NAME: Marguerite Dixen
NEW JOB TITLE: Chicago-based CEO, president and founder, Adroit General Agency
PREVIOUS POSITION: Chicago-based president, Third Coast Underwriters and Fundamental Underwriters
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: The industry is making much-needed moves toward less expensive, customer-friendly and adaptable systems. Organizations able to get that transition right will have the information to make quality decisions in real time with insightful data and reduced overhead. The players who keep up with that transition most effectively will be able to weather what I expect to be shorter cycles and higher volatility.
GOALS FOR NEW POSITION: Creating new spaces in the commercial insurance industry is my vocation and my avocation. The partnership with Origami Risk allows us to harness the power of insurtech systems in tandem with best-in-class, old-school underwriting. Starting with workers compensation, the goal is to create a platform that can be used for multiple lines of business. As an MGA, we have a chance to use our flat structure to make decisions quickly while investing in a future that is ever-evolving.
CHALLENGES FACING THE INDUSTRY: Workers compensation rates continue to drop, but those changes reflect a market looking backward, at experience and pricing that may not be sustainable in our current reality. Wages are headed up, increasing benefits for individuals and inflation is at its highest point in recent memory. To maintain the profitability of the line, premiums will need to reflect that change. Excellent account selection, pricing and claims management will be essential for participants that want to keep their combined ratio under 100% in our low interest-rate environment.
FIRST EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY JOB MARKET: I started as the temporary receptionist, working one summer for Reliance Insurance. I went on to handle personal lines for CUNA Mutual while attending UW-Madison, but my interest was always in commercial lines risk management. Travelers took me on as a trainee and the rest is a blur of opportunities.
ADVICE: Take credit for the good insurance does for the world and build your understanding of the positive impact our industry has on economic growth. A free and fair market needs us to succeed, so be proud when you explain you work in insurance, but dont be surprised when folks outside of the industry take that admission as an opportunity to relive a bad car insurance experience. You really are doing important work, so do your best to expand your knowledge every day because there is more to know than can be processed in a lifetime.
OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY, A DREAM JOB: I would love to have the time and self-discipline to write the great American novel.
COLLEGE MAJOR: Political science and economics, with 16 credits in risk and insurance.
LOOKING FORWARD TO: Building a great team that will embrace the concepts of modernizing the core skills that make for a successful commercial insurance practice, proving that you can make a profit virtually anywhere in this business if you have the right people and discipline.
FAVOURITE MEAL: A great slice of New York-style pizza, plain cheese with that red oil you need to dab off the top.
BOOK: Anything by John Irving and particularly Son of the Circus. Not his most famous, but the most engrossing for me.
HOBBIES: I have loved fostering cats and kittens during the pandemic and have helped many felines find great forever homes. Unfortunately, this is no longer an option as I am a foster failure. I kept a pair of brothers and an orphan, so now my hobby is picking up cat toys.
TV SHOW: Dont judge me too harshly, but I recently became a fan of the last 12 years of Doctor Who.
ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Brunch and a Marvel movie on the big screen.
