Mary Sklarski

Chief Operating Officer

Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

San Francisco

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Mary Sklarski is the first female chief operating officer of insurance brokerage and consulting firm Woodruff-Sawyer. She is responsible for overseeing operations concerning growth and retention of clients. Additionally, she leads strategic programs and supports all practice groups in providing innovative products to clients.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE INDUSTRY: "My father was in the industry, so I grew up around it and saw the people he worked with. When I was a senior in college, my dad invited me to go to the CPCU (Society) meeting in Hawaii. I saw the whole society and the quality of people there and the camaraderie they had."

THE BEST ADVICE YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED: "Look for the humor in a situation--it's a great way to keep the appropriate balance in life and work--and be passionate about what you do. The rest will follow."

ADVICE FOR THOSE STARTING IN THE INDUSTRY: "Choose to work for a quality organization that attracts people with integrity. Don't focus on the promotion; focus on the skills and tools you can acquire to make you a better business professional. Look for mentors both in and out of the industry that will challenge your thinking and broaden your perspective. Our industry continues to provide excellent opportunities for people of all skill sets."

WHAT YOU WANTED TO BE PROFESSIONALLY WHILE GROWING UP: "If I could have figured out how to make my summer swim coach job last all year long, I would've. You're working with kids. You're helping them. You're creating a team environment. You're outside, and there is a lot of energy in what you're doing."

Sheila Small

Assistant Treasurer

Risk Management and Insurance

Verizon Communications Inc.

Basking Ridge, N.J.

Sheila Small leads a team of 19 professionals in developing and implementing the worldwide corporate risk management programs at Verizon. Ms. Small is the president of two captive insurance companies, which she uses to place hard-to-insure risks, manage the commercial market process and develop customized solutions for individual client needs. She is the president of two captive insurance companies, whereby she oversees the actuarial analysis and audit process, develops investment strategies, establishes measurement criteria, selects investment management firms and monitors performance to ensure the captives' profitability and attainment of investment objectives. Ms. Small often is sought after to participate in advisory boards and speak at conferences.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE INDUSTRY: "I actually worked for Bell Atlantic Corp. I was out for my fourth maternity leave. I was a finance type before this and basically when I was due to come back, my job had been restructured out, so I interviewed for other positions within the company and this one came up. I told the interviewer "I'm not so sure I know anything about risk management," and his response to me was, "If you know the company well and you know finance really well, you'll learn the risk management side.""

THE BEST ADVICE YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED: "The best advice I ever received came to me from a mentor of mine that I admired very much. He was a vp and he eventually became a vice chairman of the company. The thing I admired most about him was he seemed to respect everyone. It didn't make a difference whether you were the janitor or another CEO, he treated you with the same respect. I always remembered that and I really try to do that in my everyday business. I try to treat everybody with as much respect as I can. It doesn't matter whether they're the vp or somebody on the line just working. You really have to respect the people you work with."

ADVICE WOULD FOR THOSE STARTING IN THE INDUSTRY: "It comes down to being ethical, the idea of respect and also to listen to people. I always considered myself someone who was constantly learning. There was so much knowledge in the people I met. I always felt there was something to learn from people that made you a better...risk manager and made you more effective. You should always be the best you can be. For me, it was a matter of furthering the education process in risk management. I came in at a director level with no experience in risk management and I had to trust my people who knew so much more than I did. So I listened to them. I tried to learn from them, but I also felt it was incumbent upon me to try to get up to speed as quickly as possible. I went for my certifications. I have my ARM; I have my CPCU. Once again, this idea of trying to be the best you can be: It's a matter of going to classes, taking certifications and trying to educate yourself from the people around you."

WHAT YOU WANTED TO BE PROFESSIONALLY WHILE GROWING UP: "I'm not one of those people that when I was a child I kept thinking about what I was going to be. I have two master's. Education was key for me. You just want to make sure you're open to opportunities and I think that was what I was able to do. I was open to opportunities and taking advantage of them without even having conceived an idea of what they would be."

