FORTY under 40: Donald Ashwood
Donald Ashwood, Captive insurance account executive, Aon
Donald Ashwood joined Aon in September 2022. Before joining Aon, he worked for the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) in various financial regulatory roles for over eight years. Most recently, Ashwood served as the captive insurance coordinator for OID where he acted as the primary captive insurance regulator, assisted prospective captives through the application process and licensed captive insurance companies, conducted annual reviews, handled the captives’ regulatory needs including business plan changes, dividend requests, and loans, and served as the primary marketing role at various captive conferences and meetings purposed with continued growth in the Oklahoma captives industry and the OID’s captive division infrastructure.
Ashwood has two areas of responsibility at Aon: working with a portfolio of captive accounts as an account executive and servicing new/prospective captive formations in a business development role.
In his role as an account executive, he is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations of captives, leading client service teams to ensure quality/timeliness of filings and communicating with state regulators on captive changes for compliance purposes. In his business development role, he leads the onboarding process for new captives, coordinates with business development teams across various jurisdictions, and participates at relevant industry conferences.
Ashwood is a board member of the Oklahoma Captive Insurance Association and the Western Region Captive Insurance Conference, a member of the conference committee for the Captive Insurance Companies Association and the Vermont Captive Insurance Association and a member of the curriculum committee for the International Center for Captive Insurance Education.
How did you become involved in captive insurance?
I began my career in the insurance industry as a regulator with the OID where I held a variety of roles including that of the captive insurance coordinator for Oklahoma’s captive division. My involvement in captives began with a very limited knowledge of the importance and application of captives, but I became immersed in the industry immediately.
I have been blessed in receiving my ACI designation through ICCIE, working with a multitude of industry leaders and receiving the opportunity to join Aon’s Captive Insurance Practice where I have been able to expand my horizons on the accounting and business development fronts.
“Existing captives are likely to further evolve and be immersed into more primary layers.”
What are the biggest challenges of working in this industry, and what do you find most rewarding?
The biggest challenges are ironically also the most rewarding components: service and education. It is paramount to keep both in high regard as they are critical elements in becoming and remaining effective/efficient.
Would you recommend the captive insurance industry to young people as a future career path?
In today’s society, creativity and innovation continue to cast a significant shadow—both of which elements are consistently a part of virtually every captive insurance decision. Both need to be regularly associated with any discussions pertaining to the captives industry with younger generations. By doing so, there is the possibility of having a greater impact on younger minds.
What developments do you see ahead for captives?
With the hard market, I think captives are going to continue to play a significant part in the re/insurance world and existing captives are likely to further evolve and be immersed into more primary layers. Similarly, I would expect that domiciles (onshore/offshore) will continue to innovate and incorporate more business-enabling statutes as they continue to grow.
Do you think your long-term future remains in the captives market?
Definitely—I’m here to stay.
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