FORTY under 40: Elizabeth Rohlfs
Elizabeth Rohlfs, senior account executive, Aon Captive and Insurance Management.
After obtaining her BBA from City University of New York, Bernard M. Baruch College in 2014, Elizabeth Rohlfs worked in several corporate accounting roles across tax and property accounting.
In 2019, she began as an account manager for Atlas Insurance Management, a small captive manager in Charlotte, North Carolina that was acquired by Risk Strategies in 2020. She managed the daily operations of a slate of captive insurers and enrolled in the associate in captive insurance (ACI) programme through the International Center for Captive Insurance Education (ICCIE), obtaining the designation in November 2020.
There followed an MBA, concentrated on operations/supply chain management, from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and a move to Management Services International as programme implementation specialist and quality assurance officer, where she obtained the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation and began working towards the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriting (CPCU) qualification.
In April 2023, she began working for Aon’s captive management division in Burlington, Vermont, where she is a senior account executive, overseeing the daily operations of several large captive insurance entities. She completed the CPCU in June 2023 and obtained her CPA licence in June 2024.
How did you first become involved in captive insurance?
After relocating to North Carolina, I showed interest in finding an opportunity that was off the beaten path. I felt unchallenged by recent roles in property. One recruiter asked me if I knew what captive insurance was and told me of an opportunity with Atlas Insurance Management. I'd never heard of captive insurance before, nor did I really understand it, but the interviews went well and I felt good about the energy in the company so when offered the job, I took it.
There is hardly a week that goes by where I am not faced with something new to learn or figure out
What are the greatest challenges of working in this industry, and what do you find most rewarding?
What I’ve learned in this industry is if you’ve seen one captive, you’ve seen just one captive. There is hardly a week that goes by where I am not faced with something new to learn or figure out, to successfully manage several high-profile accounts and assist my team and colleagues do the same. With an ever-revolving environment of new regulatory guidelines and changing business exposures, the greatest challenge tends to be keeping up with the latest information. The biggest rewards tend to be finding solutions that fit our clients’ needs and working with my colleagues to implement processes that help our teams to be successful as well.
Would you recommend the captive insurance industry to young people as a future career path?
Absolutely, but I would make sure they understand that it can be just as equally challenging as it is rewarding.
Working in this field isn’t for everyone. It tends to be high-paced and often high pressure, but also highly rewarding and a departure from many highly predictable entry level corporate roles. Captives are a unique opportunity to work with both financial services and risk management services, to expand your knowledge and expertise, while constantly being challenged by the story of “one-offs” that tend to be our norm.
What developments do you see ahead for captives?
As the insurance landscape continues to evolve, I anticipate we will be seeing captives continuing to emerge as key tools for many businesses seeking flexibility in their risk management solutions. The future of captives will likely be shaped by further developments in specialised coverages to manage new types of exposures related to economic, political and regulatory actions. With technological innovations, data is becoming more readily available. Businesses involved with captives will likely find ways to leverage AI and other data analytic tools to enhance underwriting, claims management and financial servicing needs, making them more efficient and responsive.
Do you think your long-term future remains in the captives market?
My journey to accounting and captive insurance wasn’t linear. I entered college with plans of becoming a doctor. To gain experience, I joined a fire department, became a certified firefighter and emergency medical technician. I worked in hospitals, ambulance services and construction companies that provided onsite medics. After being exposed to that industry, I decided to change the course of my education towards accounting; I have always been great with numbers and data analytics, and I didn’t see the ultimate career path I wanted within a hospital setting. Still, after six years in corporate accounting roles, I felt unchallenged.
It wasn’t until I started working in the captive industry that I found a sense of engagement I hadn’t experienced in previous accounting roles. I have enjoyed the opportunities to become involved with all aspects of captive management and growing my knowledge of both financial and risk management services. I have no plans to leave the captive space, as I think it provides the greatest opportunities for my future.
Click here to read Captive International’s third FORTY Under 40 2025 publication.
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