Ice cream or insurance? It’s a choice
few of us have to make. And a career choice even fewer encounter. Among those
who faced such a decision is Sara Richards, CPCU, a business technology analyst
at EMC Insurance Companies.
After high school, she studied business
at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. “I planned to pursue an accounting degree
but was drawn to marketing,” she explains. “During college, I had multiple
internships that helped me learn basic principles of business not taught in
classrooms—things like dynamics of working on a team and the importance of
presentation skills.”
Richards interned with an industrial
pump manufacturer, a dairy specializing in ice cream, and an insurance company.
Her favorite? “The one involving ice cream,” she recalls. But she opted for
insurance—interning during her last college summer at EMC Insurance in Des
Moines, where her now-husband lived. She served in the firm’s home-office
marketing department, which was fairly new at that time.
“My key summer project was analyzing
company marketing materials and recommending updates,” she explains. While
there, she got to travel with field marketing reps, participate in a risk
improvement visit to a construction site, see how claims are adjusted, and
learn more about underwriting.
Career
Path
Upon graduation, Richards went
full-time in EMC marketing’s product management unit, where she helped research
and launch a new small business product. She also worked on the company’s
overall personal lines automation strategy. “‘Real Time’ was a new buzz word,
to me anyway,” she explains.
In May 2006, she attended the Las Vegas ACORD LOMA conference. “That opened my
eyes to the bigger picture,” she recalls. “Other companies were working toward
the same goals, agencies were advocating for technologies they wanted and
needed, and solution providers were connecting us together.”
The experience fueled her passion for
insurance technology and independent agencies. “It also confirmed my ‘insurance
nerd’ status,” Richards admits.
She subsequently assumed a branch
marketing rep role, serving western Iowa. “Seeing agency operations firsthand
and working with agencies on production goals, issues and technology was a huge
learning experience—one I believe every insurance company employee should
have,” she says.
The job instilled in her a sense of
urgency. “As I worked with agencies, what stuck out to me was how underutilized
agency technology was in many offices,” she explains. “I conducted
lunch-n-learns for agencies on real-time workflow implementation, led hands-on
tech training for CSRs and created campaigns with agencies to increase their
adoption of Real Time and Download.”
In 2008, she joined EMC’s IT team, working on agency connectivity. “From
researching and managing development of new Real Time and Download services to
promoting these at user group events to participating on industry work groups,
there’s never been a dull moment!” she notes.
Industry
Involvement
At a breakfast during her first ACT
meeting in 2008, she shared a success story with Lisa Parry Becker. “The next
thing I know,” Richards says, “she’s handing me the microphone during the
meeting!” There was no turning back. She was involved.
She values the ACT practice of everyone
swapping their own hats for industry hats and working together. “It’s inspiring
to see the passion among agents who attend and the determination in carriers
and vendors to bring solutions to life,” she says, noting that ACT helps her
connect the dots back at her desk.
“Insurance technology is changing
faster than ever, and it’s exciting to see changes positively benefit our
agency partners,” she observes. “One of the most rewarding parts of my career
is involvement with the user groups.” She serves on the NetVU Advisory Board
and is involved with the NetVU Young Professionals Chapter.
Richards says people she’s met through
ACT and other industry groups have taught her much and have been willing
resources whenever needed. “I feel really lucky to have made those connections
as a young—well, younger—professional,”
she explains. “We need to engage more young professionals—and not just young
agents, but young carrier professionals,
too. I know firsthand the kind of impact involvement can have.”
Personal
Side
Richards and her husband, an underwriter she describes as a fellow insurance
nerd, have lived in the Des Moines area for 10 years. “We love being close to
our family and friends,” she explains.
They also enjoy spending time outside
with their sons—ages four and one—when the weather allows. Trying new
restaurants and wine with friends are among their other pleasures, as is
settling down and getting lost in a good book.