A.M. Best and Insurance Careers Movement hosted its annualInsurance Careers Movement Town Hall on Feb. 1, 2018. The virtualevent was attended by a number of insurance carriers, such as AIG,Marsh and McLennan and the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation(IICF), among others.

Since 2015, February has been recognized as Insurance CareersMonth by a variety of carriers, agents/brokers, tradeassociations and industry partners who turned a once-a-year eventinto an ongoing campaign: the Insurance Careers Movement.

The insurance industry is constantly adapting to a changingsociety, but the imminent change the industry is gearing for is thenumber of baby boomers set to retire in the coming years.To counter this, insurance leaders know they need to connect withmillennials to bridge the gap. Insurance Careers Months serves tohighlight all the benefits of a career in insurance whilerecruiting the next wave of talent.

Related: 6 ways to tackle the insurance industry talentgap

CEOs share their thoughts

Every year, the event attracts a number of leaders in theinsurance industry. Many expressed their hopes regarding theindustry's future and how diversity will help companies attractyounger talent, among other subjects. Here a few statements fromthe town hall.

Brian Duperreault, president and CEO of AIG:“…I think we all find ourselves surprisingly in the insurancebusiness. That's just the nature of the beast. It's a wonderfulrevelation. When you find out what this is really like, you had noidea. [Many of us] were lucky enough frankly to find this business…I think it's incumbent upon us, and that's part of this wholecareers movement, to get the word out, to explain to others howgood this really is. We have such great material, such a greatstory to tell. We've got to tell it.”

Bill Ross, CEO of IICF: “Millennialscan help drive… cultural change to bring about a new way ofthinking about insurance both in the working environment and theproducts themselves. As a new individual considering employment Iwould stop for a moment and say, what is going to excite you? Learnabout the industry, understand its complexities but also look atits opportunities… If you just take that moment to look atinsurance, you'll find there are many opportunities and manyexciting experiences that you can follow.”

Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyd's ofLondon: “Diversity to me is all about tapping into thebest and brightest talent, whoever they are, wherever they comefrom. We want a whole sort of melting pot of different types ofpeople… In order for us to be competitive and to be very successfulgoing forward, we've got to have our employees more and morereflecting our customer base. Therefore, you understand theirneeds. You can communicate in the same language as they communicatewith you. Importantly, you have a much better understanding andrapport.”

For ideas and resources to participate in Insurance CareersMonth, go to InsuranceCareersTrifecta.org, and follow theconversation on Twitter using the hashtags #InsuranceCareersMonthand #CareerTrifecta. Full videos of this year's event canbe found at http://www.ambest.tv/icm2018.

Related: Which P&C companies score high marks fordiversity?