Zurich celebrates Women in Construction Week
Zurich Construction team members share why they like working in construction risk management and why Zurich is a great choice for their careers.
Women in construction were few and far between when Kelly Craighead started working on the risk management side of the industry about 25 years ago.
“Thick-skinned and determined women proved that they could successfully navigate contractor doubts and skillfully present insurance options to them,” said Craighead, a Construction Underwriting Account Service Manager at Zurich North America.
Sometimes, women did it in stealth mode.
“Many years ago, we didn’t always see our customers or brokers. We’d fax documents back and forth. My name, Kelly, was mostly assumed to be a male name,” Craighead says. “I remember successfully binding coverage for a complex insurance issue. Soon after, the broker and I connected by phone. He was surprised to find out that a woman was the wholesale broker who was able to solve the complex coverage problem.”
Today, women in construction are less likely to elicit a surprised reaction. More women are working in various capacities in construction. Some are running construction groups at carriers — including Kelly Kinzer at Zurich — or at brokerages, general contractors, subcontractors and beyond. And they’re looking to introduce more women to the wide range of opportunities to build a bright future in construction.
That’s why Zurich Construction is a sponsor of the 2024 Women in Construction Week, March 3-9, which helps the National Association of Women in Construction raise awareness of varied career options in construction while celebrating the success of women in the industry.
“We still have a long road ahead of us, but we’ve made significant progress, and I only expect that to accelerate going forward,” Kinzer said. “When I look inward at the team we’ve assembled, we’ve attracted some really strong female leadership at all levels of the organization, and we have some really strong women working with us today who will be future leaders.”
Erin O’Brien started as a Zurich intern in 2015 and joined full time in 2017 as part of Zurich’s Underwriting Training Program. She was based in Zurich Construction from the beginning.
“When I first started, at external meetings, I was often the only woman in the room, and most of the time, the youngest. This was a little intimidating as a fresh college grad, but the leadership and team at Zurich empowered me to become confident and excel in my role in the years since,” said O’Brien, who is now a Senior Underwriter. “The team is filled with so many talented women at all levels of the organization. I feel lucky to be among them and learn from them every day.”
At the forefront of economic trends
Megan Jameson, Construction Technical Director on Kinzer’s team, says the construction space has a lot to offer anyone looking for an exciting, fulfilling career.
“My favorite aspect of supporting construction risk management is that you’re effectively on the forefront of most macroeconomic trends,” Jameson said. “We get to have a pulse on what areas of the country are booming or receding, what industries are growing, what socioeconomic lifestyle changes are taking place in terms of how people live, for example, and what cool new technology is being embedded into new buildings and infrastructure. It’s a privilege to be a female leader in this space at this moment in time, when our unique perspective and value are more and more fairly represented in the conversation.”
A few other women at Zurich shared how and why they like working in construction risk management:
Jennifer Fortunato, Vice President of Construction Specialties Risk Engineering at Zurich, started her career as a superintendent on construction jobsites — one of only five women superintendents in a large metropolitan area where she lived and worked. She now works in Zurich Resilience Solutions. “Today there are women on virtually every construction jobsite that our Risk Engineers visit,” she said. “Working in the construction industry, no two days are alike and that’s what really makes it fun. And Zurich has been extremely supportive of my career development.”
Natia Swan, Underwriting Manager for Construction Casualty, says that seeing Kinzer at the helm of Construction at Zurich was part of the reason she was drawn to accept a role at Zurich a couple of years ago. “It speaks to the culture at Zurich,” Swan said, where she has found both the opportunity to excel and the flexibility to balance priorities, including hers as a professional and a mother of two.
Michelle Hristozova has been in the industry a little over two years, after starting as an apprentice at Zurich in 2017. She completed the two-year program, earning her associate degree in the process. Within the next three years she reached her goal of becoming a Construction Property Underwriter. She also earned her bachelor’s degree while working and earning full time, with help from Zurich’s tuition benefits.
“The tools I’ve been given, all the opportunities here, it makes me look forward to what can I achieve in the next five years,” Hristozova said.
Want to learn more about working in construction? Listen to the 2023 Women in Construction episode of our Future of Risk podcast series, featuring special guests Brenna Mann, Head of Strategy for U.S. Construction and Infrastructure at Aon; and Nocona Schulz, Senior Vice President for Corporate Insurance at Clayco, a real estate, architecture, engineering and construction firm.
Are you interested in working with a leading provider of construction insurance solutions, one that’s committed to advancing diversity, sustainability and the resilience of its customers? Explore Zurich career options.
Learn about Zurich’s Construction solutions.