{"id":5022,"date":"2026-07-16T15:09:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/the-best-insurance-professionals-under-40-in-the-usa-rising-stars\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:09:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:09:04","slug":"the-best-insurance-professionals-under-40-in-the-usa-rising-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/the-best-insurance-professionals-under-40-in-the-usa-rising-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Insurance Professionals Under 40 in the USA | Rising Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The numbers behind the talent shift are striking. Mindy Pranculeviciute, a senior recruiter at Talentfoot in the financial services sector, frames the current moment in terms that stop most young professionals in their tracks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is the greatest career arbitrage opportunity I\u2019ve seen in professional services. A VP seat in this industry used to take 12\u201315 years; I\u2019m now placing professionals into those roles at year 7 and 8 \u2013 not because the bar dropped, but because the market has fundamentally repriced young talent that\u2019s ready\u201d

\nMindy Pranculeviciute<\/span>Talentfoot<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The caveat is as important as the opportunity. \u201cScarcity gets you the interview, not the offer,\u201d Pranculeviciute notes. \u201cThe vacuum doesn\u2019t lift you automatically \u2013 it rewards the prepared.\u201d That preparation means pairing genuine technical grounding with bridge capabilities: the ability to connect the analytical rigor of traditional insurance roles with modern fluency in data, AI, and people leadership. \u201cBridges get promoted,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Brett Carter, vice president and managing director at The Jacobson Group in Chicago \u2013 one of the insurance industry\u2019s leading talent and staffing consultancies \u2013 sees the same dynamics from the hiring side. The 2026 retirement wave is real, the bench behind it is thin, and responsibility is available to ambitious professionals years ahead of schedule. But Carter is clear-eyed about what separates the top insurance professionals under 40 from those who are simply performing well.

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\u201cTechnical competence is table stakes. What differentiates future leaders is initiative, learning agility, and the ability to influence others\u201d

\nBrett Carter<\/span>The Jacobson Group<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Three patterns that consistently define top-performing insurance professionals under 40 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

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\nThe 2026 Rising Stars list \u2013 \u00a0proudly supported by the Association of Professional Insurance Women \u2013 spans every corner of the US insurance industry. Brokers and underwriters sit alongside claims specialists, insurtech builders, reinsurance professionals, benefits consultants, and marketing leaders. That breadth is itself a story: insurance is not a single career path but a universe of them, and the best young insurance professionals of 2026 have found their place from a remarkable variety of starting points. IBA<\/em>\u2019s wider recognition of talent includes the best women insurance professionals in the USA, recognized annually through the IBA <\/em>Elite Women report.<\/p>\n

What unites them is more interesting than what distinguishes them. Pranculeviciute identifies three patterns in every exceptional young professional she has placed. First, they own outcomes rather than tasks \u2013 they find something broken, fix it, and build the fix into a process that outlives them. Second, they have commercial intuition \u2013 they connect their daily work to revenue, retention, and loss ratio, which means they already speak the language of the people who promote them. Third \u2013 \u201cthe one that surprises people\u201d \u2013 they invest in others early.

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\u201cThe young professionals who mentor, codify best practices, and lift their teams are signaling leadership readiness years before they hold the title. Nobody rises alone, and decision-makers spot the ones who make everyone around them better\u201d

\nMindy Pranculeviciute<\/span>Talentfoot<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That third pattern runs through the 2026 Rising Stars list like a thread. It is visible in the scale of mentorship programs these insurance professionals have built, in the way they describe their careers not as individual achievements but as team outcomes, and most directly in the profiles of this year\u2019s three featured winners.<\/p>\n

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Carter English: employee benefits leader and one of America\u2019s best insurance professionals under 40 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Carter English did not plan to sell insurance. He planned to coach football. After a playing career that required five hip surgeries and a stint working in the NFL, English transitioned into employee benefits at Higginbotham in Texas, where he spent his first few years uncertain whether the work meant anything at all. The turning point came not from a deal closed or a quota hit, but from a phone call.<\/p>\n

