California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara led the 2024 Insurance Diversity Summit. The summit brought together executives, policymakers, diverse business and non-profit leaders to discuss the impact of diversity initiatives.
In the announcement of the summit, Lara noted the department’s Insurance Diversity Initiative expanded its work to collect data and promote greater investment by insurance companies in a diverse network of suppliers. The insurance industry spends billions of dollars that can create opportunities for small and diverse business owners – including those owned by women, veterans, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, Black/African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native Californians.
It stated Lara’s policies are making a significant impact across insurance company boardrooms, where women now hold more than one-quarter of board director seats within the state’s $413 billion insurance industry, according to the latest data from the California Department of Insurance. For the first time since the inception of the survey, women comprise more than 25 percent of board directors among the more than 390 insurance companies that reported.
Despite these gains, the survey found that approximately 15 percent of insurance company boards still reported zero gender diversity while Blacks, Latinos, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans lag far behind their growing share of the nation’s population. As a result of a recently enacted California law sponsored by Lara, this year’s survey expanded reporting to include board members who identified as a person with disabilities, and businesses owned by people with disabilities. In a stark contrast to the more than 7.7 million adults in California living with a disability, survey data indicates that the industry still has a long road ahead when it comes to disability inclusion in the boardroom, with only 0.35 percent of insurance board directors who identified as having a disability in both 2022 and 2023.
Representation among board directors who identified as LGBTQ+ experienced only a fractional percentage gain from the prior survey data with reported LGBTQ+ board directors comprising approximately 1 percent, compared to more than 7 percent of adults who identify as LGBTQ+. This data continues to underscore the need for more inclusive practices that expand representation on the boards of insurance companies.
Insurance company spending with diverse-owned businesses reached more than $3.1 billion in 2023. For several years, Lara has sponsored legislation requiring insurance companies to have greater transparency to measure progress on their diversity goals.
“While there’s progress, there’s still ample opportunity for insurance companies to meet their supplier diversity commitments in light of the disparities that persist among businesses owned by people from historically underserved communities,” Lara concluded. “Now more than ever, we need leaders at the helm who reflect the people who live and work in the most diverse state in the nation.”
In keeping with the Summit’s theme of “Harnessing our Impact,” the Diversity Summit’s welcome plenary included remarks from California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber, California Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D – Long Beach), City of Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, and Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Maria Salinas. Lara followed up with a keynote conversation alongside Telisa Yancy, enterprise president of American Family Insurance Group, focusing on sharing best practices that drive financial inclusion and equity for the insurance industry.
Attendees participated in business matchmaking roundtables and webinars led by experts on the topics of pathways to board leadership, best practices on disability inclusion, how to contract with insurance companies, the latest information on the state’s funding opportunities available for diverse business enterprises, and how businesses can stay ahead of the curve by gaining insights on navigating emerging topics such as generative artificial intelligence in the insurance industry while protecting consumers.