Expanding the insurance industry's workforce diversity,including recruiting and developing more female executives, is notonly good politics and good corporate citizenship, but goodbusiness, one award-winning woman suggests.

Indeed, for more female insurance executives to rise to thecoveted “C-suite”–where CEOs, CFOs and other top company officialsreside–carriers need to establish proactive recruitment, mentoringand development programs that are family-friendly, according toJanice Tomlinson, named 2009's “Insurance Woman of the Year Award”by the Association of Professional Insurance Women.

This year's honoree–who is executive vice president andinternational field operations manager for Chubb Corp.–has over 30years of experience in the business. She began her career with St.Paul Insurance (now Travelers), before joining Chubb Corp. in 1973as a commercial underwriter, then managed several underwritingdepartments before becoming worldwide human resources director in1990.

In 1995, she was appointed Canadian zone officer, chair andpresident of Chubb Canada, and was named to her current position in2003.

In an interview with National Underwriter prior to herAPIW award presentation last week, Ms. Tomlinson said she issurprised that the rise of more women to chief executive levels hasnot been more rapid. One reason may be that women have not beenexposed to the variety of positions and opportunities an individualneeds as the background and foundation to be catapulted into thehighest levels of a carrier.

“If you look at anyone who is in an executive position, theyhave to have a certain amount of experience,” she observed. “Thereis just no way anyone is automatically ushered in the door andnamed a V.P. or COO position. That is just not going to happen. Youhave to have the experience.”

However, considering the number ofwomen in the industry and the years of experience some have, it issurprising more have not moved into those top positions, she said.Companies, she believes, “have good intentions about what they wantto do, but it hasn't necessarily been demonstrated at the highestlevels of most organizations.”

While there are no easy answers on this issue, she said,diversity at the top is essential to doing business, so insurancecompanies need to focus on developing not just women, but all oftheir people, to have the necessary experience to be ready for topjobs when they open up.

“We really have to look at how we cross-train. How do we createthose assignments that are wonderful learning opportunities so thatyou can in fact be ready for that [top-level position]?” Ms.Tomlinson said.

“It is really diversity-of-job in terms of making certain thatno matter who is ultimately going to be in a senior position, thatthey have that experience level and have it across levels so thatthey can move into those jobs,” she added. “That is what I thinkcompanies have to do.”

Her entry into the industry was in some ways typical of many, asshe never planned to be in the insurance business.

After graduating college with a degree in English, she foundthere were not a lot of job opportunities available. Someonesuggested she look into getting a position with the St. PaulCompanies, and she ended up entering the insurer's trainingprogram.

After a year with St. Paul, she married her husband, Tom, andmoved from Massachusetts to Connecticut, leaving St. Paul andjoining Chubb. It was there that she began to understand thepossibilities of a career in the insurance industry and startedmaking her way to the top.

In the early 1970s, she noted, women were just starting to moveinto the industry, but the issue of gender was never a hindrance atChubb. However, there were not a lot of role models at that time,and what was required of someone to rise in company was not alwaysclear, she said.

Today, however, the path for women has been blazed with the helpof mentors and development programs, according to Ms. Tomlinson.“It was just not clear back then what was required in order to besuccessful,” she said. “A woman really needed to ask a lot ofquestions and find someone to answer them.”

She said that for her, at Chubb, there were a lot of supportivepeople who did not stand in her way moving forward.

She admits that her experience at Chubb was probably uniquebecause the company has always had a culture of being “supportiveand collaborative, and that makes a big difference.”

The issue of executives respecting her as a manger wouldperiodically arise while dealing with producers, who wouldsometimes challenge her authority and try to find ways aroundworking with her–although eventually, her determination won outwith acceptance, she noted.

One issue challenging many women in the corporate world is howto balance managing a family while continuing their career–whichhshe faced while raising her son Ryan (who is also in the insurancebusiness today). Ms. Tomlinson said that meant dedicating a lot oftime working on both aspects of her busy life.

“One is not exclusive from the other,” she pointed out. “They gohand-in-hand.”

She noted that it is not easy for any woman to strike thatbalance, and trying to find it may not be right for everyone.“Sometimes it has to be a choice between the family and thecorporation,” she said. “I was fortunate that I have a verysupportive husband that wanted to see me be successful.”

She found her balance by working hard during the week andreserving the weekends for her son. “There is no pat answer,” shepointed out.

However, she is supportive of part-time programs that help womento return to the workforce while raising a family. She said theseprograms allow women to remain connected to the industry, making iteasier to return to full-time work eventually.

Such policies also help carriers retain valuable talent andexperienced personnel, and are far less expensive than having totrain someone from scratch. “If a company wants to retain talent,how better than putting a program in place that keeps talent ratherthan losing what has been invested in that individual,” sheexplained.

Ms. Tomlinson said the industry should not only be recruitingmore women, but aim at a whole generation of new types of people inthis increasingly diverse society.

“There is no question that there is a war for talent with thebaby boomers retiring over the next 10-plus years,” said Ms.Tomlinson, adding that to diversify the work force, it will be upto the insurance industry to do its upmost to make sure it has animage that will attract all types of individuals.

“This is a challenging, but wonderful industry that has createdsignificant opportunities, not just for me but for many otherpeople,” observed Ms. Tomlinson.

“I think one of the things we need to do is to make certain thatwe are creating a good message about the industry so that as talentleaves, we are able to attract the best and brightest to a businessthat is a major part of everyone's life and [a major] part of theeconomy,” she concluded.