Katherine Smith-Dedrick

Partner with Childress Duffy Goldblatt Ltd. and Founding Member of Risk Assessment & Transfer International

Chicago

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Katherine Smith-Dedrick specializes in insurance protection and recovery for policyholders on a national level as a partner at Childress Duffy Goldblatt. She also is a founding member of Risk Assessment & Transfer International, a risk consulting company dedicated to bringing risk and insurance expertise to the table exclusively for corporate and sophisticated policyholders. In 1996, she founded and served as the inaugural chairwoman for Women for Achievement, which provides career mentoring and scholarships for female high school seniors. She has received the Mercedes Mentor Award from Mercedes Benz, Chicago Magazine and the Chicago Junior Women's League, and the Women with Vision award from the Women's Bar Association for her promotion of women in business.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE INDUSTRY: "I am a lawyer and I do the consulting piece as well. Years ago, I joined a firm and they asked if I was interested in insurance coverage work. I started doing the work and then I met a gentleman just starting out as a claims handler for insurance companies and he asked me to explain some losses. I ended up educating him while (essentially) locked in a conference room for 10 hours. We were discussing environmental waste law because they were starting to get claims. As he rose within his organization, he chose to take me as national counsel. From there I just loved it. Policyholders started asking me to look into situations where they were getting into coverage issues. I had good ties with the insurance industry, so I could usually get it solved. For the past 10 years, I've worked exclusively for corporations and policyholders."

THE BEST ADVICE YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED: "Think out of the box. That has been a key guiding principal for me in how I look at whatever I'm presented with, be it a legal matter or a consulting matter. It allows me to react to my clients' goals and what drives my clients. It allows me to find unique solutions for whomever I happen to be working with at the time."

ADVICE FOR THOSE STARTING IN THE INDUSTRY: "Stay current on changing events. Stay current on the way the fabric of society is starting to shift on regulator and legal changes. All those things put together are a precursor for the type of risks they are going to need to watch out for on the horizon. If they can do that in advance, they are going to be of great service for whomever they work for."

WHAT YOU WANTED TO BE PROFESSIONALLY WHILE GROWING UP: "I wanted to be three totally diverse things--a doctor, and dancer and screenwriter. I think that goes to my out-of-the-box thinking. I totally use those two parts of my brain in a unique way. "

Peg Warner

Partner

McDermott, Will & Emery L.L.P.

Washington

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An accomplished trial attorney, Peg Warner litigates cases for large insurance-related companies such as Allianz Global Risks US, Travelers Cos. Inc. and Aon Corp. Ms. Warner tries cases in courts throughout the country or in international arbitration tribunals. She focuses on strategic corporate exposure created by public policy and risk transfer. She also is a strategic adviser representing a wide band of participants in the international insurance markets on issues at the convergence of public policy and risk transfer. She has been recognized by Chambers USA, a publication that ranks attorneys and firms considered leaders in their field, as a leading insurance lawyer.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE INDUSTRY: "I was a first year associate at a law firm. A senior partner called me into his office and said he needed me to go down to the D.C. circuit court and pick up an important decision that had just been handed down. I went up to the chambers of Judge David L. Bazelon, a legendary jurist, (expecting to pick up the decision from an assistant). Judge Bazelon walks in his chambers, though, and I said, "I'm here to get the Keene decision," and he said, "I knew there would be a lot of you coming for this one." It was the seminal decision in insurance coverage law. It set the tone for cases that subsequently followed. It had to do with insurance coverage from latent diseases. As a result of the Keene decision a large number of insurance coverage cases were filed in the federal courts of Washington and I started working on them. "

THE BEST ADVICE YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED: "With regards to practicing law, learn the business of your clients and help them with their business, not just the legal issues that are presented. Clients want lawyers that understand their business and that understand what the practical results are of the legal problems they're bringing to you. They want to know they have a lawyer that can deliver the results they need for their business."

ADVICE FOR THOSE STARTING IN THE INDUSTRY: "Invest in your career by spending time understanding the business. Meet with people and seek advice of people who have been in the business for years. Be a student of the business and see what the issues are that have affected the insurance markets. Speak with people who have been in business to understand what trends are. Predict what the issues will be going forward."

WHAT YOU WANTED TO BE PROFESSIONALLY WHILE GROWING UP: "I wanted to be a lawyer, always. I wanted to be a lawyer that goes in court. I never had an identity crisis. I think the fun thing about being the kind of lawyer I am is I'm asked to understand really complex things and I'm asked to be able to explain them to executives, adversaries, judges and juries in a way that makes them understandable and hopefully be persuasive. You get to become a mini expert in many subjects. It's fun to take the complex and be persuasive and understandable when you project your client's position."