Meet 10 Millennials Who Are Transforming the Industry

In 2008, one year after graduating from Goshen College, Ashe Abebe moved to Indianapolis in search of a job—and came up empty.

“The economy was just awful—there were absolutely no jobs,” recalls Abebe, 31. “I couldn’t even get a part-time job at a public library. It was rough.”

After finding a position delivering furniture “and realizing that was not my calling,” Abebe turned to Craigslist to seek jobs in the sales industry. “From time to time, I’d be asked to help out on the furniture sales floor,” he explains. “Even though it was a retail setting, I enjoyed that way more than delivering.”

Abebe saw a posting for a State Farm Insurance agent and got the job. While he was there, he got to know independent agent Mark Wenclewicz, a fellow Goshen grad. Wenclewicz recruited Abebe for two and a half years—“almost my whole time at State Farm,” he says. “I eventually realized it was hard to be tied to one option.”

Abebe’s story is not uncommon among millennials in today’s independent insurance world. What brought them here? What makes them tick? And why are they sticking around? Meet 10 millennials who are already working hard to transform insurance into a more vibrant, self-sustaining industry.

Ashe Abebe

Agent
Wenclewicz Insurance
Indianapolis

Age: 31
Guilty pleasure TV show: House of Cards
Favorite beer: “I’m more of a bourbon drinker.”
Preferred social media: Facebook

Motivator?

It’s about trying to raise the bar on a daily basis. How can we make the process better? How can we make it easier for our clients? How can we amaze them each and every day? You’re working with so many different types of people. You have to be able to adapt to each type of person you’re dealing with and make the experience customizable to them.

Work/life balance?

Last year was probably one of my most challenging years. I don’t think there was a day I wasn’t in here at 6 a.m. and didn’t leave until 6 or 7 p.m. Monday-Friday, and then coming in on Saturdays. You just kind of roll with it. Early on in my career when I wasn’t making a lot of money, there were friends’ weddings and bachelor parties I couldn’t go to because I just couldn’t afford it. There are times when you’re working really, really hard to hopefully be at a point where you can just not have to worry about it. But it’s tough in the interim when you’re trying to figure it out.

Millennial stereotype that fits you?

The ability to adapt and change. Even the State Farm agency I was at was very old school—that was 2009-2012 and we were still doing file cabinets. In the last four years I’ve been here, there’s been a ton of change, whether it’s adding new people or the way our procedures and processes have changed so many times. It’s not always the most popular thing to do, but in the long term, if it’s going to make us quicker and better at our jobs, we’re going to find a way to make it more functional.

Kimberly Bass

Recipient of NetVu’s Young Professionals Award
Commercial Lines Producer and Office Manager
Fogle Insurance Group
Huntersville, North Carolina

Age: 23
Guilty pleasure TV show: Friday Night Lights
Favorite beer: Viking French Sour by D9 Brewing Company
Preferred social media: Snapchat

Why insurance?

I used to work at a doggie day care facility and I also have my own pet-sitting business, so I was doing both. I’d been looking for another job and a friend of mine texted me a picture of a business card. I was on a dog walk for my business 30 minutes before I had to go into my other job, so I decided to call the number and it went straight to the owner’s cell phone. I talked to him for about 20 minutes on my dog walk and told him I was interested in coming to work for him.

Today, I love the people I get to meet. As a business owner, it’s very interesting to get to talk to other business owners and explain my side of it. I feel like a lot of other agents—especially in the commercial lines department—can only go on what they know about the insurance side of it. I have that insight into being a business owner.

Work/life balance?

I do my pet-sitting business before work, after work and on my lunch break. But I do still have a personal life. I check my email and do the phone thing even when I’m not at work, but I give myself time to do things that don’t involve work, to just walk away and be wherever I’m at. Having weekends definitely helps—I didn’t have a weekend for about six years, and that has helped me recharge.

Most annoying millennial stereotype?

The entitlement thing. I started paying my own bills when I was 16; I’ve had a job since I was 17; I work 14-hour days three or four times a week. I have a pretty intense work ethic, so when someone says something about entitlement, I just kind of shake my head.

