Over her 22 years in insurance, Jessica Rurka has demonstrated twin pillars of leadership and dedication to give back to the community.
Currently serving as VP and Head of Operations for Life and Executive Benefits Distribution at Lincoln Financial Distributors, Rurka oversees operational and business management functions supporting a sales organization of over 150 team members. She is responsible for business planning and execution, project management, program development and data analysis, translating the department’s vision to results using project management discipline. Rurka's work has a significant impact on profitability and business progress for all key stakeholders for life insurance distribution.
Throughout her leadership role, Jessica shares that she leads by example with a goal to be there for all employees. “Sometimes we all need to roll up our sleeves to get it done -- the feel of camaraderie,” says Rurka.
The role Rurka currently holds was newly created for her. She was given an opportunity to develop an operations oversight role that would focus on business planning for the sales organization and channel sales leaders. Rurka focused on leveraging the value of the enterprise to ensure the life distribution organization didn’t operate in a silo. Rurka’s success led to the creation of similar roles in Lincoln’s annuity and long-term care distribution businesses, after she delivered outcomes beneficial to the business through the projects she led and the relationships she built.
Jessica prides the fact that she didn’t take the traditional career ladder: “Not operating in the expected cycle allowed a unique perspective.”
Recognizing the need for change and always looking with a new point of view lead her to create vision and inspire others into action which is vital to the innovation and success of Life and Executive Benefits, and the entire company. As a member of the Life and Executive Benefits Distribution leadership team, Jessica directly impacted the evolution of technology to make life easier through the current pandemic. Jessica helped the organization’s sales team embrace new ways of working. Partnering closely with IT, she played a key role in the transition to a virtual wholesaling model, setting up technology consultations, establishing pilots for new equipment, software and testing a Technology SOS team to help troubleshoot technology issues. Jessica’s team was also pivotal to successfully transitioning three large national sales meetings into fully virtual events.
“Technology has allowed us to connect people more virtually and actually be present, we see each other more virtually and we are now brought into each other's homes. Technology has brought us closer in many ways,” says Rurka.
Throughout her career, Jessica has been an informal mentor to many of her colleagues, including those who took roles patterned after her own. Also involved in her local communities she serves as active board member for her local Parks and Recreation, Jessica has established new programs, led fundraising efforts for playground developments, and coached youth sports teams.