An elderly man whose wife had been diagnosed with cancer had struggled to find coverage for her. English had helped him navigate the options and secure medical insurance. About six months later, the man called back. \u201cHe\u2019s crying on the phone,\u201d English recalls, \u201cand he said, \u2018I just wanted to let you know that my wife passed away a couple of weeks ago, but that I feel like I got six more months with her because of you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

English pauses on the memory. \u201cI remember just thinking, like, oh wow, I guess the work that I do does have some impact.\u201d Around the same time, his direct report \u2013 the person he would eventually replace in the role \u2013 sat him down after he had been venting about finding no meaning in the work. The advice he received reframed everything: treat the money and the opportunity not as financial metrics, but as a chance to be generous to the people around you. Two events, close together, and English was committed to the industry in earnest.<\/p>\n

Today, English leads Higginbotham\u2019s employee benefits practice nationally. Higginbotham is the 15th largest insurance broker in the United States, with 130 offices across 22 states and approximately 700 salespeople who report to English\u2019s organization. But what distinguishes him among his peers is not the scale of the role \u2013 it is that he has deliberately refused to stop doing the job while leading it.

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\u201cIf I\u2019m asking people to do certain things every day and I\u2019m not doing it actively and participating in it, then who am I to be that person? We\u2019re not in an ivory tower, but we\u2019re on the field with them\u201d

\nCarter English<\/span>Higginbotham<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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English describes his approach as that of a \u201cplayer-coach.\u201d Most leaders at his level drop their sales responsibilities when they step into national leadership roles. English has not. He still carries an active book of business, sourced largely from partners across the Higginbotham footprint who ask for his involvement on complex accounts. He does not split commission. He is doing it because he believes a leader who does not live the same daily reality as their team loses credibility \u2013 and with credibility goes influence.<\/p>\n

The approach is working in measurable terms. When English stepped into the role, Higginbotham\u2019s employee benefits practice had grown 5 percent organically the year prior, against an internal target of 10 percent or above. Over the following two years, the practice recruited more than 150 new producers and retained more than 83 percent of them. Current year-on-year organic growth is above 12 percent.<\/p>\n

English is careful about how he defines success. Revenue and growth figures, he says, are \u201chopefully just byproducts of doing a great job.\u201d What he actually measures is whether his people leave the office with enough energy left to be present at home.<\/p>\n

That philosophy has been shaped, in profound ways, by English\u2019s daughter Isabel, who was born with Down syndrome. The day she was born was the day the family found out. He describes the initial experience honestly: the depression, the grief, the sense that every aspiration he had held for his child had vanished. What replaced those feelings was something he now considers more important than anything he has achieved professionally.

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\u201cI don\u2019t believe that she was a mistake. I believe God made her on purpose. And so if that\u2019s what I believe about her, then I can\u2019t give her a different scorecard than I give myself.\u201d

\nCarter English<\/span>Higginbotham<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Isabel, now almost four years old, has changed how English grades himself and the people around him. He and his wife founded a school for children with special needs; he serves as president of the board. He describes the shift in his definition of success \u2013 away from resume achievements and awards, toward happiness, health, and passion \u2013 as \u201chonestly just life giving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Higginbotham placed six employees on the 2026 Rising Stars list \u2013 believed to be the most of any single agency in the report\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

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Why Carter English is one of the best insurance professionals under 40 in the USA<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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English\u2019s story captures everything that defines this year\u2019s Rising Stars class. He entered insurance without a plan, found meaning through a moment of genuine human impact, and built a leadership model around staying close to the work and the people doing it. He recruits 150 professionals, retains more than 83 percent of them, and leads a practice where annual revenue grew by more than 12 percent \u2013 not because he has the best systems, but because the people in his organization feel genuinely invested in what they are doing. That is the human edge in practice.<\/p>\n

Q: How did a football coach become one of America\u2019s best insurance leaders?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> As a football coach, you\u2019re constantly trying to mentor, inspire, recruit \u2013 do all the things to try to build a team and a culture. When I first transitioned into insurance, my first few years, I struggled to find a kind of meaning and purpose. But then, as I found purpose and passion in this work, I started to really see it. Now I tell people all the time that I feel like I just coach and recruit every day.<\/p>\n

