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In our Week 1 introductions, I briefly touched upon my occupation and career in Insurance and Financial Service. I came to work in insurance from an automotive background. I onboarded with a large and well-known insurance company in 1996. I worked for this company in claims as both a front-line employee and as a Leader and Manager for New England. In 2017 my career shifted from claims at the corporate level to the agency channel as a small business owner, representing the same company.

Equity is an active topic in my industry. Insurance is largely regulated at the state level. While this can make for varied statutes regulating insurance from state to state, there are organizations responsible for setting consistent standards across state lines. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is one such organization. This is a non-governmental organization (NGO) comprised of heads of insurance from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia (NAIC, n.d.). The NAIC actively discusses, and problem solves for issues surrounding equity and diversity. Their website has an entire set of resources dedicated to "Race & Insurance" (NAIC, 2024). A brief review of that resource quickly leads to many articles and documents related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Historical context from the NAIC website briefly describes issues surrounding discrimination in insurance. Examples range from targeting Black people with high cost and low value insurance policies in the early 1900s, to more recent investigations into how credit-based insurance scores, which directly affect cost, are biased by race.

The Financial Services industry is mostly regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC recognizes and promotes industry trends towards equity, recognizing that diversity and inclusion "leads to better business performance and because it promotes equality of opportunity" (US SEC, 2024). The SEC encourages firms it regulates to follow the standards it sets regarding diversity assessment and practices.

My industry is heavily weighted in regulating itself and focuses on Equity as part of this self-governance. The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is the preeminent association for insurance and financial service professions in the US (NAIFA, n.d.). Established in 1890, its purpose is to promote financial security for all Americans. With members adhering to a strong code of ethics, it accomplishes its goal by way of advocacy and professional development of its members. Equity through diversity is an ongoing theme at NAIFA. A plethora of resources are available from their site online. These resources include links to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) symposiums, a Diversity Champion Awards, DEI partnerships within the industry and additional DEI resources (NAIFA, n.d.).

My experiences largely coincided with what I have uncovered this week within my industry. The company I affiliate with also focuses on Inclusive Diversity & Equity as a "core value" (Allstate, 2024). While acting as a regional manager, I regularly interacted with a diverse workforce. Through those experiences and through active education in my workplace, I was exposed regularly to the concept of leveraging Inclusive Diversity for success. Despite recent setbacks to diversity and inclusion in many corners of corporate America due to right leaning political policies (Ring, 2024), organizations that embrace Inclusive Diversity continue to outperform organizations that are not inclusive and/or organizations that are not diverse. Past and recent studies from McKinsey & Company continue to show that an inclusive, diverse workforce is vital to success. Their most recent study showed "a 39 percent increased likelihood of outperformance for those in the top quartile of ethnic representation versus the bottom quartile" (MCKINSEY, 2023).

Active conversations regarding Equity and Diversity continue to happen and are consistent with my experiences. "A review of Diversity and Inclusion at America's Largest Insurance Companies" (Congressional Research Service, 2022) presented in 2022 to the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion presented amongst many findings, survey results taken by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in 2021 indicated that of the roughly 125 million people employed in the private sector in the US, roughly 2.8 million were employed in the insurance & financial services industry. Of That 2.8 million, women were well represented at ~59%. This is consistent with the workforce in my office which is predominantly female at ~70%.

While more work remains to be done, the Insurance and Financial Services sectors have active participation in promoting equity. This holds true at all levels with examples from the federal government, state government, NGO industry related organizations, and corporate entities. While my personal workplace lacks ethnic diversity, it is dominated by women. The age range of folks I work with is from 43 to 70 and is comprised of a diverse degree of views. I do feel that my experiences past and present in this industry are consistent with the conversations around equity at the varying levels identified.