Women Leaders in Insurance in Canada |
Elite Women 

The women named Insurance Business Canada’s Elite Women of 2026 represent the pinnacle of leadership that is crucial when conditions challenge the industry’s resilience.

Canada’s insurance sector entered 2026 at a moment when leadership decisions carry wider and defining consequences for organizations, clients, and communities alike. Exposure is rising, oversight is expanding, the workforce is evolving, and technology continues to redraw the boundaries of the business.

Within that environment, this year’s Canadian women leaders in insurance stand out for their durability, along with their remarkable achievements.

The cohort is defined by:

• experience as most have spent over a decade leading through market cycles
   

• regulatory evolution with the group understanding and implementing modifications
   

• cultural change by creating a platform for progression
   

• long-haul commitment and professional staying power, earned during periods when leadership pathways for women were narrower and sponsorship less common 

Yet their presence also highlights structural tension inside the industry. Women hold 66 percent of general roles across the Canadian insurance sector but occupy only 25 percent of vice president positions and 18 percent of senior vice president roles, according to the EY Women in Insurance Study 2025. IBC’s Elite Women list does not suggest the leadership gap has closed. Instead, it demonstrates the depth of talent that exists and has overcome barriers that still limit access to senior decision-making roles.

Seventy-six percent of this year’s Elite Women believe there remains a shortage of female leaders, linking lived experience with the leadership bottleneck reflected in industry data. More starkly, 56 percent say they would likely have achieved greater seniority if they were not female, pointing to lost leadership capacity in a sector that depends on judgment and expertise.

IBC invited professionals nationwide to nominate outstanding female leaders for the fifth annual Elite Women list. Nominators provided details of achievements over the past 12 months, with emphasis on measurable business impact, industry contribution, and leadership influence.

A six-person independent judging panel, working alongside the IBC editorial team, evaluated the submissions and assessed how each nominee advanced their organization, profession, or community. After a comprehensive review process, 73 leaders were selected for recognition. Safeguards were built into the process to protect integrity, including restrictions on self-voting and voting for relatives.

For judge Pamela Derksen, deputy chief compliance officer at NFP, the strength of the field was unmistakable. “I was impressed with the overall quality of the nominations. It is very exciting to see the leadership in Canada,” she says. “There was a great cross-section of nominees, geography, tenure, and nature of the businesses they work in, as well as a lot of entrepreneurial spirit.”

In assessing the nominees, Derksen particularly looked for evidence of leadership that strengthened organizations from the inside out. She says, “I value the ability to take a good strategy and then execute it. It is great to see the ability to achieve business results. I also value examples of servant leadership, leaders who can elevate the entire team.”

Her observation captures the defining characteristic of this year’s cohort: influence demonstrated through measurable results.

Across Canada, 2026’s Elite Women are:

• expanding national brokerages and guiding enterprise portfolios
   

• modernizing underwriting and claims operations while building technology platforms
   

• advancing compliance standards and shaping public policy discussions
   

• strengthening workplace cultures and developing future leadership pipelines
   

• widening access to careers in insurance through mentorship and education 

Many honourees led expansions, acquisitions, or operational redesigns that repositioned their organizations for long-term competitiveness. Others introduced automation, launched products that close protection gaps, or built scalable systems that improve client outcomes.

Just as notable is their commitment to innovation. From accelerating digital infrastructure to advancing risk modelling, cyber expertise, and artificial intelligence adoption, the group is influencing how the industry adapts to technological acceleration while maintaining public confidence.

Another judge, Vinita Jajware-Beatty, president of the Toronto Insurance Women’s Association, reveals how 2026’s Elite Women have raised the bar. “They balanced technical excellence with emotional intelligence and a strong sense of accountability for people, results, and culture,” she says. “What stood out most were leaders who practiced inclusion daily by building environments where others could thrive and belong.”

Influence for many of these leaders reaches into their communities. Several contribute to regulatory committees, professional associations, and governance bodies. Others teach, mentor, and create pathways for underrepresented talent.

Community engagement remains a visible constant, whether through national fundraising campaigns, disaster response efforts, or financial literacy initiatives that strengthen local resilience.

Derksen notes that success in today’s environment demands unusual resolve. “I don’t believe it’s more difficult to flourish as a female leader now, but I don’t think it’s significantly easier either,” she says. “For the most part, it takes a strong nature to persevere.”

