Re/insurance icon Brian Duperreault and communications consultant Wendy Davis Johnson have each received an award for encouraging more interest in re/insurance as a career.

The each received the Industry Talent Champion Award at the Emerging Leaders Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The event is hosted by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, AM Best, and Insurance Careers Movement — a project initiated by Mr Duperreault and Ms Davis Johnson 12 years ago.

Founder and CEO, Lead the Machine, Kirsten Marr presented the awards.

Marguerite Tortorello, executive director, Insurance Careers Movement said the awards were for exceptional leadership and work to strengthen the insurance talent pipeline and to attract more people to the re/insurance industry.

As co-founders of the Insurance Careers Movement, Mr Duperreault and Ms Davis Johnson had engaged industry leaders around the globe to work together to address talent changes and opportunities.

Ms Tortorello commented: “Through visionary leadership and storytelling that elevates purpose and possibility, the legendary Brian and Wendy have inspired generations to see insurance as a career of impact.”

Mr Duperreault is executive chairman of Cedar Trace Holdings, while Ms Davis Johnson is the author of Mr Duperreault’s recent biography Faith and Purpose. The pair have worked closely together since 1997.

She was chief communications officer for five years at Hamilton Insurance Group before transitioning to consultant to the CEO during the last six months of employment.

She recalled: “During 2014, I was researching speeches for Brian when I discovered that there was a looming talent crisis.

“The generation in the C-suite was approaching retirement. There was little to no interest in North America and the UK/Europe among young people to consider insurance as a career.”

She found that existing initiatives attempting to address the issue were uncoordinated and were not gaining traction.

Ms Davis Johnson brought this to Mr Duperreault’s attention and he agreed to use his reputation and high profile to get the attention of those who could make a difference.

“We expected a couple of dozen participants and ended up with over 200 from companies around the world,” Ms Davis Johnson said.