2023 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Andiara Nordang Fleischer Nordic regional director-attorney at law
Crawford & Co.
Oslo, Norway
When Andiara Nordang Fleischer took responsibility for Crawford & Co.’s Nordic region in late 2021, among her top priorities was to spend time with her neighbors.
Cultural differences among Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are not insignificant, Ms. Fleischer said. So, from her base in Oslo, she set out to learn as much as possible about Crawford’s operations in the other countries and how they might better work together to uncover new business opportunities.
“I also wanted them to get to know me,” Ms. Fleischer said. “I wanted us to communicate as transparently and directly as soon as possible.”
Today, Crawford staff in the four countries are closer knit, sharing expertise and fostering a smooth-functioning region.
Ms. Fleischer moved into her current role after joining Crawford 13 years earlier as a claims handler and attorney in Norway. In 2011, she was named liability claims-handling team leader, growing the team while in that position from four people to 60.
“She has a fantastic manner with people,” said Andrew Bart, CEO, international operations, at Crawford. “It’s very clear that she is universally liked and respected. She has all of the good qualities that you want in a leader.”
“That was a fun period,” Ms. Fleischer said of her time as a team leader. “We expanded from liability to commercial property and into cargo.”
After about two years in that role, she was named head of commercial property, liability and marine and became Norwegian country manager in 2020.
Ms. Fleischer earned a law degree from the University of Oslo and an LL.M from the University of Sheffield in England. “The law background is a good general education that you can use for many careers,” she said, and is particularly useful in the insurance business.
She credits Crawford’s attention to work-life balance as one of the reasons she has been there so long. The company understands that a career is “a marathon, not a sprint,” she said. “And if people are happy with their families, they are happier at work.”
Michael Bradford