Jajware-Beatty explains that leaders have faced overlapping demands over the past year, such as economic uncertainty, climate risk, workforce fatigue, and rapid digital change. She adds, “At the same time, there is a stronger call for empathy and fairness in leadership. The best professionals recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not side priorities, but essential tools for navigating complexity, keeping talent engaged, and maintaining trust.”

Across very different roles from Ontario and Quebec to British Columbia and Nova Scotia, this year’s honourees reveal how that leadership is taking form.

 

In healthcare, insurance is never abstract. Risk control, claims decisions, and prevention efforts can affect how care is delivered and how organizations recover when something goes wrong. That reality is central to Catherine Gaulton’s work at the country’s largest healthcare liability insurer.

Her approach starts with proximity. She meets annually with customer CEOs and other representatives across the country and communicates regularly with HIROC’s more than 140 employees, keeping strategy anchored to what healthcare organizations face on the ground. The model has supported a 98 percent customer retention rate and expansion across most provinces and territories.

Her leadership philosophy was shaped in an era when insurance culture was largely male-dominated and relationship-building often happened in rooms where women were scarce.

Progress is visible, she says, but sustainability remains unresolved. “I don’t know that we would have been speaking up in the same way years ago. What has stayed stubbornly the same is perhaps how hard it is to have this career and have balance in your life.”

Credibility, in her view, is only the entry point. Technical fluency matters, particularly in healthcare liability, but it does not sustain long-term trust. Relationships do. “You don’t succeed without relationships with everybody. I can honestly say that I don’t think I have burned a bridge in my career.”
 

That discipline shows up in small, practical commitments. “That notion of people having needs and addressing them, and the commitment to saying I can take something off their plate so they can focus on what matters elsewhere, is how I approach my work.”

When asked what would meaningfully shift the leadership equation for women in insurance, Gaulton is direct. Representation does not improve through intention alone. It requires active decisions.

“People say to me, ‘Well, if I found a really strong woman for this role, I’d hire her.’ I think that’s a cop-out. I don’t think we’ve run competitions where we could honestly say there weren’t qualified women. When you’re at that point, it becomes a legitimate consideration to bring more women in.”

The onus, she argues, is on those already in senior roles to widen leadership itself. “We don’t need to look through the traditional lens. You’ll see on our website that I’m the CEO who knits. I also sometimes like to golf, but we don’t all have to be the CEO who golfs.”

Impact: For Gaulton, influence in insurance is built over time. It is measured in retained trust, sustained relationships, and the willingness to make leadership look different from the models that came before.

 

Operating in the arena where insurance is debated, regulated, and judged in public, Amanda Dean works with governments on legislative and regulatory priorities that affect home, auto, and commercial coverage.

Her remit is part advocacy, part systems work. She represents member insurers while helping shape stakeholder initiatives intended to keep markets functioning as climate exposure and affordability concerns intensify. Colleagues describe a measured style that moves industry and public officials toward workable outcomes, including on auto reform and preparedness for severe weather.

That approach is rooted in Dean’s earlier career in government, where she held senior roles supporting the deputy premier of Nova Scotia and the federal minister of national defence, overseeing communications, issues management, and intergovernmental files. It is experience that translates into an ability to read political context, anticipate policy direction, and keep discussions focused on what can be delivered.

Her credentials track that mix of policy and industry expertise. She holds an MBA from Saint Mary’s University, a public relations degree from Mount Saint Vincent University, and a Chartered Insurance Professional designation. She previously chaired MSVU’s Board of Governors and serves on the board of the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation.

Impact: In a year when insurance decisions face heightened public scrutiny, Dean has kept the conversation anchored in practicality, so coverage remains available and credible across regions facing very different risk profiles.

 

If policy work defines the outer boundary of insurance markets, the daily work of modernization happens inside organizations. Marie-Claude Thibodeau operates at that centre of gravity.

She oversees actuarial services, product development, underwriting, life insurance administration, and retirement and investment administration, a portfolio representing nearly one-third of the company’s workforce. The scope reflects institutional confidence. The work requires strong cohesion across functions and continued efforts to ensure alignment, collaboration, and shared execution throughout the organization.

Trained as an actuary, Thibodeau began her career in an environment where authority was closely tied to technical depth and tenure. Over time, she has seen the definition of leadership broaden toward relational intelligence. “Emotional intelligence is no longer a nice to have; it is a strategic advantage,” she says.

