Advisory Committee - Midwest

  • Katie Waldeck - AIG

    Katie is a Regional Underwriting Manager for the Financial Institutions Group at AIG. She earned a BS in Genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University.

  • Laurie O'Hagan (Tolton) - Aon

    Laurie is an Assistant Vice President at Aon in the Financial Services Group. She received a BBA in Risk Management and Insurance from Temple University.

  • Maggie Smith - Bowhead

    Maggie is the Central Region Head of Commercial Public D&O for Bowhead Specialty and is based in Chicago.  She earned a BS in Finance from Northern Illinois University and her MBA in Finance from Loyola University.

  • Meghan Marchica - Hartford

    Meghan is based in NY and leads The Hartford's Midwest Region for the Executive Liability team.  Meghan has an MBA in Finance and Accounting from NYU's Stern School of Business and a BS in Economics from the University of Mary Washington.


  • Michelle Larocca - CNA

    Michelle is an Underwriting Director at CNA. She Earned a BS in Marketing with a Minor in Communication from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • Sam Boebel - Zurich

    Sam Boebel is Chief Underwriting Officer for Financial Lines at Zurich North America, responsible for leading the business’ product and technical group responsible for strategy, product management, and product innovation. Sam attended The University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he received his MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

  • Miranda DesPain - Arthur J. Gallagher

    Miranda is a Senior Vice President in the Executive & Financial Risk Practice at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, based in Chicago.  She earned a B.S. in Finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

  • Jason Preston - Berkshire Hathaway

    Jason is a Senior Vice President in Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company’s Chicago office, managing Commercial Public and Private/Not-for-Profit for BHSI’s Central region. He earned a BS in Finance and Risk Management from Illinois State University.

  • Kristen Berger - Berkley

    Kristen is an Assistant Vice President at Berkley Professional Liability for the public commercial group, based in Chicago. She earned a BA in Economics and BA in Geology from Lafayette College.