Episode #69 - The Leadership Ladder: Amy Cooper Shares RISE's Vision for Insurance Professionals

Ever wondered what it takes to transform an entire industry's culture? Amy Cooper, founder and CEO of RISE (Rising Insurance Star Executives), joins the Art of Adjusting podcast to reveal exactly how she's making it happen in the insurance world.

"I wanted this and it didn't exist for me, so I just said, ok, I'm going to build it," Amy explains, describing the origin of RISE. What began as a personal need has evolved into a comprehensive professional development ecosystem supporting insurance professionals at every career stage - from students entering the industry to executives climbing the leadership ladder.

At the heart of RISE's offerings is their innovative three-month mentorship program designed for busy professionals. Unlike traditional year-long commitments, this focused approach delivers maximum value through six structured meetings that emphasize developing crucial "human skills" rather than technical expertise. By intentionally pairing mentors and mentees across different segments of insurance, participants gain broader industry perspectives while building connections beyond their immediate work environment. For adjusters and claims professionals working remotely, this cross-functional exposure proves invaluable in combating isolation and expanding their professional network.

The annual RISE Leadership Summit embodies the organization's fresh approach to professional development. Taking place in Fort Lauderdale this June, the event deliberately breaks from traditional "stuffy conference" formats while delivering substantial educational content through TED-style talks from industry leaders. With separate tracks for individual contributors and management-level professionals, participants receive targeted development regardless of career stage. Beyond these flagship programs, RISE offers year-round engagement through their Innovators Lab, Wisdom Wednesdays, local events, and a newly launched community app.

Ready to level up your insurance career? Visit riseprofessionals.com to join for free and connect with this growing community of forward-thinking insurance professionals who are reshaping the industry's future together.

For more insights, you might consider a career in liability adjusting or if you're searching for reliable adjusting services, visit Auten Claims Management.

To explore more about Chantal Roberts and her contributions to the industry, visit CMR Consulting.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Art of Adjusting
• 1:37 Introducing Amy Cooper and RISE
• 3:58 Internships and Industry Recognition
• 6:14 The Power of Mentorship Programs
• 12:10 Leadership Summit in Fort Lauderdale
• 19:34 Year-Round Events and Digital Community
• 23:31 Closing Thoughts and Next Steps

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hello, I'm Bill Auten of Auten Claims Management.

Speaker 2: 0:09

I'm Chantel Roberts of CMR Consulting and welcome to the Art of Adjusting podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:14

Today we're going to talk about life as an insurance adjuster from the perspective of property, auto liability or workers' compensation adjusters. Our goal is to bring interesting topics in the world of claims adjusting to people who are working as an adjuster now and to people who are considering a career as a claims adjuster.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Hi Amy, how are you, hey good morning. Good, good morning. I don't know where Bill is because he is MIA. But you know, the fun thing about the Art of Adjusting podcast is that one never knows what's going to happen in our podcast. So anything could happen. He could show up later, who knows? It could be he could have been abducted by aliens or ill-tempered cows with freaking laser beams, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 1:06

One never knows.

Speaker 2: 1:07

One doesn't know, but I wanted to welcome you on to the Art of Adjusting podcast and you are just for our guest, amy Cooper, who is the founder and CEO of Rise. Amy Cooper, who is the founder and CEO of Rise and if you don't know about Rise, you definitely should, especially if you are going to be starting out in the insurance industry. So Rise wants to help young insurance professionals connect with each other and support and empower one another. So, amy, welcome.

Speaker 3: 1:46

Thank you so much. Very happy to be here.

Speaker 2: 1:49

So tell us a little bit about RISE. How, what does it do? How did you come to find it?

Speaker 3: 1:58

So we RISE stands for Rising Insurance Star Executives. It's a group that is built. It's a whole community that is all about helping rising insurance leaders in the industry. So I think maybe we get the rep for being just for young professionals. But that's not just it. Yes, we are working to attract students and newer professionals into the industry, but we're also supporting your management track executive track rising leaders of the industry. But we're also supporting your management track executive track rising leaders of the industry. We have a mentorship program. We also have our leadership summit and leadership training ongoing. We do all kinds of education, networking events all over the country. And I mean I really started this because I wanted this and it didn't exist for me, so I just said, ok, I'm going to build it and that's how we got here.