Yet one tension remains unresolved. “The expectation often still feels like a choice between career or family, rather than a sustainable model that truly enables both.”

Her mandate has unfolded during sustained transformation. Assumption Life has modernized product lines, integrated operating models, and aligned service platforms to meet rising client expectations.
 

For Thibodeau, the pattern across those milestones is consistent. “There have been several moments in my career, but they all share the same underlying constant: change.” Success, she adds, requires leaders who can embrace change, bring people together around a shared direction, and ensure that teams remain aligned.

That alignment work is structural. It means ensuring that actuarial, underwriting, and service teams move in coordination rather than in parallel. It also involves turning complex choices into decisions that teams can act on together, keeping the organization cohesive as it grows.

On the question of representation, Thibodeau is unequivocal. Advancement cannot rest with human resources alone. “This isn’t an HR issue; it’s a responsibility shared by the entire organization,” she adds.

Sustainable progress, in her view, depends on collective ownership. “Progress doesn’t come from one group advancing at the expense of another. It comes from building teams where complementary leadership styles can thrive together.”

Impact: Inside Assumption Life, Thibodeau’s conviction has led to the creation of a women’s leadership committee focused on mentorship and development. As a member of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, she reflects a belief that enterprise leadership and professional stewardship are inseparable.

 

If enterprise transformation defines leadership inside organizations, credibility defines it in the field, and Avagail Igonia has built both.

In a segment of the insurance industry where trust is earned conversation by conversation, she has become known for grounded confidence. Advisers, clients, and partners rely on her fluency in complex financial concepts, but what keeps them coming back is her ability to guide them through decisions that carry lifelong impact.

Her path into insurance was personal. After a family experience with cancer and witnessing firsthand the financial strain a serious illness can place on loved ones, Igonia’s perspective shifted. Insurance was no longer a product. It was protection. It was dignity. It was stability when everything else felt uncertain. She says, “I fell in love with the insurance industry before I knew it even existed.”
 

That clarity of purpose has shaped a 15-year career defined by growth and passion. She entered the industry while pregnant with her second child and completed her licensing and education requirements on maternity leave. She built a client practice from the ground up. Years later, while raising three children, she completed her executive MBA.

“Reaching that milestone was more than just checking off a goal; it was the moment I finally allowed myself to feel accomplished,” she says. “With everything else life had unfolded at the same time, balancing responsibilities between motherhood and career and all the unexpected turns along the way, completing it carried even greater meaning. It was about persevering through it all.”

Her journey reflects the broader evolution of the profession. When she began, female leadership was far less visible. Today, she sees meaningful progress as more women step into influence, and there are more conversations around empowerment.

What sets Igonia apart is that she doesn’t speak about leadership in theory. She practices it deliberately. To her, culture is a responsibility.

“Embracing diversity, community, and inclusion is one thing. It is another to lead with it,” she says. “Take the time to figure out who is on your team and what they are capable of, and build them up.”

Impact: Her credibility was earned, built through resilience, sharpened through education, strengthened by entrepreneurship, and sustained by an unwavering belief that relationships are the true cornerstone of success. Because in Igonia’s experience, expertise may open the door, but it’s trust, consistency, and genuine connection that keep people coming back.

Several forces are reshaping a sector where risk is growing more complex, regulatory expectations are intensifying, products are becoming more intricate, and talent is harder to secure. Canada’s Elite Women of 2026 are making decisions that influence how their organizations respond to these realities.

 

• Insured losses from severe weather exceeded $2.4 billion in 2025, making it one of the costliest years on record, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Annual severe weather insured losses in Canada have nearly tripled over the last decade, with totals of about $37 billion from 2016 to 2025 versus $14 billion from 2006 to 2015. Weather insured losses in Canada have nearly tripled over the last decade, with totals of about $37 billion from 2016.
   

• What this means for leaders: Climate risk is entrenched in pricing, reinsurance strategy, capital allocation, and long-term market availability. Senior leaders are adjusting underwriting appetites and catastrophe modelling. They’re also increasingly drawn into national conversations on climate resilience, infrastructure investment, and mitigation. 
   

 

• Under OSFI’s Guideline B15: Climate Risk Management, climate risk must be integrated into governance, strategy, risk management, and disclosure for federally regulated financial institutions. The guideline was effective for domestically systemically important banks and internationally active insurance groups at their fiscal 2024 year-end and for other in-scope FRFIs at fiscal 2025 year-end.
   

