Calhoun, Regional Product Leader and Deputy Head of Cyber, Tech and Media, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
- Timothy Turner, Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Specialty
- Amanda Fioretti, Vice President, Amwins
- Andrew Grim, Executive Director of Specialty and National Casualty Practice Leader, Brown & Riding
The complete list provides insights into the current state and future direction of the insurance industry. The leaders on this list are pivotal in shaping the future of insurance and adapting to the changes ahead.