Q: Why does a national insurance practice leader still carry his own book of business?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>If I\u2019m asking people to do certain things every day and I\u2019m not doing it actively and participating in it, then who am I to be that person? When I hear complaints, it\u2019s not foreign to me because I\u2019m probably seeing it with my own clients. We\u2019re not in an ivory tower \u2013 we\u2019re on the field with them.<\/p>\n

Q: How do you define success as an insurance leader?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0I always view the revenue and financial metrics as hopefully just byproducts of doing a great job. I hope that we create an environment of healthy external competition and joy in their work so that our people can go home and feel like they got wind in their sails \u2013 because work didn\u2019t beat them down.<\/p>\n

Q: Has your daughter, Isabel, changed how you lead people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>When she was born with Down syndrome, I remember thinking every dream and goal and aspiration I had for my child\u2019s life was all gone now. And then you start to realize, what do I want for her? I want her to be happy and healthy, and I want her to find things that she loves. And so I have to check myself and say \u2013 if I believe God made her on purpose, then I can\u2019t give her a different scorecard than I give myself. That changed my perspective on how I grade other people and how I grade myself. It\u2019s been honestly just life-giving.<\/p>\n

Q: Where does one of America\u2019s top insurance leaders under 40 want to go next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0The competitor in me \u2013 I\u2019d love to be a CEO one day. I\u2019d love to run an entire agency. But I also tell myself all the time, if this was the best role that I ever had, then I did way better than I ever deserved. I really fight to be super content in my current state and hopefully just lead really well.<\/p>\n

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Lindsay Fisher: benefits consultant and one of the USA\u2019s best insurance professionals under 40<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Lindsay Fisher did not set out to become a benefits consultant. She was working in human resources \u2013 as a generalist, \u201ca department of one,\u201d as she puts it \u2013 when she hired Higginbotham as her company\u2019s broker. She built strong relationships with the team there, stayed in touch after leaving that employer, and when an opportunity came to join the firm, she took it. She took a pay cut to do it. She joined as the first account coordinator in her region.<\/p>\n

That origin story matters because it explains something about how Fisher approaches every client conversation. She has sat on the other side of the table. She knows what it is like to be the HR leader who has to understand a benefits renewal, explain it to a CFO, and then explain it again to 500 employees who just want their insurance to work when they need it. That experience does not just give her credibility \u2013 it gives her a specific kind of empathy that is hard to train.

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\u201cYou sit down at the table with the HR team and with the other leadership folks, and they are like, \u2018Oh, you get what it\u2019s like to be on my side of the table.\u2019 And so you create that credibility and that instant rapport \u2013 you understand what it\u2019s like to be in their shoes.\u201d

\nLindsay Fisher<\/span>Higginbotham<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Fisher also holds an accounting degree and has worked in accounting, which she describes as equally important. Benefits consulting is ultimately a financial discipline: funding structures, actuarial analysis, renewal negotiations, and long-range cost containment. Fisher moves between the human and the financial dimensions of the work without treating them as separate. That combination \u2013 knowing what the P&L looks like and knowing what it feels like to be the employee whose cancer treatment just got denied \u2013 is the core of her practice.<\/p>\n

Her most significant technical achievement over the past year was the migration of one of the largest Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs) of its kind to a new platform. An ICHRA is an innovative employer funding model that allows businesses to reimburse employees for individual health insurance premiums rather than sponsoring a group plan. Fisher is one of a small number of benefits consultants in the country who specialize in the model. The migration involved moving more than 1,000 employees and 1,000 individual policies from one platform to another in 2025.<\/p>\n

Over three years of tracking renewal data, the average medical renewal across Fisher\u2019s client portfolio has come in under 5 percent \u2013 a figure that includes the 2026 renewal cycle, widely regarded as one of the most challenging markets in recent memory.<\/p>\n

But the achievement Fisher describes with the most animation is not the ICHRA migration. It is a phone call. A younger employee at one of her client organizations \u2013 the same age as Fisher \u2013 had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and was traveling to another state for treatment. He was trying to navigate the claims process at the same time he was navigating a life-altering diagnosis. Fisher spent days working with the carrier to ensure his imaging approvals were processed and his claims were moving.