• What this means for leaders: Board oversight, stress testing, and day-to-day operational readiness are becoming more tightly connected. As B15 implementation matures alongside emerging Canadian sustainability disclosure standards, directors and executives are expected to evidence how climate considerations influence business plans, risk appetite, and capital, not just issue high-level statements. 

 

• In Ontario, auto insurance reforms taking effect July 1, 2026 will make many statutory accident benefits optional and give insurers more flexibility in product design. Industry bodies such as the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario have underscored that brokers will play a key role in helping consumers navigate new options and the added complexities they bring.
   

• What this means for leaders: As personal lines and commercial products become more modular and technical, trust is earned through clear explanation, transparency, and consistent follow-through. That, in turn, requires investment in broker and adviser education, digital decision-support tools, and communication standards that can withstand both regulatory scrutiny and rising consumer expectations. 
   

 

• In healthcare, HIROC’s recent risk work consistently highlights cyber liability and governance as top-tier exposures. Cyber incidents have been among HIROC’s most costly claim categories, and its guidance stresses that accountability for cyber resilience rests with boards and senior management.
   

• What this means for leaders: Insurance decisions in health care and, increasingly, across other sectors, connect directly with patient safety, operational continuity, and institutional accountability. For women leading in specialty lines and risk functions, cyber readiness, data governance, and incident response planning are inseparable from traditional coverage and pricing discussions. 
   

 

• Rising catastrophe losses, reinsurance costs, and climate-related capital expectations are putting sustained pressure on margins and affordability. As B15 implementation and global prudential standards evolve, insurers face higher expectations around capital buffers and scenario testing precisely when weather-related claims volatility is rising.
   

• What this means for leaders: Senior executives must balance commercial growth with disciplined underwriting while managing public and political scrutiny over pricing and availability, particularly in catastrophe-exposed property and auto markets. 
   

 

• Advances in data analytics and AI are transforming underwriting, claims, and fraud detection, even as they amplify cyber and privacy risk. Insurers are experimenting with machine learning-driven pricing, greater automation in claims, and the use of generative AI for customer service and advisory support.
   

• What this means for leaders: Strategic decisions increasingly revolve around model governance, explainability, data quality, and cyber resilience. For women leaders, this creates an opportunity to champion new, more inclusive analytics and digital channels and responsibility, as AI-driven decisions become fairness, conduct, and reputational issues as much as operational ones. 
   

 

• In 2025, approximately 77 percent of Canadian employers reported difficulty finding skilled talent, and the financial and real estate sectors, which include the insurance sector, faced talent shortages of 75 percent.
   

• What this means for leaders: Competition is particularly acute in actuarial science, data science, risk, technology, and advisory roles. Succession planning and leadership development have shifted from long-term HR projects to immediate operational priorities. For women leaders, this environment sharpens the focus on building internal pipelines, closing promotion gaps, and ensuring that scarce expertise is not lost to burnout or to better-positioned competitors. 
   

This year’s Elite Women display the realities shaping Canada’s insurance sector.

• Trust is a core measure of leadership as organizations contend with rising volatility.
   

• Influence extends across regulatory, political, and community spheres. 
   

• Representation at senior levels continues to lag, even as the depth of experienced female talent grows. 
   

• Effective leadership increasingly requires coordination across functions and stakeholder groups. 
   

• Longer-term thinking is gaining weight as climate exposure, capital demands, and technological change redefine the business. 

As a group, these women leaders in insurance across Canada reflect an industry placing greater importance on judgment supported by results. As risk profiles intensify and public expectations rise, expanding leadership pathways is becoming inseparable from maintaining the industry’s long-term strength.

Judge Jajware-Beatty adds, “Leadership in insurance clearly no longer fits a single mould. The diversity of experience raised the overall bar and showed how much broader and more inclusive the leadership bench has become.”

 

Meet the judges

• 
  Denise Hall
  Aon
   
• 
  Ingrid Wilson
  Canadian Association of Black Insurance Professionals 
• 
  Jaimie Staub
  Canadian Association of Insurance Women
• 
  Pamela Derksen
  NFP
   
• 
  Traci Boland
  Insurance Brokers Association of Canada 
• 
  Vinita Jajware-Beatty
  Toronto Insurance Women’s Association