Gayle Brekke

Cell: 816-419-4392 / Email:

EXPERIENCED BUSINESS LEADER

Strategy & Execution / Project Leadership /New Markets / Modeling & Analytics / Organizational Change

  • Highly motivated professional with a track record of driving large, complex projects to successful completion in an insurance organization
  • Strategic thinker who uses a direct, transparent, collaborative style to achieve results for the organization, such as entering new markets and promulgating new project methodology
  • Analytic problem solver who seeks to understand current processes and systems so that more efficient solutions can be implemented and competitive advantages can be exploited

KEY AREAS OF EXPERTISE

 Large complex projects /  Product actuary with P&L ownership
 Strategic vision post-ACA /  Financial modeling, reporting, metrics & analytics
 Vendor management /  Large scale organizational change
 Operations /  Sales strategy, tactics & reporting

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2nd Vice President, Chief Business Product Owner,Assurant Employee Benefits, Kansas City, MO

  • Business owner of a large, complex, strategically important project 2014 - present
  • This is the only project using Agile methodology
  • Lead the Agile Acceleration team charged with defining and promulgating Agile methodology and getting the organization to 70% of projects using Agile methodology by 2018
  • Understand and drive the culture change needed to become an Agile organization

Underwriting Officer, Assurant Employee Benefits, Kansas City, MO 2013 – 2014

  • Lead the implementation of a Benefit Administration partnership
  • Manage vendor relationship,negotiate agreement and pricing
  • Facilitate all aspects of the project, ensure that it stays on track
  • Develop and implement strategies and tactics for health care reform-related initiatives
  • Implement private exchanges
  • Lead the ACA-compliant dental product project
  • Manage an underwriting team; support division goals for sales, persistency and effectiveness

Actuarial Officer, Assurant Employee Benefits, Kansas City, MO 2008 – 2013

  • Lead the implementation of the Common Dental Contract project
  • 3 year project that required $17m of IT work, delivered in multiple phases
  • Hailed as the largest and most successful project the company ever delivered; the solution was complete and only a few minor defects were found
  • The project completely reworked every aspect of our dental product, our largest product which produces $100m + of sales annually
  • Joint Sales Planning leader
  • Team supports Sales with development of strategies and tactics
  • Team worked closely with Sales leadership to create a website with dozens of customizable reports that Sales Managers use to manage their block and their Sales reps, and another website with dozens of customizable reports for Sales reps, Account Managers and Brokers

Actuary (various roles), Assurant Employee Benefits, Kansas City, MO 1997 –2008

  • Dental valuation actuary
  • Lead actuarial team responsible for dental reserves and financial reporting; studied completion factors, made process improvements; explained monthly results to management
  • Dental product actuary
  • Lead actuarial team responsible for dental rate studies and filings, maintenance of rating factors on rating and proposal system, development and maintenance of management reports and technical work to support product development
  • Member of a team charged with overall management of dental products, including P&L accountability
  • Played a key role in projects that moved dental claims processing to a new system; worked with IT to harvest data from multiple tables, created and validated a new actuarial dental claims file
  • Actuarial assistant, operational planning
  • Responsible for modeling all aspects of Assurant Employee Benefits’ business
  • Actuarial analyst, disability products
  • Set STD reserves; completed actual vs expected LTD claim closures project

EDUCATION

Master of Business Administration, Health Care Leadership focus, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO, 2012

Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, 2007

Bachelor of Arts, Mathematics, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Winona, MN

AFFILIATIONS

American Academy of Actuaries Health Care Costs Work Group  Health Care Quality Work Group  Uninsured Work Group

Society of Actuaries  Health Section  Project Oversight Group for Measurement of Health Care Quality and Efficiency research project

Member, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Alumni Board of Directors