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\u201cHe was just like, \u2018This takes such a huge load off of me as I\u2019m trying to figure this out. It\u2019s so confusing and so overwhelming\u2019\u201d

\nLindsay Fisher<\/span>Higginbotham, recalling a client employee\u2019s message<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Fisher talks about this case \u2013 and others like it, including a crane accident where an operator\u2019s legs were crushed, and she deployed mental health resources for employees who had witnessed the event \u2013 not as extraordinary moments but as illustrations of what the job is for. \u201cI think that brings me the most joy,\u201d she says, \u201cto feel like I can lift some of that stress off of people that are going through really challenging periods.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the question of AI, Fisher is neither resistant nor evangelical. She is using it to make back-office tasks faster and to help her articulate complex issues more clearly. But she frames her relationship with AI in terms of what it cannot do, not what it can. \u201cI think the human element of what we do is really important,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it\u2019s a differentiator, especially now going into this AI phase \u2013 and I think it\u2019s even more important to continue to maintain now as we move into this new era.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, Fisher received the Higginbotham Pinnacle Award for Excellence in Financial Services \u2013 a company-wide honor presented to one individual across a workforce of approximately 4,000 employees.<\/p>\n

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Why Lindsay Fisher is one of the best insurance professionals under 40 in the USA<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Fisher\u2019s career is built on a foundation most insurance professionals do not have: she has been the client. She has sat in the HR chair, navigated the benefits renewal from the employer\u2019s side, and experienced firsthand what it means to have coverage that does not work when someone needs it. That perspective, combined with her accounting grounding and her deep technical knowledge of ICHRA structures, makes her an unusually complete advisor. Her 2024 Pinnacle Award \u2013 one recipient across 4,000 employees \u2013 is the institutional confirmation of what her clients already know.<\/p>\n

Q: What quality gives you the edge as one of America\u2019s top benefits consultants under 40?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0I think that it\u2019s basically empathy. And I think that comes from the fact that I used to be in HR \u2013 that\u2019s where I started my career. It\u2019s like just never losing sight of the fact that there are people at the end of it when we\u2019re looking at financials and reviewing strategy. Being able to really add the human touch and continue to maintain it \u2013 especially with all of the AI stuff we\u2019ve got going on \u2013 I think it\u2019s even more important to continue to maintain now as we move into this new era.<\/p>\n

Q: Does your HR background change how insurance clients receive you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0You sit down at the table with the HR team and with the other leadership folks, and they are like, \u2018Oh, you get what it\u2019s like to be on my side of the table.\u2019 And so you create that credibility and that instant kind of rapport. I have an accounting degree as well, and I\u2019ve worked in accounting. Having the understanding of the whole business and how this one benefits things impacts the broader picture of a P&L \u2013 that\u2019s been helpful for me to have in my pocket.<\/p>\n

Q: What brings a top young insurance professional the most satisfaction in this work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0Whenever we can help employees navigate a really challenging situation. Recently, I had an employee at one of my clients \u2013 he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, the same age as me \u2013 and he reached out. He emailed me after a couple of days and was just like, \u2018This takes such a huge load off of me as I\u2019m trying to figure this out. It\u2019s so confusing and so overwhelming.\u2019 That brings me the most joy \u2013 to feel like I can lift some of that stress off of people going through really challenging periods.<\/p>\n

Q: How does a leading insurance professional under 40 think about AI in their practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m embracing it, but the way I\u2019m viewing it from my position is \u2013 I think the human element of what we do is really important; I think it\u2019s a differentiator, especially now going into this AI phase. I have been using AI to help me with some of those back-office-type things \u2013 just to make me faster, more efficient. But the human element? That\u2019s still mine.<\/p>\n

Q: Why did you move from being a generalist HR professional to specializing in benefits?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0When I was in HR, I was essentially like a department of one. You kind of know a little bit about a lot of things. Once I had done that for a while, I thought I would really like to specialize in something. I\u2019d like to be an expert in a thing. And I landed in health and welfare, which is where I am today. I like the fact that I now specialize in one thing, and people can come to me for that.<\/p>\n

