Women in insurance and the champions of change

"Today, less than 10 percent of client-facing advisors in the U.S. are women," says Nicole Spinelli, director, The WISE Group. "We believe that diversifying our advisor population will benefit our existing advisors and clients. We strive to be the broker-dealer for women advisors."

Spinelli says LFN has much to benefit from adding more women to the force, since they are innate relationship builders, "which make them excellent advisors," she says. "Growing our network of women advisors — and empowering our female clients — will have an extremely positive effect for our clients and our overall business."

Executives at Guardian Life agree. They see the need for diversity as twofold: the benefit of diverse teams from a financial and productivity standpoint, and remaining relevant to consumers, many of whom represent diverse backgrounds.

And now, the company is in the midst of a multifaceted initiative aimed at increasing the number of women financial professionals. Guardian is working to develop female leadership within the salesforce, creating community among female employees, providing mentors and working to ensure the company creates an inclusive culture that allows all employees to thrive.

A recent article in Forbes by Sasha Galbraith reported that women control just over half of the wealth in the United States and that number is expected to grow to two-thirds by 2020. Couple that with the need in the market for more financial professionals overall and it would seem that a career in insurance and financial services would be an obvious choice for women. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

"Having grown up in this industry, I'm passionate about figuring this out once and for all and making sure more women have access to a financial advisor and consider this career as an option," says Emily Viner, vice president, agency growth and development at Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. "We can recruit women all day, but if they don't survive and thrive, it's a waste. That's why the work to recruit, grow and retain women in this industry takes consistent, dedicated resources."

Guardian has experienced success when it comes to the company's female sales leaders. After learning that many women had not considered a move to management because they had never been asked, Guardian started asking. Since 2012, the company has seen a 71 percent increase in the number of female managing directors and the composition of Guardian Leadership Institute graduates — the company's talent bench for its salesforce — is now at 26 percent women. Furthermore, in both 2013 and 2014, Guardian's top new agents were women.

New York Life is yet another company that is putting efforts towards gender equality in the industry. The insurance giant "recognizes that there is real value that the field force of agents reflects the community in which we serve," said Kimberly Fisher, corporate vice president and head of the women's market, New York Life. "Thirty-five percent of our new recruits in 2014 were women and we are on track to beat that percentage in 2015."

The company is investing in supporting women agents in the field by hosting workshops, creating marketing materials and sales pieces designed to help them succeed, along with monthly webinars discussing best practices for success within the industry. Apparently, New York Life's efforts are working.

In 2014, of the 1,179 female MDRT members in the United States, 32 percent were New York Life agents, making the company the leader in female MDRT membership. In fact, New York Life has more than four times as many women members than the second-place company.

The resources

While women continue to make strides within the insurance industry, there is always room for improvement and support from outside of their employer. The Women in Insurance and Financial Services (WIFS) organization is one such resource.

What first began in 1936 as the Women Leaders Round Table has grown into a 1,100-member organization for women looking to gain knowledge and success in their field. The organization even has male constituents looking to better understand the opposite sex, especially when it comes to management, recruiting and prospecting.

"We have quite a number of male members and it's a segment of membership that's rising," said Deb Duff, WIFS executive director. "Most are managers who are interested in attracting women to the business or already leading teams of women."

Among a host of other benefits, WIFS offers its members education (in the form of live webinars), mentoring programs, a national conference, networking opportunities, local chapter membership, online resources, and seemingly unlimited peer support and recognition.

On the other side of the industry, Brokers International, an independent insurance marketing organization, has developed a female-focused organization. WOMAN (Women's Mentoring Agent Network) was designed for women who can benefit from a network of like-minded professionals that can constantly share new ideas, resources and ways to differentiate themselves in the industry.

Members of WOMAN participate in networking forums with top-producing women in the insurance and financial services industry, are awarded for accomplishments, engage in roundtable discussions and breakout sessions designed to address the success and challenges each member encounters and attends monthly webinars related to industry trends, event ideas and marketing strategies, to name a few.

There's also the FWA (Financial Women's Association), which brings together high achieving professionals from every sector of the financial world, including insurance. Established in 1956 when eight enterprising women on Wall Street met to share professional experiences and learn from one another, the organization has grown to a respected association with 945 members and countless events.