2022 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Katie Rossbach Chief financial officer
Risk Placement Services Inc., a division of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Chicago
Katie Rossbach was raised “to dream big,” and so whenever she mentors somebody, whether formally or informally, she tries “to instill that in them, to always think big, dream big, do not limit yourself.”
“My mom always said I should be a motivational speaker,” she said, laughing.
Ms. Rossbach has followed her own advice. After growing up first in Southern California and then in Chicago with three younger siblings, she decided to study actuarial science at Illinois State University because she excelled in math.
Then, deciding she wanted something more “forward-looking and strategic,” she became a finance and insurance major.
Ms. Rossbach, who has an MBA in finance from the DePaul Driehaus College of Business in Chicago, held positions at Transguard Insurance Co. of America Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. and CNA Financial Corp. before joining Risk Placement Services as chief financial officer in November 2018.
RPS President Joel Cavaness said that in seeking to fill the CFO spot, he sought someone who would not only take care of the business’ needs today but could help multiply its business. When he met Ms. Rossbach, he knew “Katie was the one.”
“She’s not satisfied with the status quo” and is strategically minded, Mr. Cavaness said.
Ms. Rossbach said that since joining RPS she has helped put the company in a position to scale up through mergers and acquisitions and organic growth.
In her spare time, Ms. Rossbach pilots a Piper Archer airplane.
She also volunteers with the Make-A-Wish Foundation., which helps critically ill children.
Her most challenging project for the foundation, she said, was helping to redesign an attic into a bedroom and entertainment center for a 14-year-old Cubs fan to make it look like Wrigley Field. The finished product included the work of a muralist, complete with a depiction of the stadium’s brick walls and ivy.
“That wish was the most amount of work, I would say,” but it was “probably one of the most rewarding, too,” Ms. Rossbach said.
