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Digital Edition7 Questions for Spencer Educational Foundation CEO Megan Miller
In September, The Spencer Educational Foundation, which is dedicated to identifying and educating the next generation of insurance professionals, promoted industry veteran Megan Miller to a newly created CEO role. In October, Miller spoke to Dan Reynolds, the editor in chief of Risk & Insurance, about her objectives for the new role and the organization. The following is a transcript of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Risk & Insurance: Great to get a chance to talk to you, Megan. How does the Spencer Educational Foundation view its role in recruiting and developing talent for the insurance industry?
Megan Miller: I see Spencer’s role as critical in attracting and preparing new students for the industry. In 2025 alone, we’re reaching more than 25,000 students, and that number will grow each year. There really is no other single nonprofit that focuses as broadly on education and recruitment across the entire industry to the degree that we do.
Our scope covers everything from claims and workers’ compensation to risk management, underwriting, and beyond. While there are other wonderful organizations supporting scholarships and similar initiatives, they tend to focus on specific niches, whether that’s the wholesale side or the broker side. We’re truly agnostic when it comes to different industry sectors, which is key to continuing to drive talent into the industry.
R&I: How do you approach fundraising and manage donor relationships within the industry?
MM: Fundraising is similar to a sales role — every year, you essentially start from zero. While we do have some multiyear pledges, most of our asks are year-over-year. I spend significant time working with various stakeholders.
The great news is that we’ve been around for four and a half decades now, and our value proposition is well understood across the industry. It’s not a hard sell because everyone recognizes the talent crisis, and Spencer is one of the key organizations addressing this issue head-on and working to fill the talent pipeline. This is the sole reason we exist.
Our fundraising differs from other industry-focused fundraising organizations because we are by the industry, for the industry. We’re raising money from our peers to support the industry, not for other causes. For many companies, partnering with and supporting us is simply a no-brainer, since our values align so tightly with theirs.
R&I: How do you maintain team cohesion when leading a fully remote workforce?
MM: The good news is we’re a small team — four full-time employees and one part-time operations person. I’m very strict about keeping our overhead costs as low as possible, so having a remote team with no office space provides huge cost savings.
We really leverage technology to stay connected. We use Zoom on a daily basis, with everyone logged into Zoom chat every morning, and we meet throughout the day. I really like video calls where you can see people’s faces and gauge their reactions, how tired they are on a given day, whether they look upset or happy.
These technologies are helpful not just for staff but also for our 29-member volunteer board of directors. Before COVID, no one did video calls, and if they did, it was very cumbersome. Now everyone does video calls, which I personally love because I can see my board members without requiring them to travel to New York or elsewhere for meetings.
I’m excited about the new AI tools coming out and how we can enhance connectivity even further. We’re looking at how to leverage these tools not just among our staff and board, but with our students and scholars as well.
R&I: What achievements are you proudest of regarding the Spencer Educational Foundation’s recent activities?
MM: There are really two aspects that make me proud. First, I’m extremely proud of the impact we have on students’ lives and careers, as the mission is deeply meaningful. Second, I’m equally proud of – and grateful for – the level of support we enjoy from companies of all sizes across the industry.
The best stamp of approval you can receive is when these mostly for-profit companies invest their hard-earned dollars into what you’re doing. This year, I’m particularly thrilled about the success of our Spencer Gala event (held in New York on Sept. 18), which raised almost $2 million. To put this in perspective, when I joined Spencer in 2019, we raised less than $2 million for the entire year.
Raising $2 million in a single night is phenomenal. Additionally, we secured a million-dollar pledge from Lockton, which will be paid out over the next four years. It’s incredible to see this amount of growth and the industry’s strong show of support for what we’re doing.
R&I: What makes the insurance industry an attractive career choice for young professionals, and how has it been a good fit for your own career path?
MM: The thing I love most about the industry, and what makes it easiest to sell to students, is the incredible breadth of opportunities. Take me as an example: I have an engineering degree from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and I started in the industry as a risk engineer at FM, inspecting insured properties—actually climbing up on roofs and checking fire sprinkler valves.
After many twists and turns through underwriting, sales, and client management, I now run a full-blown nonprofit operation, and I’ve never left the industry. That kind of career arc demonstrates that you can quite literally do anything in this industry. I think that’s one of the many things that makes it so attractive.
R&I: What are the foundation’s strategic goals for the coming years?
MM: We are just wrapping up a strategic planning process for the next five years, having successfully met all targets from our initial five-year plan. Our ambitious goal is to more than double in size by 2030, growing from our current $4 million in annual fundraising to $10 million.
I believe the timing is ideal for this expansion, as the need for talent in the insurance industry has never been greater. We’re excited to work with both our longtime partners — some who have been with us for four and a half decades since our founding — and new supporters. Together, we aim to position insurance careers as the career of choice for students.
R&I: What aspects of the Spencer Educational Foundation’s work are important for people to understand that may not be widely known?
MM: Many people don’t realize that we do much more than provide scholarships — we actually have seven other programs. We give grants to universities and other organizations to help them support students, and we run numerous internal initiatives.
Understanding how we’re attacking the talent problem through multiple approaches is really important, and it’s something that even many of our supporters aren’t fully familiar with. &
