2019 Women to Watch: Anne Marie Towle
Posted On: Dec. 2, 2019 12:00 AM CST
Anne Marie Towle
Senior vice president and global practice solutions leader
Hylant Group Inc.
Indianapolis
Age: 49
The ability to be creative and “think outside the box” is what Anne Marie Towle likes most about working in captive insurance management and consulting.
“What drew me was the innovation and being able to work with risk managers and CFOs and essentially help them look good,” she said.
After graduating college with a degree in accounting, Ms. Towle “fell into” the insurance business in the 1990s while working at Banc One Corp. and Conseco Inc., where she had exposure to their captive and insurance entities.
“At the time I was at college, there weren’t degrees (in insurance) and I hadn’t thought about, and nobody had talked to me about pursuing a career in insurance per se, or this niche industry with captives and alternative risk,” she said.
After researching it, she decided a career in insurance would be more “interesting than straight traditional standard accounting.”
A long stint in public accounting doing tax structuring for insurers and captives followed. Then in 2007, Ms. Towle switched to the brokerage side, first at Willis Towers Watson PLC, and later joining Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group PLC to lead its captive insurance practice in 2016. When JLT was acquired by Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc. earlier this year, she opted to join Hylant Group Inc. to lead its global captive management practice.
Ms. Towle’s approach to her career and life is one of “lifelong learning,” which is something she passes on when she mentors young people in the industry, she said.
“It didn’t stop in college or when I was studying for the CPA exam or my property/ casualty license. I continually try to seek new ways to challenge myself,” she said.
Desmond Bohan, New York-based senior vice president BMS Re US, said, “I had the opportunity to work with Anne Marie for two years when we were both at Jardine Lloyd Thompson, and I just found her to be incredibly talented and professional to work with, and really an all-round pleasure to work with.”