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29 July 2024NewsAnalysis

Influential Women in Captive Insurance: Karin Landry

Karin Landry, Managing partner, Spring Consulting Group

With more than 25 years of experience in the insurance, healthcare, risk financing and benefits industries, Karin Landry is an internationally recognised thought leader in this sphere. As managing partner of Spring Consulting Group, she helps clients develop customised, innovative solutions including developing insurance and captive entities, designing new health and life products, evaluating benefits strategies and funding, and creating market entry strategies for companies in the retirement area.

She holds eight patents in insurance and is or has been on boards and/or advisories for CICA, Fallon Health and VCIA.

Landry has won numerous awards, including 2017 Power Broker, 2023 Power 50, and is a licensed insurance advisor for life, health and property and casualty.

How did you get started in the captive insurance industry?

I was working at a boutique insurance firm, similar to Spring in that nature, but it was more focused on P&C. There was a lot of work at the company being done in the captives space, and I was able to learn about it and find ways to apply it to employee benefits.

I went to the CICA conference and was the only woman there, and my presentation on funding benefits in a captive was very well received in the press and the industry. It really caught fire.

After that, my career catapulted into the benefits captive space. Over the following years the industry saw a large movement toward benefits captives; it was exciting to be a part of it from the start.

Who inspired you or acted as a mentor in your career?

Early on, I took inspiration from my mother who was well-educated and worked hard as a teacher. She encouraged me to study based on my interests and follow my dreams. Later on, the president of the small consulting firm I mentioned above was a great mentor to me professionally; he helped me to take a concept and flesh it out in detail to put it into action.

A woman consultant at the same company helped me move forward as well.

What do you think deters people from entering the world of captives?

Captive insurance, for most people, is not a familiar topic or point of household conversation. For people to be interested in captives, they have to have heard of the concept. As captives continue to grow, I believe awareness will increase naturally. However, we should look to colleges and universities to expand educational offerings in this area, as well as institutions such as the International Center for Captive Insurance Education, CICA, and others to assist in spreading the word.

In addition to awareness, insurance has a public relations issue. The industry at large has been challenged with the perception of being an ageing, dull, or outdated field; this is not necessarily true, but it’s up to industry professionals to flip the script and find ways to connect with a more diverse pool of talent.

People don’t always realise that we weave more exciting concepts such as investments and technologies into insurance, and this is especially true for captives.

“People don’t always realise that we weave more exciting concepts such as investments and technologies into insurance.”

How can mentorship and sponsorship programmes be designed to better support the career development of women?

Having enough women mentees is important; many men are well-suited to provide mentorship and career guidance, but a woman in a male-dominated field is more likely to feel comfortable and compatible with a woman mentor. Additionally, personality fit and matching needs with skills are important.

At Alera Group, our mentorship programme leverages the Predictive Index to understand the characteristics at play and inform alignment between mentor and mentee. There are other ways to achieve this, but diving into personality types is a very effective way to ensure complementary pairings.

In what ways can companies in the sector create a more inclusive culture that actively promotes gender diversity at all levels?

As an ageing industry, recruiting women should be one goal within the overarching strategy for the next generation and diversification of talent. What’s most important here is to practise what you preach; if you want to attract women to the field, ensure that you have women who are visible and in prominent, decision-making positions.

Promote women who are qualified, and involve women in recruitment and retention efforts. Foster inclusive and supportive environments; consider women’s mentorship programmes or women’s networking groups. Work to understand the pain points of existing women in the space, and incorporate their voices into decisions around change.

Pay equity is still an issue in 2024 and this is especially true in insurance; as long as men continue to make more money than women for the same role, women candidates will keep gravitating toward fields where pay equity is better. Although the numbers might be small, there are highly successful women leaders in captives right now; we need to leverage their perspectives as we tackle this issue.

What challenges are gender-specific to women in the captives industry?

I would say the challenges for women in captive insurance are the same as they are for women in insurance more broadly, or even other traditionally male-dominated fields such as finance or technology. Barriers still exist around pay equity; a lack of attention on women’s health issues and how they play out in the workforce (eg, paid family and medical care leave, reproductive benefits, flexible work arrangements for caregivers, etc); an overall conservative, male-centric environment; and prevalence of women in leadership positions or opportunities for career advancement.

What solutions would you like to see?

As mentioned above, practising what you preach and women’s mentorship programmes are key considerations. In addition, a comprehensive and action-oriented diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy will ensure we address more than just women’s challenges.

Coming from an employee benefits background, I feel it’s important to consider your benefits package—are you addressing women’s health concerns? Are you offering paid parental leave or fertility benefits? There is a wide range of women’s health considerations, some of which can be reflected in a traditional medical plan, while others may require more innovative thinking around overall wellbeing, targeted point solutions, and the like.

What are your ambitions?

I would like to continue to work with a diverse group of people on interesting projects that help move employee benefits, and therefore organisations, forward. One day I hope we’ll see that benefits and P&C lines are in almost every captive out there, and I think we are heading in the right direction.

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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