Speaker 2: 2:51

Wow, yeah, that is absolutely fantastic because I absolutely love the fact and that was one of my questions too is like for everybody, or what have you and we'll get to it later, or what have you and we'll get to it later, but I just love the fact that you're out here helping the next generation of insurance professionals get better, because it's something that I'm very passionate about and it's one of the reasons why I have this podcast is that I'm out here trying to help adjusters in this specific sense, because I feel that there's not the education that there was when I was coming up through the ranks and when Bill was coming up through the ranks.

Speaker 2: 3:34

But I saw on your website, because I did some lurking. I did some lurking on your website and you have like the 50 best internship programs in the industry and like 84% of the interns said that they would definitely recommend an internship, and I have to say I would too. I didn't do one, but I definitely think it's absolutely 100% you need to do it. I'm going to lean heavily towards claims, because that's where my passion is. But, spoiler alert, I did look at the two like some of the winners and two of the companies that send their interns over to the borough of Manhattan community college, where I teach. Rmi weren't listed like oh, oh gosh, like ah, so obviously they're not very good. We'll have to talk off the record they haven't applied yet.

Speaker 3: 4:33

Who knows? We're competitive. To be honest, every year the nominations, but that opens up in the summer while the interns are in school. So you got to tell your interns to nominate their program if they like it Perfect?

Speaker 2: 4:48

Yeah, because I was going to ask you to like how do you match people Can? Can these companies get into your internship so that maybe gives you more intern slots or whatever, I don't know we don't actually place interns.

Speaker 3: 5:05

We just publish a list of the top programs and information on them, so it's really up, and then we try to send that list out to all the schools and universities that we have either connections with or our members have connections with. So if they're not on there, who knows? Do they know about us? Have they applied? Maybe? Maybe get them on there and tell them to apply this year. But, like I said, it's gotten really competitive now.

Speaker 2: 5:29

So I bet. No, yeah, I, I, I absolutely can imagine that. That it would. I and you had mentioned the mentorship program that goes every spring and fall, and again I was lurking. And I love that idea again because I think, especially now, that a lot of people and again I'm just looking at this from the claims point of view, because that's what I necessarily hear is that so many people feel very isolated because they're working from home and back in the day, like when I was learning, I would have my boss or my immediate supervisor. We sat in little cubes like a quadruplex or whatever, and there was the most senior and then two kind of juniors and then the most new, wet behind the ears, which was me, and the senior person could sit there and listen to how I talk and then I could listen to how they talk, and so I love the fact that you have some mentorship programs. Tell me about this.

Speaker 3: 6:38

Yeah, I think anyone who's been successful in their career you can look back and say, well, I definitely have had mentors, I've had people to help me. Experiences like that early on in your career can really impact you and it is different. It's a whole brave new world now with people working from home and working hybrid or whatever it is. So there's not as many of those opportunities and sort of like you know Brian Falchuk will have his. You know, do a day, like you can do anything for a day. So kind of focus on that.

Speaker 3: 7:10

Our mentorship program is only three months. As a professional, you can commit to anything for three months. A whole year, I don't know you know how does that fit in or how does that take time away from me, but only three months, yeah, I think I can do that. So our program is three months at six different meetings and it is scheduled virtually. We pair all over the like cross functionally, cross, pollinating different parts of the industry. We do that on purpose, actually just to try to expose people to new areas, also to avoid any sort of like perceived poaching issues or whatever, like we want people to learn and then the six different sessions that they do. It really focuses in on growing you, not technical skills of the job. But how do I handle difficult conversations or difficult people? What are I doing with my career goals? How am I pursuing that? How am I getting better and so like really working on yourself and those like we used to call soft skills, but human skills?

Speaker 2: 8:10

that you need. That's what I was just getting ready to say, like, oh my gosh, these are soft skills and we all need them, don't we?