Kyle Beggs

CLCS, CWCA
President
RCI Insurance Group
Claremore, Oklahoma

Age: 30
Guilty pleasure TV show: Impractical Jokers
Favorite beer: Dos Equis
Preferred social media: Facebook

Motivator?

I’ve literally had three goals since I was 14: to be a good husband, to be a good father and to have a successful business. There’s just a fire in my belly. I love coming to work every day. I’m probably the most competitive person you’ll ever meet. I never wanted to be average at anything I do. If I’m going to put my mind to it, I’m going to put my time and talents to it, I’m going to go at it 110%. I can’t stand average.

Biggest role model?

My dad was my hero growing up and still is—he’s an entrepreneur and owns a couple businesses. My brother-in-law was an entrepreneur as well. I wanted to be just like them. So I can’t think of a better profession. I meet people every day who rolled up their sleeves and achieved the American dream because they worked their rear off.

Most annoying millennial stereotype?

That everyone thinks we expect everything to be handed to us because everyone got a trophy growing up. That drives me nuts. When I came over to RCI, I didn’t have a book of business, I didn’t know a thing about commercial insurance and I literally I made 150 cold calls a week to get to where I am today.

Industry’s biggest challenge?

We need to do a better job of telling our story. To most people, selling insurance—it’s not sexy. But if they really knew the whole story, I think it’s incredibly sexy. I don’t know anyone else that has the contingencies, the renewal business we have. My goal is to bring on a producer who’s brand-new to insurance about every other year. It’s an easy sell when you really believe in what you’re offering.

Lissette Delgado

Incoming Chair, Miami Young Agents Committee
Agent and Office Manager
JVS Insurance Agency
Miami

Age: 30
Guilty pleasure TV show: House of Cards
Favorite beer: “Wine is my go-to; whiskey when I’m with my dad; martinis if I’m with the girls.”
Preferred social media: Facebook

Why insurance?

This is my dad’s agency, so this has been the only insurance job I’ve had and will always be the only insurance job I have. My sister is actually one of my right hands, and I have two other women here that are older than me who saw my mother pregnant with me. One of my sister’s best friends from growing up, I have her in here too. It’s a very family-oriented office.

Work/life balance?

I am known to work Saturdays, Sundays, late in the evenings. I’m a single mom, and I’m a young woman in a big boys type of world. It’s tough—I find that I have to put in more hours just so I can gain respect. But I’m a workaholic anyway. I really love what I do.

Motivator?

My biggest motivator is of course my son. He’s 10 now. I have a picture of him between my two screens and a little note he wrote for me: “You’re the best mom ever.” That reminds me to succeed. And the girls I work with are very important. They’re the ones who help me have a flourishing business.

Biggest role model?

Dulce Suarez-Resnick, vice president of NCF Insurance Associates in Miami. We met through the Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies (LAAIA). She’s an insurance instructor and past president of both the LAAIA and the local chapter of the National Association of Insurance Women, and has chaired the legislative committees of both. It was because of her that I got into the large commercial condos and high-rises and all the legislation stuff. I can’t imagine myself without her.

Bruce Fisher- Messier

AAI, CLSS
Sales Executive
Butler & Messier, Inc.
Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Age: 27
Guilty pleasure TV show: Supergirl
Favorite beer: Guinness
Preferred social media: Twitter

Why insurance?

What got me into it was definitely my dad. He’s done it my entire life and his entire life—more than 65 years now. So I always wanted to do it. I went to the U.S. Naval Academy, so I was going to do the military for a while, but I ended up getting injured and leaving my senior year. From there, I went to business school because insurance was always my end game. I got a degree in finance and economics, and about three days after graduation I was in the office working.

Motivator?

My dad basically built this agency up. He came in in the early ’50s and grew it to a pretty decent-sized company. He’s worked so hard his entire life. He’s 85 and he still comes into the office every day at 9. I don’t want to ruin his baby.

Most annoying millennial stereotype?

That we’re lazy and we don’t want to work. You have people our age who have some of the largest companies in the world right now. Lyft, Uber, Facebook-—they didn’t build all that being lazy.

Millennial stereotype that fits you?

We have all the resources we need on our cell phones, and we can find out anything. The older generation—they knew a lot. We might not know as much, especially not now because we don’t have the experience. But we have the ability to find out whatever we need to find out as long as we’re willing to work toward it.

