Eric M. Bailey is the bestselling author of The Cure for Stupidity: Using Brain Science to Explain Irrational Behavior and President of Bailey Strategic Innovation Group, one of the fastest-growing human communication consulting firms in the United States. Eric has a diverse set of experiences that includes helping NFL All-Pro Larry Fitzgerald pet a rhinoceros, doing barrel rolls in an F-16, and chatting with LL Cool J on the campus of Harvard University.

Honored as Diversity Leader of the Year, Eric is the creator of the Principles of Human Understanding™, a leadership and communication methodology based in brain science and psychology. Eric’s unique style blends fact and emotion and finds ways to appeal to the analytical thinkers, the emotional feelers, and everyone in between. Eric has a unique ability to communicate seemingly complex concepts in practical, easy-to-comprehend ways, aiding in self-awareness and knowledge retention.

As a honoree of the prestigious 40 Under 40 award, Eric has been featured on CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Soul, Huffington Post, Forbes, the Consciously Unbiased Podcast and has helped leaders and teams across the world see common problems from new and different perspectives. Eric works with Google Inc, the US Air Force, Los Angeles County, the City of St. Louis, MO, Phoenix Police Department and many more. Eric also runs a YouTube series of 2-minute executive lessons called The Walking Meeting (www.thewalkingmeeting.com).

Eric has a Master’s degree in Leadership and Organizational Psychology from Saint Louis University and is a lifetime learner of human and organizational behavior. When not working or researching, you can find Eric and his wife Jamie racing on their road bikes, being cheered on by their three children.

An experienced leader, Heather has spent the better part of the last decade at the helm of a Chicago-based non-profit working to disarm the destructive stigma that surrounds mental illness by sharing stories and hosting public conversations.

Before her time in the non-profit sector, Heather worked with Financial Services/Insurance Professionals to establish and sustain their businesses through candid conversation and personal storytelling. From there, she went on to serve as the Chief of Staff overseeing a collection of start-ups with a focus on conflict management and emotional health.

Over the past 7 years, Heather has traveled across the country working closely with leadership teams spanning multiple sectors, including real estate, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and healthcare to examine work styles and ideate mental health-focused approaches to team management.

Barbara's four decades in the insurance and reinsurance industry have spanned leadership roles encompassing operational and strategic responsibilities, including business origination and product development, underwriting, claims, risk management/corporate governance and ceded and assumed reinsurance, while fostering a culture of innovation, mentorship, and diverse talent.  

Throughout the past eight years, Barbara has focused her career at the intersection of distribution, underwriting, technology and capital in specialty businesses. Barbara currently serves as a Senior Advisor at Amwins Group and a founding member of the D&I Council, an independent director of Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited (NEIL) and subsidiary Cedar Hamilton, and an independent director The Westfield Companies. She previously held leadership roles at Assurant, Hamilton USA, Guy Carpenter, Argo Group and Swiss Re.

During her 3-year tenure (2017-2020) as Chair of the International Board of Governors of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) and current President of the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW), Barbara has been directly engaged in the global and national Women in Insurance Conference series. Furthering her commitment to the IICF she serves as Co-Chair of the IICF Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Council which brings together over 50 of the top D&I officers in the insurance industry to advance the mission of diversity and inclusion. Concurrently, she is a member of the North American board of directors of ISC Group and advocates for the value of the insurance industry as a career of choice in her role as immediate past president and chair of the governance committee and member of the Board of Trustees of Gamma Iota Sigma (GIS).  

As a keynote speaker on The Power of Purpose and The Archaeology of a Network in various insurance industry forums, Barbara has been driving the Big Tent of culture, inclusion, innovation, sponsorship, mentoring talent and the power of networks.  

A tireless advocate on issues of philanthropy, product innovation and talent, among other awards, Barbara was named Insurance Woman of the Year by APIW in 2012, Inclusion Champion by the IICF in 2015 and Woman of Distinction at the 2017 Insurance Business America Awards. In 2019, she was inducted into Insurance Business America’s Hall of Fame.

Brett Carter is a Managing Director for The Jacobson Group’s executive search team, managing C-level, VicePresident and other executive-level searches for clients from all sectors of the insurance industry.

Brett brings more than 20 years of insurance experience to his role with Jacobson, most recently serving asDiversity Partner for Munich Re US P&C. In this role, he collaborated with human resources and other business unit leaders to attract, develop and retain top talent. During his time at Munich Re, Brett also served as Senior Territory Sales Manager for American Modern, a Munich Re subsidiary, managing the company’s growth and distribution strategies for Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Additionally, Brett’s impressive career includes tenures with Founders Insurance Company, Travelers andState Farm. His deep industry experience, passion for innovation and organizational excellence, and strong communication skills translate into expert executive search and selection consulting for his insurance clients.