Speaker 3: 8:17

Yeah, and so we. You know that's what Rise does. We focus on supporting you and your person and your people skills that you need to be successful, and that's what the mentorship program does. So it's open to anyone. You do have to apply, you do have to go through the commitment if you're going to be a mentee, or you have to do the training if you're going to be a mentor. But it's great because if you've never been part of a formal program, it teaches you how to set up a mentoring relationship and then you can continue on your own. You can take that, keep moving forward with the same person if you love talking to them and you want to keep it going. A lot of people do.

Speaker 2: 8:55

So how would we get involved with that, Because I am not a member of Rise, but what if I wanted to sponsor someone or mentor someone, or or if? What if someone like my stepson, who has only been in the industry for about five years, if he wanted to become a mentee?

Speaker 3: 9:19

Great question, riseprofessionalscom. You go on and you join for free. You can join as a member or mentor. When you sign up, we categorize you and you can sign up for the mentorship program. The fall applications will open up I think in June or July for fall, so it's coming up really soon, definitely right after the leadership summit. They'll be open and you'll get tagged in, you'll get the timeline and you can participate in the fall. We always need more mentors. There are so many people out there looking for a mentor, so if you are just considering giving back or maybe you're interested, like, please do it. We can use as many mentors as we can get.

Speaker 2: 10:00

Yeah, and I like the idea that you were talking about the cross-pollination because I think it's very important. I have often suggested, and I did suggest in one of my books, that as an adjuster, you need to sit one day with the agent and see what they do, and sit a day or more, if you can, with the underwriters and see what they do and go out in the field. If you're a desk adjuster, you know, go out into the field and look the insurance in the eye, because it's a totally different experience than sitting behind a desk answering the phone. So I love the fact that you're that you're doing that, because I I think for me personally, it took me probably a good 10 years to figure out how everything got together and like did the cogs, if that makes any sense.

Speaker 3: 10:57

Yeah, I mean, if you want to be successful in the insurance industry, you have to think globally. How does what I do affect downstream? What is, who is the ultimate customer? Like really understanding the process, and the more people that you meet outside of your cubicle, the more it broadens your horizons, you see the global view of the industry and you can be more successful because you can be more strategic. And yeah, I mean, you're talking about adjusters. I mean, there's nothing more of a human skill than emotional intelligence that's actually going to make you better at your job and we don't teach emotional intelligence in companies or, like, from your supervisor, so it's something that you have to go elsewhere to get and that's you know. That's something that you can focus on with your mentor or at Rise at the leadership summit, stuff that we do.

Speaker 2: 11:46

Yeah, cause you have the leadership summit coming up and it sounds freaking awesome. Um, it sounds like it's a big old party.

Speaker 3: 11:56

A lot of people say that, um, and you know what it is fun. I'm not going to lie. We have a good time, um, but that's what you have to do If you want to change the image of insurance. We are trying to change insurance from looking like a stodgy old pocket protector like you know my grandfather's agency industry. We want it to be fun. We want to attract the next generation and you're not going to do that by doing the same old stuffy conferences. You have to be different, and that's what Rise is doing the same old stuffy conferences. You have to be different, and that's what Rise is doing. So it looks like a party, but I promise there is more education packed in these two days than you could ever get anywhere else. We do 15 minute TED style talks.

Speaker 3: 12:38

So, it's quick delivery nuggets and you're hearing from C-suite execs, top senior leaders of the industry, delivering on individual topics. There's two different tracks you can pick based on where you're at. If you're more entry level or you're an individual contributor, we have a personal development track. If you're in management already directors, vps there's a management track for you. So there's something for everyone there. And yes, we do speed mentoring. We make fun with the networking and, you know, try to make it entertaining.

Speaker 2: 13:11

It sounds fantastic. Is it all still soft skills that you're concentrating on, or do you have? Because you mentioned the two tracks and my mind immediately went to oh, property casualty, or property and health and life, or something like that property casualty or property and health and life, or something like that. But you'd mentioned, you know, entry, and then mid to you know upper tier or whatever, and I'm loving that too, by the way. I just love you. Basically is what I'm saying I have bro, love.

Speaker 3: 13:42

But you'll be coming this year.

Speaker 2: 13:44

You know what I kind of want to, but unfortunately I already have something planned. During that time my husband has a reunion like a school reunion. I'm like, oh, I don't want to go, but okay you skip that.

Speaker 3: 13:58

Come to florida, come to the beach, hang out with us although it's like marriage florida, marriage flor. Love. You have to pick between. I understand.

Speaker 2: 14:10

So awkward. But you know, I totally agree that we need to change the perception of insurance and, like I said, I teach risk management and insurance at a community college up in New York, at a community college up in New York, and the way that I do it is by using the Incredibles and that cartoon, and it keeps the students engaged because it's something that they're used to, rather than company A did blah, blah, blah and then company B did yada, yada, yada, because that's the way that I was taught and that's another reason why it took me 10 years to figure out how everything works together is because we were not using the same example, which makes it sound like I'm not that smart. We weren't using the same example the whole way through, so I couldn't figure out. Well, how does the ROI impact the this, this and this, and blah, blah, blah? So I love the fact that we're doing shorter things and we're moving around a little bit more and and and that's what are our topics, I guess soft topics you know soft leadership.

Speaker 3: 15:26

So, um, it can be things from communication styles, presentation skills, emotional intelligence. We have like moving from peer to manager some of those pivotal transitions, um. We have workshops on um, let's try, oh, decision making, um critical thinking, stuff like that. So it is, yes, uh, skills, but we do it in a way that you're going to learn from someone else's stories and get a nugget and take it home as something that you can work on. The workshops are very interactive. So there's a few 30-minute workshops that we do. We have a few bonus ones. We have like leveraging AI tools to help your career. We've got another one that's a LinkedIn masterclass. So there's stuff like that that is just more career focused, helping you be more successful.

Speaker 2: 16:18

Yeah Well, the LinkedIn issue, though, is very important as well, because I think that's how you and I had gotten together, but I also tell the students I'm like y'all need to start hitting LinkedIn, just like you do your threads or your sky, or please stop inventing things, because I'm just going to stop with Instagram. I got to tell you I can't anymore. But the annual meeting, like you said, Fort Lauderdale fun June 16th or the 18th, Correct? How much does it cost to go? Like, is there a cost to go? I know there's room charges and blah, blah blah. We don't care about those, but like the entry fee or whatever.

Speaker 3: 17:05

I think tickets now are $7.95 because we're not early bird anymore. But it includes, you know, breakfast, lunch and dinners and you're coming in and you're going to have a great time. So it's sort of like an all-in-one if your company's willing to send you, not much else outside of that that you need to spend anything on. We have a great room rate at the Marriott, which, by the way, room block closes at the end of the month. So if you're not in, you got to get on that. But it is, you know, putting yourself in the right room with companies that are sending all their top people. Now you're in the room with a room full of top people and we've all heard that how your circle of influence influences you. So if you're trying to level up, that's definitely the room you want to be in.

Speaker 2: 17:49

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, and you had mentioned that you kind of have the reputation for being just for young people. But it's really for anybody who wants any kind of have the reputation for being just for young people but but it's really for anybody who wants any kind of insurance professional that wants to move up and level up and that sort of thing. Can you talk more about that?

Speaker 3: 18:08

Yeah, that's right. I mean we focus early career. I would say the majority of our membership is there, but they are people who are earmarked for management or management track, executive, track people. So if you're you know, if you're looking to move up, you can be involved. You don't? There's not like an age cutoff or anything.

Speaker 3: 18:27

Where you're now, you're not involved. It's just maybe now your involvement changes. Maybe now you flip around and you're going to be a mentor and you're going to speak and you're going to serve on one of our committees or things like that.

Speaker 2: 18:43

So it changes as your career mentor, and you're going to speak and you're going to serve on one of our committees or things like that. So it changes as your career evolves and you progress. You can kind of change with rise, yeah. Yeah, it's more like being on a ladder and helping someone up you know the ladder or whatever. Cause I was wondering if there's like a cutoff, like 40 under 40 or whatever, and I'm like, oh, I'm not 40 anymore.

Speaker 3: 18:58

Well, we do have an award, that's a 35 under 35 award. We have several awards, but that's where we get that reputation and people are like, oh, I'm not under 35. Yeah, you neither anymore.