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Paige Kremer: specialty broker and one of the top insurance professionals under 40 in the USA<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Paige Kremer answers the phone from a plane. She has just landed, looks \u201ca little disheveled,\u201d and is not going to let that stop her. It is a small moment that captures something essential about her: she has built a career out of showing up, and she is not going to stop showing up because she is tired.<\/p>\n

Kremer is a specialty broker at RT Specialty in Greenwood Village, Colorado \u2013 part of the greater Denver metropolitan area \u2013 where she focuses on construction risks. She has spent years building a book of business that is now large enough that she cannot service it alone \u2013 a problem she has spent the past 12\u201318 months solving by building and trusting a team. She is married to another RT broker. Many of her closest friends are underwriters. She describes insurance not as a job that she does but as a world she lives in. That is not a complaint. It is the source of her competitive advantage.<\/p>\n

The most distinctive thing about Kremer\u2019s practice is also the simplest: she writes a handwritten thank-you note every single day. It happens in the morning, with her coffee, before anything else. The recipients are underwriters, clients, retail agents, colleagues \u2013 anyone she wants to make feel seen. She did not arrive at this practice through a book or a training program. She arrived at it through a conviction about what endures.

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\u201cI read somewhere that when all is said and done, and you\u2019ve retired, the one thing you leave behind is your written word. People hang those notes on their desks. It sticks around. Whereas an email thank you \u2013 I almost think it\u2019s spam because you\u2019re getting so many of them\u201d

\nPaige Kremer<\/span>RT Specialty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This is not a soft gesture in a hard industry. It is considered a commercial strategy. Kremer does not benchmark herself against other brokers \u2013 she considers the comparison a trap. \u201cYou\u2019re comparing apples to oranges every day if you do that. I think it sets people back.\u201d Instead, she focuses on standing out as a human being rather than a producer. The handwritten notes, the real conversations, and the genuine curiosity about what makes the person on the other end of a deal tick \u2013 these are the things that make retail agents bring their deals they could take to anyone.<\/p>\n

Kremer is also a precise and disciplined technician. Her professional development does not happen in classrooms. It happens by taking on increasingly complex deals and not letting herself bluff through the ones she does not fully understand. She describes this in terms of glass balls and rubber balls. Rubber balls can be dropped \u2013 they bounce back. Glass balls cannot. As her career has progressed and the glass balls have multiplied, the requirement to genuinely know her market has grown with them.

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\u201cMy motto has always been to be and not to seem \u2013 you have to know what you\u2019re talking about. There\u2019s no BSing in this business. A retail agent will never work with someone who they feel like is BSing them\u201d

\nPaige Kremer<\/span>RT Specialty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On AI, Kremer is consistent with the position her two fellow featured winners have independently staked out. Her team uses AI every day. She is clear-eyed about where it adds value: analyzing lengthy submissions that run to hundreds of pages, supporting back-office efficiency. She is equally clear-eyed about where it fails. \u201cAI won\u2019t tell you if it doesn\u2019t know the answer \u2013 it\u2019ll tell you whatever it thinks the answer is. Which I think is quite dangerous.\u201d Her team treats AI as a tool, not a teammate.<\/p>\n

Kremer\u2019s views on work-life balance are characteristically direct. \u201cAs a salesperson, work-life balance is just not realistic.\u201d She has integrated her professional and personal lives rather than separating them. Her best friends are underwriters. Her husband is a broker. She does not present this as a sacrifice. She presents it as the natural outcome of genuinely loving what you do and the people you do it with.

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\u201cIf you like people, there\u2019s always a seat on the bus in insurance. Choosing insurance as a career is probably the best decision I\u2019ve ever made\u201d

\nPaige Kremer<\/span>RT Specialty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kremer is also building for a future that extends beyond her own production. Over the past 12-18 months, she has been hiring, training, and learning to let go of the reins \u2013 trusting her team to service accounts she has spent years building. She hires mostly from outside the insurance industry, preferring to train people from scratch. She insists on being back in the office with her team because she believes that training the next generation requires physical proximity and the small daily moments that remote work cannot replicate.<\/p>\n