Brett attended Augustan a College in Rock Island, Ill., where he received his Bachelor of Arts in marketing/advertising with a concentration in business management. He later received his Master of BusinessAdministration from the Forbes School of Business & Technology at University of Arizona Global Campus.He has earned the following accreditations: Associate in Claims, Certified Insurance Counselor, Illinois property and casualty license, and Six Sigma designation. Brett has also served as President of the Illinois 1752Club and is currently Vice President of the National African American Insurance Association Chicago chapter.Furthermore, Brett is a member of the Wholesale and Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA) CareerDevelopment Committee, which aims to create interest, awareness and enthusiasm about careers in the industry, and a member of the Rising Insurance Star Executives (RISE) D&I committee. In 2021, Brett received the Diversity Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace certificate from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business.

Debra Dunn is the SVP and Property General Manager for the USAA Property & Casualty Insurance Group (P&C). In this role, she is responsible for growth, product development
and innovation, competitive position, and financial performance of personal lines home, renters, valuable personal property, umbrella, and flood products.
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Prior to this role, Debra served as Senior Financial Officer for USAA P&C where she transformed and led a team of professionals responsible for financial performance, forecasting, reporting and analysis to support the USAA P&C President, Chief Financial Officer, and the P&C leadership team.
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Debra has years of proven results transforming teams, developing leaders, empowering and delivering innovation, and creating a result driven culture. She has a passion for driving diversity, creating a community of inclusion, and growing healthy teams.
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Before joining USAA in 1998, Debra worked at Price Waterhouse, LLP as a staff auditor.
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Debra also serves on the Board of the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) and the
Midwest Board for Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF). She is a University of Texas
at San Antonio graduate, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and a prior Financial and
Operations Principal. Outside of work, Debra enjoys down-hill skiing, biking, and spending time
with family and friends.

Chicago native Michael Fosberg has spoken at high schools, colleges, government agencies, corporations, law firms and not-for-profits over the past fifteen years, utilizing his award winning autobiographical story, told in the form of a one-man play, as an entry point for meaningful dialogues on race and identity. His work with groups such as; The Boeing Company, United Way Worldwide, PNC Financial Services, and The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is reshaping the way organizations talk about leadership, authenticity and inclusion. Michael has been a frequent guest in the media speaking on these issues, and his latest book, Nobody Wants to Talk About It; Race, Identity and the Difficulties in Forging Meaningful Conversations offers readers seven important tools to engage in authentic dialogue. In 2011 he published his much lauded memoir; Incognito: An American Odyssey of Race and Self-Discovery. He also launched a series of unique virtual e-learning programs using his play as the entry point for delving into uncomfortable conversations and, more recently, Incognito the Podcast - a deep dive into the variety of methods people use to collaborate inclusively.

Deon Hornsby is an AVP for Private Client Group as the Regional Underwriting Manager for the Chicago Region. Deon is responsible for the profitability, growth and retention of the nearly 16,000 in-force policies within the 12 state Chicago Region, which has $93 Million in written premium. Deon leads a team of 9 Underwriters and Underwriter Technicians and works closely with his team and leadership to maintain agency relationships and execute strategies for the states
within the Region.
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Deon has held several Underwriting and Distribution positions during his 25 year insurance career.
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In addition to his current role, Deon serves on Private Client Group’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Councils as well as Co-Chairing the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team for Private Risk Management Association.
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Deon received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Jeanette Kilo-Smith is Head of Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging (DIEB) at Zurich North America. She is responsible for the insurance provider’s continued progress on its DIEB strategy, ensuring alignment of efforts across its Executive Diversity and Inclusion Council (EDIC), its business/function Advisory Councils, its nine Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and its community investment efforts focused on social equity.

Specializing in Diversity and Inclusion, Kilo-Smith has more than 20 years of Human Resources experience at Fortune 500 companies. She has held senior level positions at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walgreens, Walmart and Motorola, where she has developed successful strategies and initiatives.

Kilo-Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management from DePaul University in Chicago and a Certified Diversity Professional certification from Cornell University in New York.

Angela Noble has over twenty years of professional experience and is a respected leader with expertise in strategic communications, organizational change management, program management, marketing, communications, claims, underwriting and innovation.

Currently, Angela serves as Vice President – Innovation at EMC Insurance Companies, where she is responsible for aligning innovative work and decisions with the core strategic goals of the organization; building a foundation of cross-functional leadership buy-in and collaboration; coaching, developing and encouraging a team of engaged, innovative team members; and managing the strategic effectiveness of external and industry partnerships.

