2022 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Stephanie Davenport Senior vice president-head of reinsurance, U.S.
Ascot Group Ltd.
New York
As the daughter of a divorced, single mother growing up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Stephanie Davenport learned early on there was no such thing as “women’s work.”
“My sister and I had a lot of things we had to do around the house,” including mowing the lawn, shoveling snow and taking out the garbage, she said. The lesson that provided “carried over into our professional lives,” she said.
After graduating from the University of Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in economics, actuarial science, Ms. Davenport’s first insurance job was as a claims management trainee with Continental Insurance Co., which was acquired by CNA Financial Corp.
After also holding positions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Valiant Insurance Group and American International Group Inc., she joined Ascot Group as vice president-head of reinsurance, U.S., in November 2018, and was named senior vice president, head of reinsurance, U.S., in April of this year.
Ms. Davenport said that as a woman of color, she’s “not here to say that people of color have not been treated differently within the insurance industry.” But she said that if she was not selected for a role, “that didn’t stop me from trying.”
This perseverance, she said, is one of the reasons for her success in transitioning into different disciplines, including claims, internal auditing, loss reserves, and reinsurance accounting and placement.
“I’ve also accepted that I can’t change the world, but I can do the best job that I can do, and for people who may have had some preconceived notions, or anything like that, I can give them something else to think about,” she said.
“She’s heartfelt,” consultant Bonnie Boone said, adding Ms. Davenport acted as a sounding board after she recently left a position and was trying to figure out her next step. “I think the world of her.”
Ms. Davenport and her husband, Reggie, who is diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator at the Stevens Cooperative School in Hoboken, New Jersey, have two children, Alexandria, a surgical physician assistant, and Will, a recent college graduate.