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Why Paige Kremer is one of the top insurance professionals under 40 in the USA<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Kremer\u2019s career is built on a philosophy that is both simple and rare: stand out as a human being first, a broker second. The handwritten notes, the marathon mindset, the refusal to work in classes she does not know inside out \u2013 these are not personality quirks. They are a coherent commercial strategy that has delivered consistent production growth in both hard and soft markets. At 38, as an SVP at one of the country\u2019s leading specialty brokerage firms, she is now doing something equally important: building the next generation of insurance professionals in her own image.<\/p>\n

Q: What quality has most driven your success as a top insurance professional under 40?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0I think empathy has always been a really, really strong trait for me, and I actually want to know what makes everyone around me tick. I think it\u2019s very easy to become mechanical in what we do \u2013 in any business where you\u2019re doing sales, it\u2019s very easy to get robotic and kind of hide behind a computer. But I\u2019ve always loved finding out what makes a person tick more than sending an email.<\/p>\n

Q: Why does one of America\u2019s best specialty brokers write a handwritten note every single day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0I try to really just focus on what I do versus what everyone else is doing. Standing out as a human \u2013 taking the time to write handwritten thank you notes to people every single day. I read somewhere that when all is said and done, and you\u2019ve retired, the one thing you leave behind is your written word. People are hanging that up at their desks to egg them on to go get more new business or to do another deal for you. It sticks around. Whereas you\u2019re pretty likely to forget an email.<\/p>\n

Q: How should a rising insurance professional think about AI?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0We use it quite a bit. We double-check it every single time \u2013 AI won\u2019t tell you if it doesn\u2019t know the answer; it\u2019ll tell you whatever it thinks it is. Which I think is quite dangerous. So we\u2019re certainly using it every day, but we\u2019re using it more as a tool, not as a teammate. It\u2019s helpful for analyzing a submission that is hundreds of pages long. But you could never rely on it for the more human aspects \u2013 like interpreting a coverage or knowing which markets are going to take the best care of you on a deal.<\/p>\n

Q: What advice does a top insurance EVP under 40 give on building a team?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0At some point, your book becomes sizable enough that you really just can\u2019t do it all yourself. The babysitting is so bad for everyone. You can only babysit so long in your career. You gotta let people do what they do best. I\u2019ve hired mostly from outside the insurance industry, which has been really fun because then you can teach them everything from square one, and they can develop their own habits.<\/p>\n

Q: What does a career in insurance offer a young professional?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0Choosing insurance as a career is probably the best decision I\u2019ve ever made because I think if you like people, there\u2019s always a seat on the bus in insurance. If I didn\u2019t love brokering, if I wasn\u2019t good at sales, I could have done underwriting \u2013 there are so many different roles. And if you can grow in a soft market, you can explode in a hard market.<\/p>\n

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Joseph Cook: cyber liability specialist and one of the best insurance professionals under 40 in the USA<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Joseph Cook did not plan to work in insurance. The industry found him, as it found the majority of the 2026 Rising Stars class. What Cook did with that accidental entry is less accidental: 12 years later, he leads a technology, life sciences, and cyber liability practice group at The Arizona Group in Phoenix, Arizona, manages a $2.1 million revenue book, leads a team of eight, and holds a seat on the national board of the Young Risk Professionals. He is also, starting this August, heading to Carnegie Mellon for an eight-month master’s program in cyber liability insurance. The accumulation is deliberate. The philosophy behind it, he says, is simple.

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\u201cWhat I lean into the most right now is empathy. I feel like that\u2019s just a really powerful tool in communicating with human beings and trying to arrive at outcomes that are fair and with integrity and that we can all feel good about at the end of the day\u201d

\nJoseph Cook<\/span>The Arizona Group<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Cook is careful not to let that word land softly. Empathy in his practice is not a warm style or a communication preference. It is a professional obligation \u2013 and in Arizona, a legal one. Arizona is one of only three states in the United States in which a licensed broker’s duty to advise is held to the same standard as a doctor or an attorney. That shapes every difficult conversation Cook has with a client, including the ones they do not want to have.<\/p>\n

He describes one such conversation in detail: a client who wanted to cancel a $758 annual policy despite having contracts that required the coverage. Cook knew what the consequences of cancellation would be \u2013 a certificate of insurance issued to municipalities and private entities would require notification, potentially pulling the client off active jobs until coverage was restored. He tried to advise the client. The client escalated.

