Zurich North America accepts 2 Innovation Awards in NYC

Zurich North America team members took the stage at the 2022 Business Insurance U.S. Insurance Awards in New York to accept two Innovation Awards for groundbreaking solutions designed for customers’ evolving risk management needs.

Zurich won one award for International Towers by Zurich (ITZ), developed in response to mounting social inflation in jury awards in the United States. ITZ provides U.S.-domiciled multinational companies with a separate Directors & Officers (D&O) coverage tower for their foreign directors and officers. This assures they will have reliable management liability coverage in place, even if one or more large claims or jury awards in the U.S. erodes the aggregate coverage limit. (Read the Business Insurance interview with one of the co-creators here.)

Zurich also won for its Workplace DEI Service, introduced by Zurich Resilience Solutions (ZRS) early this year to help companies make meaningful, measurable progress on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The Workplace DEI Service provides risk managers and their organizations with a rigorous, analytical model for assessing their DEI maturity and developing a roadmap to reach their goals. ZRS also offers consulting and training to address gaps and opportunities. (Read the Business Insurance interview with two of the co-creators here.)

“It’s an honor and a point of pride to receive two Innovation Awards from Business Insurance,” said Zurich North America CEO Kristof Terryn. “Helping our customers confront emerging risks and opportunities head-on is at the heart of what we do at Zurich. I congratulate these teams for taking bold action toward our aspiration to be one of the most responsible and impactful companies on the planet.”

Zurich was one of only two companies to take home two Innovation Awards, which recognize leadership, inventiveness and ingenuity in products and services designed for risk management professionals. The 12 winners were chosen  by an independent panel of professional risk managers, who judged the more than 80 entries.

Now in its 13^th year, the awards ceremony returned live to New York City for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With many colleagues applauding, Spring Uphoff Neely, Head of Strategy and Execution for International Programs from Zurich, accepted the award for ITZ on behalf of the team that developed it. Julia Oltmanns, Director of DEI Services for Zurich Resilience Solutions, accepted the award for the Workplace DEI Service on behalf of the team that developed it.

In a Voices of Innovation article in Business Insurance, Jessica Hamilton, Vice President of Innovation and Business Development for Zurich North America, credited employees with intellectual curiosity and leaders who empower experimentation for helping to create a culture of innovation at Zurich.

“Risk is a fundamental to innovation,” Hamilton said. “Most innovations begin with a risk that others were not willing to take. We can all be inspired by these teams’ willingness to push forward.”