She may not have dreamed of an insurance career, but within minutes of speaking to her, anyone can see why it’s a perfect fit for Katie Konfala. Katie is easy to talk to, curious, and as her mathematics degree would indicate – analytical. Recently promoted to West Zone Regional Leader for AXA XL’s Director & Officers (D&O) insurance team, Katie is a key leader and mentor at one of the largest players in the D&O market. Katie considers herself fortunate to be a part of AXA XL’s D&O team. While there may have been some luck involved with finding her first insurance job right out of college, her successful underwriting career is the result of continuous learning and valuable collaboration.
Fast Fast Forward spoke to Katie about her D&O underwriting career journey and what she’s learned along the way. Here’s what she had to say.
FFF: How did you find yourself here in the insurance industry? And specifically, in D&O underwriting?
KK: After graduating with a degree in mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I was waiting tables while trying to figure out my next step. I decided to move back to my home state of Connecticut and start applying for jobs.
I landed my first job out of college at the 色多多视频 Noodle (yes, that was the real name), which is a Managing General Agent (MGA). They created an online quoting hub for agents to access small commercial P&C insurance solutions. In those early days, 色多多视频 Noodle used XL as the carrier within their MGA model through an underwriting agreement. In 2005, XL 色多多视频 decided to bring the private D&O underwriting capabilities in-house and started building out its own team. I applied and was hired as a private D&O underwriter about 17 years ago. And that’s just it. I’ve been here ever since.
Eventually I moved to the public company D&O team. I was promoted to an Underwriting Manager in 2021 and then promoted again to serve as a Regional Leader for our West Zone.
Court decisions play a key role in shaping our industry, as do business & market trends, such as M&A and IPO activity.
With nearly 20 years of underwriting experience and knowing what you know about D&O, what’s one piece of advice you’d share with an underwriter just starting out in the market?
We’ve had several underwriters join our team over the past couple years, so this topic has been on my mind often. At its core, our products protect Directors, Officers, and other firm leaders against lawsuits that question their performance, particularly a company’s financial performance. There’s both an art and a science to our underwriting process, with qualitative and quantitative factors often competing against each other. No one can expect to learn about such a dynamic insurance market overnight. Over the years, I was able to learn this business from a great team – and I’m trying to carry that theme forward. A large number of our underwriters have decades of experience. They have a strong understanding of the industry, have successfully navigated various market cycles, and learned many valuable lessons in the process. They are great resources that we are fortunate to have but only if we take advantage of their knowledge. So, ask questions - people are happy to help. Listen and learn.
What’s the best part of your job?
The people, of course! We are a team oriented underwriting group. We communicate regularly throughout each day, bouncing deals off each other, and that’s proven to be a great approach.
Outside of our group, the large commercial insurance market is very much a relationship business and I’ve developed strong broker relationships that span up to 15 years. These relationships are even more important in today’s increasingly competitive market. Businesses need to decide what they value most in their D&O markets. Are they looking for the lowest price? Or do they appreciate the stability of an established D&O market? We like to become long-term partners with our brokers and insureds and I’m proud that they can count on us. Building those relationships has been quite enjoyable.
What’s the most challenging part of being a D&O underwriter?
Keeping up with change. The D&O insurance market is always evolving. Court decisions play a key role in shaping our industry, as do business & market trends, such as M&A and IPO activity. As the business or legal environments change, it’s safe to assume that those changes impact D&O liability. We need to adjust with those changes to ensure that coverage meets the evolution to keep up with our insureds needs.
We’re always looking for what’s ahead. It’s not a perfect science, that’s for sure. Right now, everyone is thinking about what a possible economic downturn might mean for the market and our portfolio. That’s one of the latest conversation topics that we are talking about internally as well as on underwriting calls with our insureds, getting their take on it and making sure they are thinking about how they are going to react and adapt their businesses if it does happen.
Newer classes of business, such as cannabis and crypto-related industries are recent examples that present both challenges and opportunities. Working to provide solutions for developing industries or risks has always been enjoyable and has produced good returns for us. We almost always find an answer to a difficult or unique situation, which is usually a result of having an open mind and learning from insureds, brokers, and within our internal networks. A great deal – and great deals - can be accomplished when you have an open mind.
AXA XL’s Professional Liability team is known for its very collaborative underwriting approach. How has that helped you?
Yes, we are always learning via our collaborative processes. During Roundtable sessions, an underwriter presents a risk, and receives direct feedback from the team. The feedback can be positive or negative. Quite often, the discussion generates new ideas – some work, some don’t. We encourage our newer underwriters to participate in as many roundtable sessions as possible – it really jumpstarts their learning curve and sharpens their debate and presentation skills.
Our portfolio consists of accounts across all industries. If I am working on an account in an industry I am less familiar, I can always find someone with experience in that space. We do learn a lot from each other – and it just keeps the job really interesting.
While we adapted to virtual Roundtables during COVID, it’s great have in-person sessions again! I am grateful that we had the technology to adapt to changes in the world during the pandemic but having those in-person discussions is valuable for all of us, especially the newer underwriters on our team.
What’s ahead of 2023?
It’s a tough market. Competition is increasing. Many markets who were less visible over the past few years are active again. We have many new entrants to contend with as well.
It will be interesting to see if IPO activity picks up in 2023. 2022 was one of the quietest IPO activity years on record, following a record breaking 2021. IPO activity presents new opportunities and new challenges – so everyone is trying to figure out how 2023 will fare. We’re also keeping a close eye on macroeconomic trends, such as rising interest rates. This will have a direct impact on the financial health of firms. Financially distressed risks present challenges but can also generate interesting opportunities.
No matter what 2023 and beyond bring, though, I am confident that we will once again successfully navigate the changes and continue to be a top carrier in the D&O space.
