2022 Young Leader Award Winner - Vanessa Contreras

Early in her educational experience at the Katie School at Illinois State University, Vanessa Contreras displayed the traits of a successful leader by her selection as a freshman for an officer role in Delta Sigma Pi, a professional business fraternity. She was Secretary that year, moved to Vice President of Fundraising Activities in her junior year and on to President in her senior year. During her four years at Illinois State, she also was chosen as Vice President of Student Affairs for Gamma Iota Sigma, Secretary of Business Week and then President of that group her senior year. It was quite remarkable for a student to be President of two extremely active student organizations concurrently.

Her diligence, academics and student involvement earned Vanessa the recognition of being one of two students selected for the Lloyd’s of London internship, part of the prestigious Katie School International Internship Program, during the summer after her junior year. She excelled in networking and still maintains industry friendships today from that experience. Upon her return from London, she was immediately immersed into the NAPSLO internship program, part in Dallas, TX and the other half in Deerfield, IL to complete a whirlwind summer of industry engagements. While in college, Vanessa also was a Quote and Bind Insurance Representative for State Farm that further enhanced her industry knowledge as a licensed insurance producer. Additionally, she was recognized as an APIW Scholarship recipient and as a FAME Scholar for her scholarly achievements.

Vanessa began her career as a Risk Analyst at Munich Re in Princeton, NJ and later became a Professional Lines Underwriter and an Assistant Vice President. After eight years at Munich Re, she joined SCOR Reinsurance in 2017 as Vice President and Professional Lines Underwriter and later Senior Vice President and Deputy Team Leader for Professional Lines. She assumed her current role in January of 2022 as Senior Vice President and US Casualty Team Leader. Vanessa is responsible for managing the strategic direction, profitability, and client relationships for SCOR’s US Casualty portfolio.

Vanessa holds a Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Risk Management and Insurance from the Katie School of Insurance and Risk Management at Illinois State University. She has the CPCU and ARe professional designations and is working towards her RPLU. Vanessa served on the Reinsurance Under 40s Board for six years and is also an active member of the APIW, PLUS and an Executive Member of the ISC Group. She has successfully completed the LAMP program though PLUS and the ASPIRE Leadership Program through SCOR. In 2015, Vanessa was included in Intelligent Insurer's list of 40 Rising Stars Under 35. Most recently, in 2020, Vanessa was selected by Insurance Business America as a Rising Star in Insurance.

Being passionate about Breast Cancer Awareness, Vanessa has participated four times in the Avon 39 – The Walk To End Breast Cancer, and she and her siblings have hosted a toy drive for Kids with Cancer.