Built for Disruption: What Canada's Insurance Leaders are Teaching us about Talent, Trust, and Readiness
Published on June 15, 2026
Disruption is no longer something Canadian insurers prepare for. It is the environment they operate within.
Senior leaders from across the industry gathered at the Women in Insurance Summit Canada to share what it actually takes to lead through constant change. The conversation kept coming back to three things: leadership readiness, trust, and talent built for uncertainty.
So what separates the organizations that adapt from those that fall behind? The answer is rarely about technology alone.
The insurance industry has always operated in uncertainty. But today feels different.
Economic volatility. Climate risk. Fraud sophistication. AI transformation. Workforce shifts. Rising customer expectations. Industry consolidation.
These are no longer separate conversations happening in parallel. They are converging all at once, forcing organizations across the Canadian insurance ecosystem to rethink strategy, leadership, and talent in real time.
At the Women in Insurance Summit Canada held in Toronto this June, senior leaders from carriers, brokerages, and distribution organizations came together for an honest conversation about what it takes to lead when disruption is no longer a phase. It is the environment.
One message came through clearly across every session.
The organizations best positioned for what is ahead are not necessarily the ones with the largest budgets or the most advanced technology. They are the ones investing intentionally in leadership, trust, and future-ready talent before disruption arrives.
Disruption is no longer something you prepare for. It is something you operate within.
For years, disruption was treated as temporary. A difficult season to navigate before stability eventually returned.
That assumption no longer holds.
Geneviève Fortier, CEO of Promutuel Insurance, was direct about it: uncertainty is increasingly becoming the norm, not the exception. Organizations waiting for perfect clarity before making their next move risk standing still while the market continues moving around them.
That perspective was echoed throughout the day.
Leaders were not talking about eliminating uncertainty. They were talking about becoming genuinely equipped to lead within it.
Susan Williams-Bonet of Wawanesa painted a clear picture of just how layered today's environment has become. Inflation, climate pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain disruption, fraud, and shifting customer expectations are all influencing business performance simultaneously.
Yet despite the complexity, the conversations were not rooted in pessimism.
If anything, there was a strong sense that disruption creates real opportunity for organizations willing to adapt while others hesitate.
The leadership question that surfaced repeatedly was this: how do you continue making thoughtful, confident decisions when certainty may never fully arrive?
The answer, increasingly, is building leadership teams capable of holding short-term realities and long-term thinking at the same time, without becoming paralyzed by what they cannot yet see.
Technology is reshaping the industry. Human capability still matters most.
Artificial intelligence came up in nearly every conversation throughout the day.
From underwriting and claims to fraud prevention and customer interactions, leaders acknowledged that technology will continue to reshape how work gets done across insurance. That is not a question anymore.
But what stood out was that the conversation rarely stopped at technology itself.
It kept coming back to people.
Anushree Prakash, VP of Direct Operations at Definity, spoke candidly about how AI has already changed the fraud landscape. Activities that once required significant expertise can now be generated in minutes. The barrier to entry is essentially gone. At the same time, customers are increasingly using AI tools in their own interactions with insurers, changing the nature of claims conversations in ways the industry is still working through.
Yet despite all of it, one message consistently resurfaced across sessions.
Human capability still matters enormously.
Technology can identify patterns. It can automate processes. It can improve speed and efficiency at scale.
But judgment, adaptability, empathy, communication, and trust remain deeply human capabilities. In insurance, those capabilities matter most precisely when complexity increases. Supporting a client through a difficult claim. Navigating a conversation with no clear answer. Making a decision where the data only gets you so far.
For organizations thinking seriously about talent, this creates an important challenge.
The future workforce is not simply about hiring people with technical expertise. It is about finding professionals who can pair digital fluency with resilience, critical thinking, and strong relationship skills.
The organizations investing in that combination today will be significantly better positioned tomorrow.
Trust is not a leadership value. It is business infrastructure.
One of the strongest themes throughout the summit had very little to do with technology.
It had to do with trust.
Multiple leaders spoke about what actually happens inside organizations during disruption, whether that is an acquisition, a restructuring, a leadership transition, or sustained economic pressure.
Teams experience fatigue. Anxiety. Fear of the unknown.
That is when leadership matters differently.
Susan DuHamel of CNA Insurance was clear: teams do not expect their leaders to have every answer immediately. But they do expect honesty, consistency, and clarity. Visible, steady leadership during uncertainty is not a nice to have. It is what holds organizations together.
Gillian Noble of BMO Insurance brought psychological safety out of the abstract and into the practical. When employees feel genuinely safe to raise concerns, ask hard questions, and speak candidly, organizations gain access to better information, faster problem-solving, and stronger collaboration. Without that safety, the conversations leaders most need to be having are the ones most likely to stop happening.
And in complex environments, silence is expensive.
Another idea surfaced repeatedly that is worth sitting with: resilient teams are rarely built during disruption. They are built beforehand. Through credibility. Through relationships. Through consistent behavior over time.
For organizations navigating change right now, that foundation is not a soft consideration. It is a competitive advantage.
Talent expectations are shifting. The organizations noticing will win.
Career growth is being redefined, and the insurance industry is feeling it.
For years, many professionals operated under a familiar formula: work hard, stay loyal, and opportunities will eventually come. That expectation is shifting, and leaders across multiple sessions were candid about it.
Helen Cosburn of Allianz and Renata Bezerra of CIBC Insurance both reflected on the importance of stepping into opportunities before feeling fully ready. Their message was simple: very few people ever feel completely prepared for their next leadership role. Growth happens through discomfort, not in spite of it.
At the same time, professionals are increasingly redefining what they want from their careers.
Advancement still matters. But so does flexibility, meaningful development, sustainable leadership, and the genuine sense that the next opportunity is possible, not just promised.
For organizations across the insurance ecosystem, this has direct implications.
Strong talent wants more than compensation and title progression. They want visibility into their own growth path, leaders who are invested in their development, and organizations where learning does not stop after onboarding.
Firms still operating under outdated assumptions about what retains high performers may find it increasingly difficult to compete for the talent they need most.
A final thought
If there was one clear takeaway from this year's Women in Insurance Summit Canada, it is this.
Disruption is no longer something organizations prepare for. It is something they operate within.
The organizations best positioned for the future of Canadian insurance may not simply be the most technologically advanced. They may be the ones that invested earliest in leadership readiness, trust, and talent capable of navigating uncertainty with confidence.
Because in an environment where change is constant, resilience rarely happens by accident.
It is built. Intentionally. Long before the storm arrives.