2021 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Mary Guzman CEO and founder
Crown Jewel Insurance
Atlanta
Mary Guzman’s entry into the insurance industry was not by accident — she chose insurance as a major at the University of Georgia. During her 30 years in the industry she has worked as a broker, starting out at Sedgwick James, which later was absorbed into Marsh LLC, and now at the managing general underwriter she founded, Crown Jewel Insurance.
During her early days in the industry, she learned about directors and officers liability insurance and other coverages. “Later I morphed into cyber expertise when cyber became an issue, as early as 2000,” she said.
Cyber, however, wasn’t to become a widely recognized problem for the next eight years, with retail, medical and financial institutions responding first “because they had a regulatory requirement to protect their private customer data,” she said.
Frustrated by what she said was still not being addressed by the market, she started Crown Jewel Insurance, which partners with Balance Partners LLC, a New York-based MGU, and officially launched in January.
“I decided to switch over to the underwriting side so I could work with every broker,” Ms. Guzman said.
With a focus on theft of intellectual property, the company launched a policy that covers the value of trade secrets, she said. “That’s where the name Crown Jewel comes from, because we are trying to help organizations cover their crown jewels.”
Lindsey Smith, an account executive who was hired by Ms. Guzman two years ago, started out in a marketing-logistics role. “She inspired me to get involved in the insurance side, policy-issuance and other things, which I had never pictured myself doing,” Ms. Smith said, adding that, “When I saw how creative she was, it inspired me to get involved and she encouraged me from the beginning. Now, I’m in an underwriting position and I love it, and I feel challenged every day.”
Ms. Guzman said she seeks out opportunities to work with other women in the industry and is actively growing her staff with women.
Her next focus is on hiring ex-military personnel, “giving people who have served our country an opportunity when switching to civilian life,” Ms. Guzman said.
