Influential Women in Captive Insurance: Christine Brown
Christine Brown, Director of captive insurance, Captive Division, Vermont Department of Financial Regulation
Christine Brown directly supports Vermont’s Deputy Commissioner of Captives in licensing, strategic planning, legislative initiatives and industry outreach.
She has been with the Captive Division since 2003 and served as assistant director from 2016 through 2022. She has been involved in all aspects of the analysis and examination processes.
Prior to joining the Captive Division, Brown spent seven years in public accounting—with Johnson Lambert in Burlington, Vermont, specialising in captive insurance, and with Ernst & Young in Boston, MA. She received a MS in accounting and an MBA from Northeastern University and a BA in political science from Regis College.
How did you get started in the captive insurance industry?
Early in my career, I worked for Ernst & Young in Boston. It had many large, multinational clients that owned captive insurance subsidiaries. I was sent to Vermont for two months to work on captive insurance audits. During that time, I fell in love with Vermont and decided I wanted to settle here.
After spending a couple of years at EY in Boston to gain that experience, I was lucky enough to land a job with Johnson Lambert, a public accounting firm that specialises in captive insurance.
Who inspired you or acted as a mentor in your career?
I have been fortunate to have many mentors in my life, starting with my mother, who got along with everyone she met and treated each person with dignity and respect. Early on at Johnson Lambert I worked closely with John Prescott and Magali Welch, who led the Burlington VT office and taught me all about captive insurance, and about leadership and team building. They made sure the team always felt appreciated; even though we put in lots of hours, we had a lot of fun together and it felt like family.
I’ve spent most of my career at Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. The person who rises to the top of my list of inspirational mentors is Sandy Bigglestone. She invests her time in building trusting relationships and exemplifies generosity through her dedication to sharing knowledge and empowering others. She has given me many opportunities to learn, grow, and collaborate. She is a tireless advocate for her team, and for the captive insurance industry at large, and demonstrates professionalism, integrity and a commitment to high standards and continuous improvement.
They say true leaders inspire others to work not out of fear of failure, but out of a deep sense of respect and shared purpose. Sandy embodies this concept.
What do you think deters people from entering the world of captives?
The biggest challenge in getting people to enter the captive insurance industry has been the lack of familiarity and knowledge that this profession even exists. However, I have definitely seen a positive trend, especially in recent years, where we are bridging this gap as more and more people learn about captive insurance and its benefits.
“We should be getting into high schools and colleges early, to explain captive insurance as a career path.”
How can mentorship and sponsorship programmes be designed to better support the career development of women?
Again, I am starting to see positive trends in this area—for example through the work of CICA’s Amplify Women programme and the Vermont Captive Insurance Emerging Leaders group. We must be intentional in our outreach, design and delivery of mentorship opportunities and ensure a commitment to foster lasting relationships with the next generation of captive insurance professionals.
We should be getting into high schools and colleges early, to explain captive insurance as a career path and to promote an upcoming workforce. Networking events, both in person and virtual, should be aimed at helping people make impactful connections.
In what ways can companies in the sector create a more inclusive culture that actively promotes gender diversity at all levels?
The primary way to promote gender diversity is to make sure there is a diverse group of people sitting at the leadership table. If the people making important decisions are a diverse group, they are more apt to be inclusive and committed to initiatives aimed at improving gender balance in the workplace.
Organisations should promote diverse hiring practices, provide training and education on unconscious bias and diversity awareness, have flexible work policies to accommodate diverse needs and work-life balance, and promote gender pay equity.
Click here to read Captive International’s first Influential Women in Captive Insurance publication, celebrating the women transforming the captive sector through their sustained excellence and leadership.
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