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\u201cEmpathy is, in my opinion, the ability to place yourselves in the shoes of others. But it\u2019s not always soft, per se. Sometimes to be empathetic, you have to have conversations that can be challenging\u201d

\nJoseph Cook<\/span>The Arizona Group<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The story is told not as a complaint but as an illustration. Cook\u2019s point is that the hardest part of insurance is not the technical work \u2013 it is communicating potential future crises to people who are not currently in crisis, who may have been in business for 15 or 20 years without a meaningful incident, and who interpret that track record as evidence they do not need the coverage they have. Against that psychology, empathy is a diagnostic tool, not just a communication style.<\/p>\n

Cook frames his role in broader terms. His clients are not simply buying a financial product. They are businesses that create risk in their communities \u2013 35 electrical contracting vehicles on public roads, construction equipment in shared spaces, technology platforms handling sensitive data. Cook’s job, in his view, is to ensure that those who profit from operating in the community are also responsible for the risks they generate.

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\u201cTo me, my job is very much an act of community service, if I’m doing it correctly. I am looking to put in place financial instruments that make people whole if they are somehow impacted by risk that’s created in our community\u201d

\nJoseph Cook<\/span>The Arizona Group<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Outside of his client work, Cook is building infrastructure for the next generation of insurance professionals in ways that are, again, not accidental. He is the founding chair of the Young Risk Professionals Phoenix Chapter, the sitting vice chair of the Young Risk Professionals National Board, and co-chair of Young Insurance Professionals for the Big I of Arizona. He is an adjunct faculty member at Northern Arizona University’s emerging Risk Management and Insurance program, and is actively working with the university to develop a full four-year degree in risk management and insurance \u2013 writing curriculum, fundraising, and advising. He mentors new producers at The Arizona Group, participants in the Braven program, and students at NAU.<\/p>\n

His CEO’s endorsement in his nomination submission describes him as \u201ca dynamic leader shaping the future of the insurance industry in the communities he serves.\u201d In 2025 alone, Cook delivered 22 speaking engagements across webinars, panels, and podcasts; was named 2025 Producer of the Year at The Arizona Group; and was recognized as a 2025 Committee Chair of the Year by the Big I of Arizona.<\/p>\n

In August 2026, Cook begins the eight-month Carnegie Mellon Chubb Cope Insurance Certification (CCIC) program in cyber liability insurance \u2013 a rigorous postgraduate qualification that combines campus time in Pittsburgh with virtual learning and a capstone project. It is the kind of credentialing that most people in the industry do not pursue. For Cook, it is the logical next step in a career built on accumulating hard expertise. His declared goal is a $3 million revenue book by 2030. He is currently at $2.1 million.<\/p>\n

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Why Joseph Cook is one of the best insurance professionals under 40 in the USA<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Cook\u2019s career is built on a conviction that most professionals in his industry articulate but fewer actually operationalize: that insurance, done correctly, is a form of community service. He arrived in the industry by chance in 2014. What followed was entirely by design \u2013 a $2.1 million book, a specialty practice group, two professional body chairmanships, an adjunct faculty role, a curriculum project, and a Carnegie Mellon qualification starting in August. He is 37. The human edge the 2026 Rising Stars class embodies is perhaps most explicitly stated by Cook himself, who frames both empathy and responsibility as professional superpowers in an industry that has historically priced neither.<\/p>\n

Q: What is the quality you feel has most driven your professional success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0What I lean into the most right now is empathy. I feel like that\u2019s just a really powerful tool in communicating with human beings and trying to arrive at outcomes that are fair and with integrity and that we can all feel good about at the end of the day. Right. Even if sometimes you don’t get the, let’s call it, desired business outcome. You’re really, really, really trying to conduct your business in such a way that you feel good about it and that you would hope anybody else conducting business would do the same for you or your family.<\/p>\n

