In this episode we learn why Brandon Sweitzer and Tony Markel support risk management education in the insurance space and the need to teach students to embrace new technology whilst keeping the personal touch. Tony is a giant in the industry, both literally and figuratively, and played a key role in the evolution of Lloyd's. Brandon's experience and viewpoint is also invaluable, as is his work in education.
I think today’s industry is being run by a group of – frankly – better educated, better technically strong individuals than we were fortunate enough even to have 25 or 30 years ago.
Tony Markel, retired vice chairman, president, and COO of Markel
Anthony F. Markel serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Company. Mr. Markel has been the President and Chief Operating Officer March 1992-April 2008. Director, Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs Company, 1998-2008. Mr. Markel has been employed by the Company since 1964 and has been a member of its senior leadership team since it went public, with a focus on operations.
He has held numerous leadership positions in the insurance industry (most recently as a member of the Board of Governors of the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America from 2002 to 2009) and has served as a director of Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs Company, another public company involved in the insurance business, before its acquisition by Willis Group Holdings PLC. Mr. Markel provides an exceptional breadth of industry-relevant experience to the Board and its deliberations.
The statistics, at least the latest I have, are that 95% of people who are hired into the insurance industry don't go to business school… We're trying to give a small and hopefully growing cadre of what Tony described generally better-educated young people the wherewithal to get into this business and make an impact.
Brandon Sweitzer, Dean at St. John University’s Greenberg School of Risk Management, former President and CEO of Guy Carpenter
Brandon W. Sweitzer serves as Independent Director of the Company. Mr. Sweitzer is the Dean of the School of Risk Management, St. John’s University. He is a director of their subsidiaries Odyssey Group and Falcon Insurance Company. Mr. Sweitzer also serves on the Board of the School of Risk Management, St. John’s University, and is past president of the Board of Trustees and a Trustee emeritus of the Kent School.
Mr. Sweitzer became Chief Financial Officer of Marsh Inc. in 1981, and was its President from 1999 through 2000. From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Sweitzer served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Guy Carpenter & Company. Mr. Sweitzer is a member of our Compensation and Governance and Nominating Committees and is a resident of New Canaan, Connecticut, U.S.A.
Editor's Bio: Meg Green
Meg Green, our managing editor, is a former daily newspaper journalist who joined Insider Engage in 2021 after a storied 23-year career with AM Best. Since joining AM Best in 1998, she has covered nearly every facet of the insurance industry - and is still learning every day!
After two decades in print, Meg spent the last decade focusing on video story telling and enjoys speaking to the brightest minds in the industry about the opportunities ahead. Meg was thrilled to join the Insurance Insider family to take the helm of the newly launched Insider Engage - think of it as the multimedia Sunday magazine to the Insider's breaking news.
