2015 40 Under 40 Broker Awards: Michael R. Schneider
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Senior vice president and managing director
NFP Corp.
Age: 39
What Michael R. Schneider, Northbrook, Illinois-based senior vice president and managing director with NFP Corp., likes best about the insurance industry is what he didn't know about it when he first got into it.
Mr. Schneider started his career in investment banking.
“I was on the ship that crashed,” he said, referring to the credit crisis. Once he joined NFP, however, he learned the insurance industry is “a lot more complicated and a lot more cerebral” than he had thought, and “really did require a good deal of brain power.”
Mr. Schneider is also Midwest regional managing director for NFP, which focuses on corporate benefits and insurance. “I have the responsibility of running a practice that has eight offices and 70 people and $30 million in revenue,” he said.
Mr. Schneider — who said his profile would not be complete without mentioning he is a big Pearl Jam fan — said his job's diversity is its most interesting as well as its most challenging aspect.
“There are no two days of my job that are the same, so it keeps you on your toes. It doesn't get boring,” he said.
“I could see myself getting a lot more involved” in merger and acquisition activity at NFP, helping to grow the business larger, he said, pointing to his start in investment banking.
Michael N. Goldman, NFP's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said Mr. Schneider “has been a real leader for us on the benefits side of the business, and certainly for a young guy has taken on a tremendous amount of responsibility.”
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