Preparing an insurance business for the future requires more than short-term fixes. It means building resilience around four key pillars: global trade, emerging technologies, workforce development, and changing weather patterns.
That was the central message from the final panel at the Women in Insurance Summit, which explored how the industry can prepare for the needs of future generations.
Denise Hall, managing director of specialty broking at Aon, said that there are four “mega trends” that insurance leaders must pay attention to: trade, technology, workforce, and weather.
But more than standalone concerns, she emphasized how these forces interact – and how those interactions shape risk in complex ways.
“Technology is going to impact workforce. When we have severe weather events, it will impact your workforce as well,” she said. “And trade kind of goes without saying.”
Jessica Robertson, senior vice president at Gallagher Re, urged the industry to zoom out even further.
For her, the driving force behind many of today’s challenges (and tomorrow’s risks) is geopolitical instability.
“Although I could pick an individual trend, I think everything's coming out of the geopolitical space,” Robertson said. From shifting generational values to political polarization, she noted that changes in the global order are cascading through every part of the insurance ecosystem.
These dynamics, she said, are creating uncertainty in regulatory regimes, intensifying regional conflicts, and driving up claims complexity.
Robertson pointed to trade disputes, sanctions, and global supply chain disruptions as examples of how political volatility creates ripple effects across sectors. Insurers, she said, must now account for hidden costs that emerge from these disruptions, whether through delays, commodity price volatility, or shifts in government subsidies that alter the structure of coverage – such as in agriculture or credit insurance.
She also flagged rising cyber threats and cross-border claims disputes as signs of a more volatile world. “Trying to price these things accurately is really complex,” she said.
Building on Robertson’s warnings about geopolitical volatility, Mindy Seibold, senior vice president and chief claims officer at TDI, spotlighted one of the most immediate and unpredictable pressure points: tariffs.
“If you’re like me, it’s something that probably causes you to lose sleep at night,” Seibold said.
She underscored how volatile the issue has become, with shifting tariff policies increasingly shaping parts availability, repair costs, labor pricing, and even fraud patterns.
“We’re living in a day and age where one tweet can shape how we view the purchasing of parts, labor predictions, and what's going to happen when it comes to fraud,” she said.
Seibold’s focus on the operational impact was echoed by Hall, who noted that many clients are already feeling the weight of trade-related disruptions.
Hall cited a recent pulse survey of over 700 companies, where 67% said recent tariffs were directly affecting their ability to make strategic decisions. That uncertainty, she said, is leading businesses to reassess everything from supply chains to insurer relationships.
Hall noted that some clients are responding to tariff-related uncertainty by stockpiling inventory and reconsidering their supply chain strategies. Business interruption assessments are also evolving, with many organizations placing greater emphasis on contingency planning. In some cases, clients are even reassessing their insurance providers based on location, reflecting a growing preference for locally based partners.
Maddy Kumar, senior vice president at Guy Carpenter, reflected on the broader opportunity this environment presents for the industry. She acknowledged that volatility and uncertainty are now constant features of the landscape.
But rather than seeing that as a threat, Kumar framed it as a moment of clarity – and of responsibility.
In an era of shifting risks and unpredictable outcomes, she said, insurers are uniquely positioned to help clients manage volatility, protect their balance sheets, and gain peace of mind. These needs are only growing more urgent, and the industry’s ability to step up is a defining part of its value.
Kumar added that while reinsurance capital is available, it is being deployed selectively. That selectivity, she noted, is driving higher-quality underwriting and more focused approaches to risk mitigation and adaptation across the industry.
“This is really our time to shine,” she said.
