This emerging leader’s approach to claims, leadership and industry growth

Editor’s Note: The Insurance Institute of Canada announced the winners of its annual leadership awards last week. Below, CU caught up with the winner of the Institute’s Emerging Leader Award, Emily Gray, claims manager at Peace Hills Insurance. Last week, on Friday, Nov. 14, we published our interview with Rohit Trivedi of Allianz Commercial.

Emerging Leader Award 

Emily Gray, Claims Manager, Peace Hills Insurance

What you get from your insurance career is directly proportional to what you put into it, says Emily Gray, claims manager at Peace Hills Insurance.  

Gray’s put in a lot and that’s why she received the Insurance Institute of Canada’s Emerging Leader Award, announced last week. 

“It might not always be apparent right away, but I think that when you enter new situations or even a new project, or a new claim with positivity, and you really try to give [an] honest effort, you’re going to get that effort back in the end,” she says.  

Gray got her start in the industry at 18 when she took a contract position as an underwriting assistant. That’s when the switch flipped. “I really saw that if you put in the work, that you can go really far to the industry,” she says.

That motivated her to complete a diploma in insurance and risk management at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton. “It was even more eye-opening because I had a little bit of the knowledge from my underwriting role, but when I started to learn about the different aspects of insurance, I really got excited by it, and I got excited specifically about insurance claims.” 

Since then, she’s progressed from claims adjuster to her first managerial role and has also earned her Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation.  

Now, she dedicates her time to mentorship and professional development, doing outreach and speaking with the insurance and risk management students at Grant MacEwan University.  

She’s also the chair of education for the Northern Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association, where she helps provide bursaries for students at local insurance programs.  

Among Gray’s key convictions as a leader is her responsibility to grow the industry’s talent pool. 

“The industry does such wonderful things in terms of giving back and being there for people when these claim situations happen, and being the boots on the ground,” she tells CU, “so I really want other people to experience how wonderful the insurance industry can be.” 

Her other conviction is in handling all her claims customers, and employees, with empathy. “I’m a claims manager, so the conversations that we deal with on a day-to-day basis are very upsetting to our clients and to our customers,” says Gray.  

“It’s not just empathy towards them, but also empathy towards my staff,” she adds. “I try to be a sounding board as much as I can for my staff, and I hope that when I exemplify these traits of empathy and listening, that they also pass on these traits as they’re taking on those claims phone calls as well.” 

Ultimately, Gray says claims is her home.  

“Finding the resolution to these different problems is really what keeps me going,” she says. “I like to be a problem solver. And now that I’m in management, I get to help my staff solve their problems and help them figure out how to work through these different [claims] situations.” 

As for what’s next in her career, Gray says she plans to earn her Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) designation.