2016
| NOTABLE WOMEN IN REINSURANCE
ARLENE KERN
Strategic Innovation Leader Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
Arlene has come far in the reinsurance industry – a field she knew little about when a student, as she suspects is the case with many of her colleagues. After receiving dual degrees in accounting and economics, she began looking for accounting positions. Soon, she landed a job at State Farm Insurance within the company’ s accounting finance division. At the time, she had not planned on a career in the insurance and / or reinsurance space.
After State Farm, Arlene moved to accounting at the international reinsurance company Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. That’ s where her natural curiosity got the better of her: she realized she wanted to become more active in the company’ s core business. She immediately took advantage of the organization’ s formal mentorship program and focused on developing a broader background in areas such as underwriting and portfolio management.
Throughout her career, Arlene points to mentorship as a key component to her success. Fifteen years later, she still has the same mentor.“ We were one of the first pairings, and he and I still meet a few times a year,” Arlene says. She had such a good experience as a mentee that over the years she has served as a mentor to others through the same program.“ I’ ve been more than happy to be on the other side of it,” she says.
Arlene has successfully evolved her role within Munich Re during her tenure there. In 2003, she assumed the title of Head of Business Intelligence( BI) Consulting, a position she held for more than six years. Subsequently, she served nearly seven years as Vice President, Property Underwriter, assisting national clients.“ When making the transition into my third position at Munich Re, I was not fixated on making an upward move,” she said. She was committed to transitioning to the business unit that supported the core offerings of the company, noting that experience would be worth more than a bigger title. I decided to go well outside of my comfort zone – and those are big risks, taking on new challenges and new partners,” she says. People questioned it at the time, but she found that expanding her knowledge base in this way paid off.“ It’ s one of the advantages of working for a large company,” she says.“ It’ s possible to transition to a new career while staying within the same firm.” path forward doesn’ t have to be upward,” she says. Even in advising two of her children, both in their twenties and working for large companies, she suggests thinking about careers as nonlinear.“ You sell yourself short if you don’ t recognize the potential growth in experience that can come from lateral moves,” she says.“ I think of it as creating space for new possibilities.”
For Arlene, directing a career depends on priorities.“ If your values are to be at the top of the corporate ladder, then your decisions will grow out of that,” she observes.“ If you value constant learning, and building your experience base, then those lateral moves can make a lot of sense.”
She advises examining your own skillsets and inviting your network to be honest with you.“ There is tremendous value in acknowledging your own gaps,” she says.“ The skills you build through breadth of knowledge are equally important as those built through depth of knowledge. Opportunities at the top get tighter and tighter, a broad-based background can be a real asset.”
Several volunteer organizations have recognized Arlene for her service and leadership in the industry. A breaker of glass ceilings, she will become the first female president of the Intermediaries and Reinsurance Underwriters Association( IRUA) in April 2017. As for her current role, she serves as part of an incubator team where she creates a disciplined, sustained innovation practice to generate economic growth for her company’ s US property / casualty( P & C) operations.
She attributes part of her success to her willingness to make nontraditional career moves.“ It’ s important to realize that your
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