Angela earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa, and frequently visits campus as a guest speaker and a Dean’s Advisory Board member. Angela was selected as a 2017 Des Moines Business Record Forty Under 40 honoree, a 2021 Elite Woman by Insurance Business America, a Hot 100 2022 by Insurance Business America, and 2021 Mentor of the Year by Rising Insurance Star Executives (RISE). Angela serves on the Vaughan Institute Advisory Board at the University of Iowa, the Editorial Content Advisory Committee for Digital Insurance, the Advisory Councils for Rising Insurance Star Executives, Plug & Play Tech Center and the InsurTech Center of Excellence and on the board of the Global Insurance Accelerator.

Ciaran O’Loughlin is the business lead for the Life & Group segment at CNA.  This segment includes CNA’s long-term care business line.  In his current role, Ciaran leads a team of 60 dedicated professionals across a multitude of disciplines, including Finance, Actuarial, Operations, and Claims, in the active management of this important run-off business for CNA.

Ciaran joined CNA in 2010 having worked for 10 years in public accounting in both Dublin, Ireland and Chicago serving a diverse range of client industries.  Prior to joining the long-term care business unit in 2015, Ciaran worked in the Corporate Financial Services function leading financial reporting and technical advisory teams.

Ciaran is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and earned his B.A. in Accounting & Finance and his Masters in Accounting from Dublin City University.

Jon Perry (JP) is an underwriter and the Midwest team lead for US executive risk at Beazley. He also serves on the Global I&D Steering Committee at Beazley and is one of the employee leaders of Beazley RACE (an employee resource group). JP entered the insurance industry in Travelers’ Underwriting Professional Development program after graduating from the Katie School of Insurance at Illinois State, then worked on the D&O team at Allied World before taking on his current role. He is an alum of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society’s Leadership and Mentoring Program. In addition to his work as an underwriter, JP is passionate about recruiting and developing young talent in the industry. He served as a member of Gamma Iota Sigma’s board of trustees and volunteers as a mentor to students, helping to foster their interest in insurance. He has received recognition for his work including the Katie School of Insurance Young Leader Award (2018), one of Insurance Business America’s “Rising Stars” (2020), and was also a Gamma Iota Sigma Alumnus of the Year (2018).

Justin Ruehs, CPCU, ARM, AU-M, AAI-M, AINS, API, AIS, CIC, CISR, CLCS, MBA is the Senior Manager, Business Risk & Insurance at Microsoft. He is based in Chicago and works in partnership on the Global Risk Management program.  Prior to Microsoft, Justin was an underwriter at Liberty Mutual, AIG, where he not only gained experience in underwriting large property for a wide array of clients and program structures, but also worked with the senior leaders to promote Diversity and Inclusion through Employee resource groups. Justin is also an active member of Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation, The Chicago-West Suburban CPCU Society Chapter, and is a mentor with Foster Progress.

Justin has a Bachelor’s degree in Health Communications with a minor in Public Relations from Grand Valley State University and a M.B.A in Insurance from Olivet College.

When not at work, Justin and his husband are kept busy with their 6-year-old triplets

Nzinga “Zing” Shaw joined ZRG in 2021, serving as the first President and Global Head of the ESG & DEI practice and concurrently serving as the company’s Chief DEI Officer (for internal ZRG talent). Zing is an experienced C-suite executive with extensive hands-on experience and knowledge spanning change and crisis management, human capital management, employee relations, talent acquisition, organizational and strategic planning, branding, community engagement, and diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I). She is known for her pioneering DEI work with the National Basketball Association, serving as the first D&I Officer, representing the Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena franchise. There, she launched the “MOSAIC” symposium (Model of Shaping Atlanta through Inclusive Conversations) and made the Hawks the first professional sports team to march in PRIDE and demonstrate public allyship to the LGTBQIA+ community. Additionally, she created the RISE (racial inclusion and social equity) Fellowship Program during her tenure as the Global Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer at Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), the world’s largest professional services firm.

Notably, Zing was the first Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer at four blue chip organizations: Edelman, the NBA, Starbucks, Marsh McLennan. She has been recognized with numerous “40 Under 40” awards from the likes of Sports Business Journal, Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Network Journal, and PR Week. In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees of Fisk University, the Board of Directors of the National Rugby Football League, ColorComm, Moth+Flame and Arctos Sports Partners. She was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve a six-year term on the Board of Councilors of The Carter Center, and she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Honors Program at Fisk University.

Zing received her MLA from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA from Spelman College. She was a study abroad scholar at Oxford. In her free time, Zing enjoys interior design, international travel, cooking, and spending time with her husband Keith and their three children, Lacy, Hudson, and Trey.

Rena serves as EY’s Central Region Insurance Consulting Leader and in this role, Rena is responsible for leading the Insurance Consulting Team and the successful growth of the practice including client management, launching new offerings and the recruiting and deployment of our resources.  Rena has over 25 years of consulting experience and had led some of the firm’s largest insurance client relationships.  Rena has worked across large business, finance, and technology transformations.