Picking the Top 10

Do you remember what it felt like being a kid? Sure you do. You may be reading an insurance magazine, but you’re not that old.

When I was a kid, I remember thinking 40-year-olds were ancient, but now I realize we’re just in our prime at this age. (Unless you’re a professional athlete—then you really are ancient.)

Yes, dear broker, it’s that time of year again: time for our annual Top 10 Under 40.

People often ask me how we select our Top 10. Well, it’s no mean feat. Every year, we get flooded with nominations that come in from across the country. When we first started the Top 10 Under 40, I asked to be notified every time we received a submission. It didn’t take long before my inbox was flooded, and I had to ask the team to stop the notifications!

But the truth is, it’s not me or my staff who pick the Top 10. We’re not in the insurance business—we’re in the media business—so it wouldn’t be right for us to be judging brokers on their performance or their reputation in the industry. That’s why we assemble a panel of judges from insurance carriers to select the Top 10 every year.

We like to think this makes our Top 10 Under 40 truly meaningful. We aren’t just honouring a handful of brokers who we’ve chosen at random—they’ve been selected by industry colleagues who have spent years working with these individuals. I’m always impressed at the research and feedback each judge comes armed with during our selection process.

And, as it happens, young talent is becoming more vital to the insurance industry than ever before. The latest demographic research study from the Insurance Institute of Canada predicts that, by the year 2022, more than half of the baby boomers currently working in insurance will be retired. And by 2027, they’ll all be retired.

When you consider that 75% of senior managers in insurance are 45 or older, it’s clear that the industry needs to think long and hard about who the leaders of tomorrow will be. Fortunately, I think we’ve got more than a few of them in the pages of this magazine.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers who submitted nominations for this year’s Top 10 Under 40. I’d also like to thank Sandra Henkel of Trisura Guarantee, Tom Reikman of Economical Insurance, Shari Dodsworth of Northbridge Insurance and Stephen Corea of Gore Mutual for serving as our judging panel. We couldn’t have done this issue without you.

Please remember to visit our website in October, when voting opens for our annual Peer-to-Peer awards. You can cast a ballot for three of the brokers featured in this issue. The winners will be revealed at our annual Top Broker Summit in November.

Until then, sit back, relax and read on, dear broker.

Stefanie MacDonald, Publisher

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Copyright © 2018 Transcontinental Media G.P. This article first appeared in the August edition of Canadian Insurance Top Broker magazine

This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.