Caryn Siebert
Posted On: Dec. 5, 2010 12:00 AM CST
President and CEO
Carl Warren & Co.
Placentia, Calif.
Age: 48
During the past five years at Carl Warren & Co., Caryn Siebert has increased the Placentia, Calif.-based third-party administrator's employee and client retention to more than 90%, winning new clients and adding locations along the way. Ms. Siebert joined the company in 2004 from Safeco Insurance Co. of America, now a unit of Liberty Mutual Group Inc., where she was director of claims. As more women have become risk managers and executives, Ms. Siebert hired employees with an eye to reflect her diverse customer base, also stressing the value and importance of working with expert colleagues at Carl Warren. Ms. Siebert also works with Kids Konnected, an organization that helps children whose parents have been diagnosed with cancer, and has involved various Carl Warren offices in charitable events.
WHAT'S THE BEST PROFESSIONAL ADVICE YOU RECEIVED?
As you move up in an organization, remember the way you like being treated and remember the leaders that you respected the most so that you reflect that kind of personality, that kind of leadership and treat people that same way. You will get more out of people when they find their leader to be encouraging, acknowledging, not just self-serving. Second piece of good advice: try stuff. If you're not always being innovative and creative and trying to come up with ideas that are out of the box, then you really don't differentiate yourself in the marketplace.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG WOMEN ENTERING THIS FIELD?
Always keep the customers' objectives front and center when you are providing the service or trying to come up with a creative solution to the issue at hand.
OUTSIDE OF WORK AND FAMILY, WHOM DO YOU ADMIRE THE MOST?
It's not one person. The person who I would admire most is the man or woman who can have a successful marriage, have whatever they feel to be the important things, and keep that balance and perspective.
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?
I'm actually an attorney by trade. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I kept passing out while doing dissections in science class and finally the teachers said, "You're not going to become a veterinarian. Give it up." So I became a lawyer.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
WHAT'S THE MOST INTERESTING PLACE YOU'VE BEEN?
Greece. I love being able to see that part of history.
WHAT DO YOU PREFER AND WHY: PHONE OR E-MAIL?
Phone. E-mail is fast and you can get things done quickly. But at the end of the day, it's about relationships; it's about talking to the person on the other side, calming a situation down.