Volante Global’s Jenna Terry shortlisted as a Finalist for the ‘Young Insurance Women of the Year’ award at the ‘Women in Insurance’ Awards 2021

It is with great honour to announce that Jenna Terry, Underwriter, Volante Financial & Professional Lines – Professional Indemnity (VFP-PI), has been shortlisted as a finalist for the ‘Young Insurance Women of the Year (small to medium firms)’ award at the ‘Women in Insurance’ Awards 2021.

Jenna Terry joined Volante in July 2020 with an impressive eight years of insurance experience and the Cert CII qualification under her belt. However, despite this, she experienced difficulties navigating through this industry. In Jenna’s own words, “I started working in insurance when I was 18 years old. I had to fight and scramble for the opportunity to become an underwriter, and it was only because I was friends with a senior underwriter who happened to be a man that I was eventually able to get an underwriting job.” Jenna continues, “I’ve found it a lot easier working at Volante, the communication is a lot better, and everyone here is on the same page. It’s also a calmer, less-stressful work environment.”

Shortly after joining Volante, Jenna’s manager Kristy Mannin, Regional Portfolio Manager, VFP – PI, remarked, “Jenna did an exceptional job while I was on maternity leave. She covered managerial meetings, and I felt she deserved recognition for that,” – a decision which prompted Kristy to nominate Jenna for the Women in Insurance awards earlier this year.

The Women in Insurance Awards showcases the achievements of women in the general insurance market across all sectors of the market, all levels and all disciplines. These prestigious awards, which are in their 3rd year running, are extremely competitive. The selection process requires a third-party nominator who must fill out an application form, along with the nominees, for review by a panel of over 20 judges. These judges whittled the initial list of approximately 640 nominations to 140 shortlisted candidates this year. It truly is a memorable achievement that one of our very own has been shortlisted as a finalist for the ‘Young Insurance Woman of the Year’ award. Jenna shares, “I felt shocked and surprised when I learned I was shortlisted. I didn’t know how big of a deal the Women in Insurance awards were initially, it’s all very flattering and a huge honour.”

Whilst the insurance industry has made significant strides towards re-focusing itself as a genuinely inclusive, equal opportunities sector; the consensus is that there is still a long way to go, especially when it comes to narrowing the gender pay gap, embedding flexible working arrangements in the wake of the pandemic, and increasing the number of women in senior positions.

Kristy Mannin commented, “I definitely think the attitude towards diversity in this industry is changing. When I first spoke to Talbir about opening a regional office for Volante, his aspirations for me to put forward a business case and plan to open the office were very encouraging; not something I had ever been given the opportunity to do before. There’s absolutely no discrimination at Volante, whether you’re a male or female. And it’s the first company that I’ve worked in, and I’ve worked in insurance for over 15 years where you don’t feel like there’s a difference between men and women. Everyone feels included.”