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Robyn Piper

Posted On: Dec. 5, 2010 12:00 AM CST

Robyn Piper

Principal
Piper Jordan L.L.C.
San Diego
Age: 41

 

Robyn Piper co-founded the San Diego-based employee benefits brokerage Piper Jordan L.L.C. in 2006 with a focus on nonbenefit-eligible employee benefit programs for large employers. Ms. Piper oversees the limited-benefit health practice, launching and managing voluntary employee benefit programs primarily for Fortune 1000 companies. Mr. Piper has worked in the limited-benefit field since 1997, when she was a senior vp at Unified Management Corp., which later was acquired by CNA Insurance Cos. Most recently, she was vp of Willis North America in San Diego, where she led its limited-benefit practice. Ms. Piper also is president of Piper Consulting, which provides consulting services for insurers interested in the limited-benefit market or enhancing their existing platforms to comply with the recently passed health care reform law.

 

WHAT'S THE BEST PROFESSIONAL ADVICE YOU RECEIVED?

Be the expert. If you have a task, if you have a job, be the person that everybody wants to come to because you know more.

 

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG WOMEN ENTERING THIS FIELD?

Be confident, be knowledgeable, be aggressive and be the expert. At the end of the day, it's about being as knowledgeable as you can be in any subject matter. And when I say, “Be aggressive,” it's to speak with confidence about what you know.

 

OUTSIDE OF WORK AND FAMILY, WHOM DO YOU ADMIRE THE MOST?

Dan Cacchione. I believe at the time I worked for him he was senior vp at CNA Insurance. I don't believe that anybody taught me how to speak, whether in written form or in general meetings, better than Dan. He had a way of engaging the prospects, the clients, the broker, the carrier and his staff. I continue to tell my staff today what his style was and how I learned from him.

 

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?

I wanted to be the president of something. I don't believe I ever decided on what that was. There was a period of time that I thought I was going to be the president of the United States, but I was thrilled also to think that I would be president of a large company. It just had to have the title of president.

 

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?

"The Sound of Music." Something I watched with my mother every single year. It was our big event.

 

WHAT'S THE MOST INTERESTING PLACE YOU'VE BEEN?

Gimmelwald, Switzerland. (I) backpacked through (Europe) as a young adult. It was a town that had no electricity, no vehicles; it was wagon-based. When I got there, I curled up at the top of the mountain...and watched a woman beat her rugs. I found it incredibly fascinating to watch that village operate without the things we consider basic everyday.

 

WHAT DO YOU PREFER AND WHY: PHONE OR E-MAIL?

Phone. E-mail is good for very quick responses. If you want to get something done, pick up the phone.

 

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