VP - Personal Lines - West Bend - The Silver Lining

Description

Vice President Personal Lines

Recognized as a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Top Workplace for 14 consecutive years, including three years of being honored as number one Join us at West Bend, where we believe that our associates are our greatest asset. We hire talented individuals who are conscientious, dedicated, customer focused, and able to build lasting relationships. We create and maintain an environment where you feel a sense of belonging and appreciation. Your diversity of thought, experience, and knowledge are valued. We're committed to fostering a welcoming culture, offering you opportunities for meaningful work and professional growth. More than a workplace, we celebrate our successes and take pride in serving our communities.

This position offers both remote and hybrid work locations. Candidates who reside within 50 miles of an office location (West Bend, Madison, Appleton) will be offered a hybrid work schedule. Candidates who are fully remote (beyond 50 miles) may occasionally be asked to travel to an office location for in-person engagement activities such as team meetings, training and corporate events.

Summary of Responsibilities

The Vice President (VP) Personal Lines provides strategic and operational leadership for the Personal Lines (PL) division, with full accountability for growth, profitability, and overall portfolio performance. This role sets the strategic direction and delivers profitable growth across auto, homeowners, umbrella, and other personal lines through disciplined underwriting, market-responsive products and pricing, strong distribution partnerships, and operational excellence. Leads a cross-functional team spanning underwriting, product, pricing/actuarial partnerships, filing/compliance, operations, and analytics to achieve profitability, retention, new business and growth goals while advancing customer experience and digital capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and P&L

• Define and execute a multi-year PL strategy that balances growth, profitability, and volatility management; own the PL operating plan, including premium, loss ratio, expense ratio, and combined ratio targets.
• Monitor external trends (e.g., inflation, frequency/severity shifts, weather/CAT, litigation) and convert insights into timely strategy and rate/file actions.

Underwriting Governance

• Establish risk selection, appetite guides, authority levels, audit cadence, and referral frameworks; strengthen line-of-business portfolio management and accumulation controls.
• Maintain disciplined catastrophe management, including reinsurance considerations in partnership with the Reinsurance Committee.

Product, Pricing & Filing

• Lead product roadmaps, coverage forms, pricing segmentation, customer segmentation, and rate/relativity strategies; partner closely with Actuarial for indications and with Compliance on state filings; understand and integrate consumer economic factors around longevity and elasticity (lifetime value) into product strategy.
• Advance integrated risk management solutions, capital management sophistication, and data partnerships to improve segmentation and customer value propositions.
• Drive continuous improvement in underwriting sophistication, pricing segmentation, data and analytics capabilities, and product innovation.
• Collaborate with cross-functional leaders on technology initiatives, operational enhancements, and service improvements impacting the Personal Lines division.

Distribution & Market Management

• Deepen relationships with key independent agents; set compensation, incentives, and ease-of-doing-business standards; drive geographic expansion and appointment strategy.
• Advance agency segmentation combined with consumer segmentation to meet expected outcomes.
• Represent Personal Lines in agency councils, joint-selling opportunities, and key escalations, ensuring market advocacy and alignment with strategic distribution objectives.

Operations & Customer Experience

• Optimize new business, renewal, and endorsement workflows; reduce cycle times and rework; champion straight-through processing and enhance customer service capabilities through expansion of digital, self-service, and AI-enabled tools.
• Partner with Claims to align coverage intent and underwriting outcomes with claim handling and fraud mitigation.

Data, Analytics & Technology

• Set analytics priorities (pricing, elasticity, retention, lifetime value, risk management utilization), ensuring model governance and measurable lift.
• Prioritize platform investments (policy admin, rating, API connectivity) with Technology; ensure testing and change management rigor for rate and product releases.
• Integrate across the value chain to enable disciplined portfolio management.
• Use data insights to guide strategic decisions, prioritize initiatives, and respond to shifting market conditions.

People & Culture

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing leadership bench; attract, retain and mentor underwriting and product talent.
• Foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement aligned with company values.
• Identify talent needs, lead succession planning efforts, and promote professional development across the division.

External Representation

• Serve as a PL thought leader with industry groups, bureaus, and regulators where appropriate; support corporate reputation and brand.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• 12+ years in Personal Lines with progressive leadership spanning underwriting and product/pricing; proven multi-state experience.
• Demonstrated P&L leadership with successful track record executing strategy and improving combined ratio while growing profitably.
• Depth in product design, rating/segmentation (including telematics/UBI), state filings, and regulatory engagement.
• Strong agency/distribution acumen and change leadership across operations and technology.
• Executive-level communication, influencing, and decision-making; building followership and cross-functional alignment.
• Strategic mindset with strong analytical abilities and a focus on continuous improvement.
• Proficiency with policy/rating platforms and business intelligence tools; data-driven decision maker

Preferred Education and Training

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's Degree (MBA, MS Analytics, etc.) preferred
• Designations: CPCU preferred; additional insurance/analytics credentials a plus

Benefits

West Bend offers a comprehensive benefit plan including but not limited to:

• Medical & Prescription Insurance
• Health Savings Account
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Short and Long Term Disability
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Life and Accidental Death & Disability
• Accident and Critical Illness Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• 401(k) Plan with Company Match
• Pet Insurance
• Paid Time Off. Standard first year PTO is 17 days, pro-rated based on month of hire. Enhanced PTO may be available for experienced candidates
• Bonus eligible based on performance
• West Bend will comply with any applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act for Colorado employees, in accordance with its plans and policies.

EEO

West Bend provides equal employment opportunities to all associates and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, and promotion.