To ensure that the Business Insurance Diversity & Inclusion Institute effectively assists the commercial insurance industry in adapting to the demographic diversity of its customer base, it welcomes eight corporate risk managers to its Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board.

These risk executives join the other board members from D&I Partner companies and will provide the buyer’s perspective. The board will work on many initiatives, including the development of relevant content for the Institute’s second annual conference, “Maximize your Bottom Line: How Inclusive Cultures Pay Off,” which will be held Sept. 18-19, 2017, in Chicago. They will also recommend initiatives they would like to see the D&I Institute pursue to help companies in the commercial insurance industry become more diverse and inclusive.

The 2017 D&I Advisory Board includes these risk management executives:

• Carol Arendall, Vice President, Risk Management, US Foods 

• Connie Bartels, Senior Director, Risk Management, United Technologies Corp. 

• Leslie Lamb, Director, Global Risk Management, Cisco Systems 

• Judith Meszaros Kirkpatrick, Senior Director, Risk & Insurance, TIAA-CREF 

• Loren Nickel, Director, Business Risk and Insurance, Google Inc. 

• Audrey Rampinelli, Vice President, Risk Management, Loews Corp. 

• Kendra Schropp, Director of Risk Management and Safety, On the Border Mexican Grill & 
Cantina 

• Carolyn Snow, Director, Risk Management, Humana Inc. 

• David Stills, Vice President, Global Risk Management, Wal-Mart 


Business Insurance launched the Diversity & Inclusion Institute in December 2015 as the next iteration of the work it had been doing to promote gender diversity through its Women to Watch Awards and Leadership Conference. The Institute is dedicated to promoting and advancing diversity and inclusion in every facet of the commercial insurance industry.

“While the commercial insurance industry’s U.S. and global customer base is becoming increasingly diverse, insurance industry leadership remains largely dominated by white males. The industry needs to create more diverse, heterogeneous leadership teams to foster creativity, innovation, and to better serve its customers,” says Joanne Wojcik, Head of Event Programming for Business Insurance. 


The Business Insurance Diversity & Inclusion Institute held its inaugural conference in Sept. 2016. A CEO Roundtable held during the conference resulted in all eight participating CEOs signing a “Commitment Statement” pledging their support of efforts to improve diversity and inclusion. A portion of the Conference also served as the Chicago site of the Inclusion@Lloyd’s Dive In — The Festival for Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance.