Throughout Women’s History Month, we will feature female change-makers and leaders at Amerisure who are providing an industry-leading experience and making an impact within the insurance space.
Yvonne Hobson has experienced tremendous growth, both personally and professionally, throughout her career. As vice president of Special Risk for Amerisure, Yvonne is responsible for driving business strategy and results as they relate to the programs, products and administration of special risk capabilities. This includes large accounts, loss sensitive, group captive and other alternative risk programs, as well as identifying new market opportunities to help expand the company’s footprint.
Yvonne has more than 30 years of experience in property & casualty insurance, and during her tenure with Amerisure, has risen from a manager to several leadership roles. She served as vice president of the corporate underwriting team until the spring of 2020. In this role, Yvonne was tasked with reshaping the department, which included hiring line of business underwriting professionals with robust underwriting and analytical skills. She was also charged with improving underwriting efficiency through process and technology improvements and created the Underwriting Systems and Technology team.
Three years ago, Yvonne was selected to serve as vice president of Special Risk and was eager to accept the new professional challenge. She met with hundreds of contacts in her first year of the role to enhance the team’s brand. Today, she is continuing to develop rising stars in the department — expanding product and market offerings — and has helped the team reach its premium goal each year.
“I love meeting with customers and am proud of the team’s growth and achievements,” said Hobson.
A Rising Tide Lifts all Boats
Yvonne is both collaborative and team-oriented and believes more is accomplished when bringing everyone together rather than individually. One of her strongest leadership qualities is being achievement-oriented and inspiring her team to achieve their goals. This drives the success of her team, as Yvonne believes “a rising tide lifts all boats.”
Frequent communication is also important to Yvonne, and she aims to be transparent by providing frequent touch points, which was especially apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also believes it takes a diverse team to be successful, as everyone brings a different skillset to the table, and in this type of environment she is best able to nurture and develop the unique skill sets of the group.
Mentorship & Enhancing Her Skills
When Yvonne was rising in her career, she had a female advisor through a mentorship program, and because of this impactful experience, mentoring other women has always been important to her. Currently, Yvonne has several mentor relationships with professionals at Amerisure, and they regularly reach out to her for support and guidance. She recently mentored a young woman who was looking to make a career change to underwriting and helped her navigate this change. Two of Yvonne’s recent mentees have also risen to assistant vice president and vice president roles.
“When I am asked, I always extend an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’ to being a mentor, because someone cared enough to care about me along the way,” said Hobson. “Helping individuals evolve their talents and providing them with opportunities has always been important to me and allows me to be confident there are the right people in the right seats for the next leaders at Amerisure.”
As part of her professional growth, Yvonne has excelled at public speaking throughout her career. By becoming experienced with speaking throughout her various roles, she has been able to move past an initial reluctance and become an effective public speaker. In her personal time, she is also a volunteer with The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan.
Moving forward, Yvonne is excited to drive business strategy and results for Special Risk and Amerisure.
_____
About Yvonne Hobson
Yvonne Hobson is the Vice President of Special Risk for Amerisure. In this role, she is responsible for business strategy as it relates to the programs, products and administration of Special Risk capabilities.
Yvonne began her career at Amerisure in 1987. During her tenure, she has held roles beginning in Field Underwriting, as an Underwriter and Field Marketing & Underwriting Manager. Later, she was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Corporate Underwriting, then Vice President of Corporate Underwriting in 2006, where she oversaw underwriting products and strategy for more than 15 years. In 2020, she assumed the role of Vice President, Special Risk for Amerisure.
Yvonne received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Michigan University.