Q: You work in Arizona, which has an unusually high duty-to-advise standard for brokers. How does that shape your practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0In my state, in Arizona, we are one of three states in which my duty to advise is on the same expectation as a doctor and attorney. So if I know what my duty to advise is, and I’m very acutely aware of that, I know I have to have this conversation with him whether he enjoys it or not. All I try to do is practice what I believe is empathy and good consultation. Sometimes to be empathetic, you have to have conversations that can be challenging. Or to maybe make it a little simpler \u2013 you have that example of being nice versus being kind. It’s nice for nobody to tell you and ignore it and act like it’s not there. It’s kind for somebody to quietly tell you, hey, man, you got a little lettuce.<\/p>\n

Q: How do you communicate with clients who resist your advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0You absolutely have to work on being a bit of a chameleon, if you will, and remembering and recognizing who wants to be communicated to in what way. Some people just facts. Some people, how’s the wife, how’s the kids. Some people need softer language. Some people need you to be a bit firm for them to take it seriously. Some people it’s phone; some people it’s email. You’re not going to achieve any meaningful results or put together any meaningful insurance programs with your clients if you can’t communicate with them in the way that they want to be communicated to.<\/p>\n

Q: Fatherhood has clearly changed your perspective. How has it affected your professional approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0Some of the things that I used to have more patience for, I have a lot less patience for after my son is here. I think about my son in 30 years and owning a business. And I’m like, man, if my son ever talked to someone the way this person is talking to me right now, I would not feel good about the job I did as a father. I’ll do my job and I’ll be as good as I can be at it. But our business hours are 8 to 5 and you might think you’re pretty important, but after 5 o\u2019clock, there ain\u2019t nothing more valuable than my son and my wife.<\/p>\n

Q: What does a career in insurance mean to you, and what do you want the next generation to understand about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0A career in insurance can be not just personally fulfilling but a true act of community service if pursued intentionally. My aspirations are to create as many pathways and connections for others as I possibly can. This industry has been wonderful to me, I want to share that with as many people as I can. Empathy, if you lead with care for others and a desire to understand their perspective you will undoubtedly do well. A close second would be taking responsibility \u2013 it can be a super-power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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How the best insurance professionals under 40 are preparing for an AI-driven industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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\nThe forces shaping the 2026 Rising Stars list are not going away. The retirement wave will continue to transfer institutional knowledge and leadership responsibility to a younger generation for the foreseeable future. AI will continue to embed itself into the technical infrastructure of the industry \u2013 underwriting algorithms, claims automation, and distribution analytics. The insurance professionals who thrive in this environment will be those who understand both sides of that equation: what the technology can absorb and what it cannot.<\/p>\n

Brett Carter of The Jacobson Group is direct about the opportunity for those who are prepared. \u201cThe professionals who are curious, adaptable, and willing to continuously learn will find themselves with opportunities that simply didn\u2019t exist for previous generations.\u201d His advice to young insurance professionals on AI is equally direct: genuine fluency is not about becoming a data scientist or technology expert. It is about understanding how to effectively leverage AI to improve decision-making, increase productivity, and create better outcomes \u2013 while still applying the critical thinking, judgment, and relationship-building skills that remain uniquely human.<\/p>\n

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What the data says about AI, careers, and the human advantage through 2035<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\nMindy Pranculeviciute of Talentfoot makes the same point in starker terms. \u201cBuild evidence, not hope,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery Rising Star I\u2019ve ever placed could instantly answer one question: \u2018What\u2019s measurably different because you were in that seat?\u2019 You\u2019re always building the case for the role you want next; the only question is whether you\u2019re doing it deliberately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conning\u2019s 2025 C-suite survey\u00a0of US insurance executives found that 55 percent of respondents are now at early or full adoption stages for generative AI \u2013 up from minimal utilization the prior year \u2013 and that the insurance workforce is expected to be reshaped by 2035, with roles adjusted to value customer relationship skills and technological literacy more highly than repetitive task execution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The numbers behind the talent shift are striking. Mindy Pranculeviciute, a senior recruiter at Talentfoot in the financial services sector, frames the current moment in terms that stop most young professionals in their tracks. \u201cThis is the greatest career arbitrage opportunity I\u2019ve seen in professional services. A VP seat in this industry used to take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,2926,352,4063,1235],"class_list":["post-5022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-insurance","tag-professionals","tag-rising","tag-stars","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}