Industry’s biggest challenge?

Everyone’s been saying for the past 50 years that the independent agents are going to go out of business. I don’t see that happening in the near future at all. But with the age of the average insurance agent, there really is no one taking over. You have all the agency principals who might be the head salesperson or they might have a couple salespeople under them all in their 40s and 50s, if not older. They could save their money and retire, live comfortably, or they could invest some of that money in training the future.

Kevin Fukuyama

Vice President of Commercial Underwriting
The J. Morey Company, Inc.
Los Angeles

Age: 28
Guilty pleasure TV show: Suits
Favorite beer: Franziskaner Weissbier
Preferred social media: Facebook

Motivator?

When you’re dealing with people’s homes, cars, businesses, the thing they’ve worked their whole lives to try and build up—doing the best job and knowing no one else could have done it better, that’s really gratifying to me. At the time of need, that’s something where clients can’t really put a quantitative amount on it, but it’s just a reassuring feeling for them.

Work/life balance?

I am married and that’s probably the biggest balance I have to work with, because I have calls on the weekend or after hours or emails that honestly can’t wait until Monday. Keeping my wife informed about certain projects I’m working on gives her a better understanding so she isn’t left in the dark. When I let her in on those day-to-day challenges I face, it doesn’t seem like I’m just saying, “Hold on, I need to make a call.” Instead it’s, “This is that guy I was talking to you about.” It makes her feel more involved.

Most annoying millennial stereotype?

The misunderstanding of where we’re coming from. It’s not just about how much you get paid-—it’s about doing something meaningful, surrounding yourself with a good work environment, working for a cause or something you believe in. As I’ve had to grow and manage younger people, it’s been extremely helpful to take that extra step and let them know why they’re doing it.

Industry’s biggest challenge?

The perception that it’s an older, vanilla-type industry. Agencies are looking at social media to show young people they’re with it, but it’s going to take more than that. It’s going to take young people getting out there, or doing something above and beyond punching in and punching out. They have to talk to their friends and family so they can discern what’s unique about the insurance world.

Kim Mathews

Principal
Associated Insurance Services, LLC
Indianapolis

Age: 28
Guilty pleasure TV show: The Walking Dead
Favorite beer: Two Hearted Ale from Bell’s Brewery
Preferred social media: Instagram

Why insurance?

My uncle and grandfather were really big in the insurance industry, so I grew up knowing about it. I worked for my uncle’s agency for about a year before I went to college, but it wasn’t until I actually moved back here after college that my aunt and I decided to go into it as partners, as a woman-owned agency. This was a great opportunity to be part of something new in an industry that is recession-proof.

Motivator?

Being a good leader and a good support system for my employees. Everyone’s had jobs where they didn’t have a great boss or they didn’t have a good team vibe and culture, so that’s really important to me. I want my team to feel like we’re all in this together.

Biggest role model?

My uncle. He had an agency for about 25 years, and he’s my go-to when I need advice. I call him my Yoda. And the way he deals with people, the way he treats his employees and his strategic partners, he’s just been a real role model in terms of being there to help serve others first. I call it business karma: If you’re reliable and you’re a good person, it comes back two-fold.

Industry’s biggest challenge?

One of the things I hear a lot is, “Why would I call an agent when I could just get online and get my own policy with Progressive or Geico?” What I always come back with is, “I could theoretically get online and get a will through LegalZoom, but do I want to rely on the internet to create my will?” If you’re with Geico and you have an accident and you need somebody go to bat for you, nobody at Geico is going to care. But if you call me and I know you, that’s no problem. We’re advocates for our clients.

Caroline Pintabone

Commercial Lines Account Executive
Ahart, Frinzi & Smith
Phillipsburg, New Jersey

Age: 29
Guilty pleasure TV show: The Bachelorette
Favorite beer: Guinness
Preferred social media: Instagram

Why insurance?

I was a financial economics major, and my senior year I said to myself, “Oh my gosh, Caroline—what are you going to do?” I knew Tom Ahart from when I was younger—he coached his daughter’s softball team and we played against them. I knew he owned an insurance agency, so I called him and said, “I literally have no idea what I want to do, I need an internship to graduate and you wouldn’t have to pay me. Will you hire me?” I started in January while I was still a senior in college, and it just grasped me.

