The RISE Awards: Why Recognizing Insurance Leaders Early Matters

Insurance industry awards often celebrate people once they’ve already established themselves as leaders. Meanwhile, insurance talks a lot about its talent problem. Experienced professionals are retiring, and companies are working hard to attract and keep the people who will replace them. Yet the industry often waits years to tell its emerging talent that their work stands out. By then, some of those people have already decided whether insurance is a place where they can grow.

RISE started with a different idea: recognize people early, while it can still change their trajectory.

Where it started

In 2017, the first RISE Awards recognized 10 Rising Stars. The goal was simple. If the industry wanted to attract and retain the next generation, it needed to recognize exceptional professionals earlier in their careers, not years after everyone already knew their names.

In many ways, announcing the RISE Awards was also the announcement of RISE.

In 2021, the program became the RISE 35 Under 35, focused on professionals in roughly the first 10 to 15 years of their careers. The Awards have since grown to include the LEAD Award (Leadership in Equity and Diversity), Mentor of the Year, Innovator of the Year, and the Impact Award.

Why early recognition is leadership development

An award doesn’t earn anyone a promotion. People do that themselves. But being recognized early changes a few things that matter.

Leaders outside your own company start to know your name. You get invited into rooms you might not have entered yet, as a speaker, a mentor, a board member, or a peer. Having an industry say “your work stands out” can also give you the confidence to go after the next role instead of waiting to be asked.

That’s why RISE treats recognition as the first step in developing leaders, not a finish line.

What happens after recognition

After ten years and 223 winners, we wanted to see whether the approach held up. We compared winners’ titles when they were recognized with their titles today, and had enough information to do that for 207 of them.

The clearest signal comes from winners who have had time to grow. Among those recognized between 2017 and 2023, 56% have since earned a clear promotion. Across all 207, including recent winners who have had only a year or two, 100 have been promoted.

The more telling pattern is who moved into senior leadership. Among winners who weren’t yet directors when they were recognized, 32% have since become directors or higher. Among those who weren’t yet VPs, 21% have since reached VP level or above.

Some of those moves happened quickly. Awais Farooq won a RISE Award in 2022. Four years later, he’s a Chief Claims Officer, one of the 12% of past winners now serving as presidents, chief officers, EVPs, founders, or CEOs.

Taken together, past winners now form a real bench of insurance leadership. More than half hold director-level roles or higher, and nearly a third are at the VP level or above.

Growth doesn’t always show up in a title

Title changes are one measure, but not the only one. Benjamin Rosser was a casualty claims adjuster when he was recognized in 2017. Today he leads underwriting quality, portfolio performance, and partner strategy at MMG, a move across two disciplines.

Kimberly Vaughn, also a 2017 winner, went from AVP of Workers’ Compensation Claims to Vice President of Claims. Even so, her advice points somewhere other than the org chart. “It’s easy to focus solely on upward promotions,” she said, “but lateral opportunities can be just as powerful for growth.”

Recognition is where it starts

Recognition was always meant to be the beginning of the relationship with RISE. After someone is recognized, the next things that help are a mentor, peers working through the same challenges, education, and chances to lead.

That’s why RISE grew into mentorship, the Innovators Lab, Elite 50 Internships, Pop-Ups, the Leadership Summit, and a community of more than 12,000 insurance professionals. Many past winners now show up on the other side of those programs as mentors, speakers, board members, and nominators for the next class.

Tricia Danks, a 2017 winner who now leads TPA liability programs, described what that looks like: “Helping create opportunities to build confidence, expand networks, and build a career in this industry has become one of the most meaningful parts of my work.”

That’s the cycle RISE was built on. Recognize people early, invest in them, and they go on to invest in the people behind them.

Nominations for the 2027 RISE Awards open October 19

If you lead a team, nominating someone is one of the simplest ways to show them they have a future in this industry. Nominations are opening earlier this year and run from October 19 through November 20, with categories for 35 Under 35, LEAD, Mentor of the Year, and Innovator of the Year.

Learn more about the RISE Awards.

If you’re building your own insurance career, join RISE. Membership is free, and it connects you with mentors, peers, and people who have been where you’re trying to go.