Outstanding Executive Award winner announced

Every year, Linkage’s Outstanding Executive Award is given to a President or CEO that supports that goes above and beyond their job description to contribute and make a difference for the women leaders in their organization at our annual Women in Leadership Institute^™ in Anaheim, California.

This year’s winner, Marie Andel of CSAA Insurance Group, will be honored at WIL^™ next month for the  instrumental role she’s played in developing an award-winning, company-wide diversity program. She’s also being recognized for volunteering her own time to mentor countless company executives as they strive to be more inclusive. And most importantly, female representation in the top executive positions at CSAA Insurance has increased from 29% in 2013 to 39% in 2014 under her leadership.

This is an amazing statistic in and of itself. But when you take into account the impact she’s had on advancing women in leadership in the largely male-dominated insurance industry, her accomplishments are even more remarkable. And she’s committed to ensuring that diversity and inclusion efforts go well beyond cultural celebrations and educational events—as important as those are.

She’s also championed the formation of a Women’s Professional Network that’s comprised of women in leadership positions across the company. These women have been identified as top talent and as those whose primary goal is to build leadership competencies in all employees, male and female.

Marie Andel makes a difference in the lives of the people she works with. Perhaps you work with an outstanding leader like her. If you could nominate someone in your organization, who would it be and why? Share your story with us in the comments section below.