With more than 30 years under her belt in the insurance industry, Tawana Scott’s professionalism and skill has brought her to the position of VP for Commercial Insurance Product at SageSure. Her colleagues say the can-do attitude she brings to the table helps facilitate positive change and growth within a fast-paced, quickly expanding company. Scott encourages the organization to move beyond the norm and excel in the commercial lines space by embracing differences and breaking out of comfort zones as a pathway to success.
Scott was hired to oversee the development and implementation of SageSure’s commercial product line for small business owners in coastal states. In this role she trains policy services, underwriting, sales and marketing teams, works with the actuarial department to manage catastrophe aggregation and accumulations for the book of business and is a member of the senior leadership team. She bounces back and forth from developing coverage and forms, defining underwriting eligibility and guidelines, and providing subject matter expertise to software development. With the launch coming soon, she has managed it all as a department of one for a long time, only recently hiring her first employee at SageSure.
Before joining SageSure, Scott worked for a number of commercial lines companies, including DTRIC Insurance, Hamilton, and Starr. Since coming to her current position, she has developed a reputation as an advocate for agents, advising changes to workflow and process for binding coverage and implementing digital payments for policyholders. She has collaborated on crafting messages and materials for agents, and coordinated reinsurance requirements with carrier partners and reinsurance markets directly.
Along with sharing her knowledge and leadership with her direct colleagues and peers, Scott also mentors and uses her guidance to support younger women in the company. However, she focuses on helping them develop their own voice. “I don't want people to follow my opinion, but to learn to find their own,” she says. “Once I entered the world of insurance, I was taken under the right wings and loved it since.”
Leadership avenues
Scott says SageSure’s mission statement encourages her to be a better leader inside and outside the company. “No one thinks of what the company does for you! But SageSure’s mission in itself makes me want to do better than I have done yesterday,” shared Scott.
At SageSure and throughout her career, Scott has mentored underwriters and agents with the goal of making herself available for advice and support. In addition, Tawana is a member of the CPCU society serving on the membership committee for her local chapter and an active participant in the membership program. With few Black women represented at the higher echelons of insurance, Scott also has a goal to advance diversity and inclusion across the industry.
“To move forward, get a good mentor and be a good mentor. You are responsible for your career, your development and you are the boss of you,” she says when asked what advice she gives women looking to climb the ladder in insurance.”Don’t sit around waiting, do it yourself.”
Outside the company, Scott is also a community advocate. She became a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer for a soon to be 18-year-old young woman who was aging out of the Division of Youth and Family Services system. In this role, she provides necessary help to guide the woman through the healthcare system, as well as emotional support for the journey. Today, the woman is employed and living independently.
Overall, Scott credits her grandmother with imparting in her the wisdom that has helped her through her many journeys, and invokes this statement with every person she mentors: “You define the person you want to be.”
