QBE North America partners with St. John's University to fund future women in insurance

NEW YORK, March 9, 2018  /PRNewswire/ -- QBE North America, an integrated specialist insurer, celebrates International Women's Day by announcing three scholarship recipients from St. John's University as a part of a QBE Women in Insurance Scholarship Program. Sharon Adickes, Allison Conboy and Sylvia Watroba were each awarded a $5,000 scholarship in support of their pursuit of an undergraduate or graduate level degree.  

In North America, QBE employees have a variety of resource groups that serve as communities within the company to help connect with others who share similar interests. These groups include the Women's Initiative Network (WIN), Multicultural Inclusive Extension, VALOR for Veterans and PRIDE in support of LGBTQ individuals.

The QBE Foundation also works to reflect the company's involvement, commitment and investment in the communities in which we live and work.

QBE's Women's Initiative Network employee group – with funding from the QBE Foundation – partnered with St. John's University to empower future insurance and financial industry leaders.

"Ensuring women have equal access to growth, development and advancement opportunities all starts with a good education," said Erin Fry, Senior Vice President, Specialty Programs. "To encourage an inclusive workforce with employees of all backgrounds, it's important to help build a pipeline of talented women who can step into the leadership roles of our industry's future. Our employee group wants to support one another, but also take action to solidify the growing presence of women in leadership in insurance."

The three winners were selected by St. John's University School of Risk Management Scholarship Committee. Eligible applicants included either undergraduate or graduate level candidates pursuing degrees in actuarial science, risk management and insurance, or enterprise risk management. All three scholarship winners are juniors at St. John's University, majoring in Risk Management and Insurance.

"The QBE Women in Insurance Scholarship Program is designed to create a direct connection between the company and scholarship recipients," said Maureen Furlong Weber, Director – School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science. "This provides a unique value to the students well beyond financial support, including professional enrichment and quality networking opportunities as a part of their educational experience."

The success of this program led the QBE Foundation to expand their partnership with St. John's University to support Veteran, Multicultural and LGBTQ students, as well as Women pursuing careers in insurance, with an additional $50,000 of funding.

"Managing risk requires analyzing exposure from a variety of perspectives," said Josie Barnett, QBE Foundation Manager. "We recognize the value of promoting diversity in the insurance professionals who will shape the future of risk management.  We are encouraged by the success of our partnership with St. John's University, and are thrilled to expand the scholarship program to include students from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences."

This year's QBE Women in Insurance Program scholarship winners:

Sharon Adickes first encountered the true value of the insurance industry through a high school teammate who lost her family home to a fire. Through further academic and internship exposure, she's hoping to help others in their time of need as a claims contract professional.

Allison Conboy has found great support through key mentors in her internship experiences and impressive extracurricular involvement. She wishes to give back by serving as a mentor in her future professional career.

Sylvia Watroba has great passion for risk and insurance, with a particular interest in cyber security and catastrophe risks. Her study abroad experience, coupled with past working experience leads her to view the industry from unique and varied perspectives.

About QBE

QBE North America is an integrated specialist insurer and reinsurer, offering commercial, personal and specialty lines capabilities to meet the targeted and evolving needs of its customers. QBE North America is part of QBE Insurance Group Limited, one of the largest insurers and reinsurers worldwide. Leveraging global strength, applied expertise and an experience of excellence, QBE NA delivers exceptional end-to-end solutions through a limited and preferred network of agents and brokers.

Headquartered in New York, QBE NA conducts business through its property and casualty insurance subsidiaries and reported Gross Written Premiums in 2016 of $4.6 billion. QBE Insurance Group's 2016 results can be found at www.qbena.com. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, QBE operates out of 37 countries around the globe, with a presence in every key insurance market.

The actual terms and coverage for all lines of business are subject to the language of the policies as issued. QBE insurance companies are rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best and "A+" by Standard & Poor's. Additional information can be found at www.qbena.com, or by following QBE North America on Twitter.

SOURCE QBE North America

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