Motivator?

I do a lot of servicing, but I’m also expected to produce. When I’m in the office, I enjoy taking on the agency technology issues—modernizing the way we do things and teaching people how to multitask and make the whole system a little quicker. Outside the office, what keeps me going is the opportunity to sell. There’s no limit to the income you can make in this industry.

Work/life balance?

We’re in an extremely flexible industry. I work from home one day a week, and it just makes sense. It’s a completely different vibe and I know I’m a lot more productive. I can also work remotely—I can take a vacation and I’m still able to access my accounts and have calls forwarded to my cell.

Industry’s biggest challenge?

I think some people in the older generations are afraid of change. My agency is located in a very rural, older area. We’re trying to get people to expect their policies via email and they don’t even want to do that. That’s our biggest hurdle—getting people to jump on board with the modernization of technology so we can more efficiently work and stop spending time mailing something or picking up the phone, rather than just sending a text message or email.

Matthew Washburn

Vice President
Washburn & Wilson Agency, Inc.
Bethel, Vermont

Age: 30
Guilty pleasure TV show: Gotham
Favorite beer: “I’m more into cider—it’s like drinking candy.”
Preferred social media: Facebook

Why insurance?

My dad and I started our agency from scratch. Almost 10 years ago, I was graduating college and my dad had been in the insurance business for two years. He talked with someone who had been in the industry and suggested my dad just do it on his own. So we opened up an office where there had been one in the past that had been bought out by a bigger agency in the area. The location in itself stirred some business just because people knew insurance was in the office, so that’s how we segued into it.

Motivator?

Half of it’s the pressure of knowing you have a commitment with companies, and the other is the bottom line. You’re just trying to make a business work. And seeing our book of business grow and having goals and looking at our overall gross income—the more business I write, the more competitive I get.

Work/life balance?

It’s very blended. Your clients are your friends—that’s how it works. But it is a struggle. It’s long hours. At the end of the day, you don’t leave at 4 or 4:30 because you have clients that want stuff done. Since we don’t have the staff, that’s just the way it is—you work ‘til it’s done and sometimes that cuts into having fun.

Millennial stereotype that fits you?

The fact that technology does not scare me and I dive into it, because that is the only way we have made our business work. We’ve gotten to the point where we only need a laptop and a cell phone that has good service and people don’t even know we’re not in the office.

Biggest challenge?

The biggest struggle is finding the markets for the clients that come in the door. I’m always disappointed when companies don’t want to work with us because we’re too small.

Kari Wyman

CIC, CISR
Account Manager
Gregory & Appel Insurance
Indianapolis

Age: 31
Guilty pleasure TV show: Friends
Favorite beer: Miller Lite
Preferred social media: LinkedIn

Motivator?

My daughter—she’s five.

Work/life balance?

When I’m at work, I try to keep things focused 100% on work, and when I’m done with work it’s time to be with my family. Occasionally I’ll have to work late or maybe a weekend, but I really just try to organize and work as hard as I can during the workday and keep family time as family time.

Most annoying millennial stereotype?

I hate when I hear that all millennials are lazy. More millennials seem to have a college degree than any other generation, and it makes it that much harder to get a job. There are more qualified, educated candidates applying for jobs than in the past. Millennials have to fight harder to get the respected positions they strive for.

Millennial stereotype that fits you?

I deal every day with technology. Not only do I have to know my agency software system, but I also have to know multiple carriers’ websites. It can be tough to navigate. But I think for millennials, we grew up with technology—it’s been everything for us. We had computer class when were in grade school and we’ve had cell phones since at least college if not high school. Everything demands technology, and we embrace it.

Industry’s biggest challenge?

It’s an aging industry and not perceived as a sexy job. You have to evolve to appeal to the younger generation. For example, it’s not uncommon for me to go on a run during the work day—typically not part of your average work day. But this is the type of culture my company actually encourages. There are different things you can do to provide benefits to employees. We’re creating those benefits and reasons for young people to want to be in the industry.

Jacquelyn Connelly is IA senior editor.