2023 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Jenise Klein Regional head of property for North America
Allianz Commercial, a unit of Allianz SE
New York
It was strange for Jenise Klein to be promoted to a new role with her employer in 2021 in the middle of a global pandemic.
“It was probably about a year to a year-and-a-half before I was able to meet everybody in person on the team,” she said.
Before joining Allianz, Ms. Klein had spent three years in Switzerland doing project management for Zurich Insurance Group Ltd.
Returning to the United States, she went into underwriting and financial lines and eventually into domestic primary casualty.
Then in 2015 she successfully applied for an opening at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty for head of underwriting governance.
“I’m just kind of proud of the fact that I’ve been able to tap into a lot of those different areas and really take advantage of what the insurance industry has to offer,” Ms. Klein said.
“Insurance is a really cool industry because you could do so many different things.”
Ms. Klein noted the insurance sector has experienced difficulties in recent years.
“Property has been a really difficult animal these past couple of years. All lines of business have,” she said. “They’ve been really challenging years, and I’m just really proud of how we’ve navigated it.”
Ms. Klein is pleased with her team’s diversity, particularly the increase in female representation, but said “there’s definitely still work that can be done.”
“Gender diversity isn’t the only diversity,” she said.
Tracy Ryan, president and CEO of North America at Allianz and one of the 2014 Women to Watch, said Ms. Klein is “incredibly impressive” and a “great leader to her people.”
“When I met her, I think the thing that impressed me is the breadth of her capabilities,” Ms. Ryan said.
Ms. Klein, she said, has built a “brand reputation in the market” and is “very thoughtful and strategic around what the business needs to succeed and grow.”
“Just incredibly multifaceted in terms of how she approaches the business with her underwriting lens,” Ms. Ryan said.
Jon Campisi