Speaker 2: 19:12

I'm totally under 35. Yeah, you know blah, I totally get that. Yeah, so I I'm. I totally get that. Yes, I'm loving that. So you're needing more mentors, so more people with more experience. Great leadership seminar coming up. What else do you all have coming up throughout the year?

Speaker 3: 19:39

Yeah, so the rest of the year we do an innovators lab. In the fall it's a live virtual program three half days. You can sign up. We actually teach how to innovate. So all the lingo, calculating ROI, how to do your pitch internally, how to actually affect change inside of your company, so whether or not you're the decision maker on those things, we're teaching innovation. So that's a really cool program we do. We have Wisdom Wednesdays. Every other Wednesday you can join us. We've got different chats that we're doing. We have pop-up events and again, like we make those not just another happy hour.

Speaker 3: 20:15

I don't think the industry needs more Like. We've got plenty, but we make it where there's an activity, there's an educational component and there's networking, and we do those in cities around the country Right now mostly just the US might see us in London in the fall, but we've got Chicago, new York, philadelphia, charlotte, a whole bunch of them coming up. You can find those on our event page on the website and those are chances to, if you're in any of those local communities, meet with local folks. We have an ambassador program that's throwing different events and they'll host tables at career fairs and I-Days, trying to attract that next generation into our, into our group. Um, and we have a lot of partnerships, like you know. We'll be at ITC, we'll be at connected claims, we'll be at different events that are coming up, um, where you can connect with rise ambassadors or members, people doing meetups at whatever's going on in the industry.

Speaker 2: 21:16

Oh good, it sounds like you are being kept very, very busy.

Speaker 3: 21:20

Very busy. Thank goodness we have an amazing team at Rise. That's all I got to say. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 21:26

So we are almost out of time, and we've already talked about how they can learn about the annual event. Is there anything else that you would like to let them know about?

Speaker 3: 21:39

Well, I mean definitely if you're on the fence. I would say the Leadership Summit is the thing that you want to come to, if you're able to make it. If you're able to make it. If not, then at least join Rise, because if you get into our community, we launched an app this year and now there's an online community where you can go in and you can chat and you can follow different things and you can connect with other members virtually very easily. I mean, you could have done it before, but now it's a lot easier inside of our online community and through that you can connect with people and get involved. And that's what I would say is like, if you haven't joined, like, take that first step. It's free, it's the best thing you're going to do for yourself all year.

Speaker 2: 22:21

And again I got to say many, much props to y'all for for thinking and in a in a outside the box kind of way to reach the newer generations. Because what do we do? We keep our phones on us all the time. We're always on the phone playing with an app or whatever, so it's a great way to try to reach someone. I love that fact.

Speaker 3: 22:44

Yeah, you can follow us on TikTok. We're on Instagram. If you want more things, we're on there.

Speaker 2: 22:51

Don't, don't, please, don't, please. Stop inventing things. I can't anymore. Now I feel like I'm like that old person who's like don't go past the eight tracks, the beta videos. You're too young to know what that is. That's okay, I'm going to stop now, but anyway, thank you so much for spending time with me today, and our next episode will be on June 5th, but this, I think, is going to be before that. So, yeah, not this Tuesday, but next Tuesday, but June 5th we're going to have Connor McCarrick of Filing Focus, which should be kind of an interesting episode. Eric of Filing Focus, which should be kind of an interesting episode. Filing Focus is a new product out there that helps people in the marketplace find forms and policy forms easier, so that should be absolutely fantastic. Thank you again, amy. I appreciate it and we'll see you soon. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

Speaker 1: 24:00

Thanks for joining us on the Art of Adjusting podcast, where we talk about life as an insurance adjuster. Hit that subscribe button real quick and tell all of your adjuster friends to check this out as well. For independent adjusting services, go to wwwautinclaims, and for anyone interested in working as an independent liability adjuster, go to the contact us tab to join our roster.

Speaker 2: 24:23

So this wraps up another Art of Adjusting podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast or this episode, please give us five stars and a review. It does help the algorithm pick us up. In the meantime, you can contact me at theartofadjustingcom for consulting and training purposes.