Rising Star Britt Eilhardt on Working in Cyber Risk, Closing the Talent Gap and the Joy of Sharing Expertise

Come see the Stars! As part of our ongoing coverage of the best brokers in the commercial insurance space, Risk & Insurance®, with the sponsorship of Philadelphia Insurance, is expanding its coverage of the Rising Stars — those brokers who represent the next wave of insurance brokering talent.

Look for these expanded profiles on the Risk & Insurance website and in your social media feeds now and continuing into 2023.

Here we speak to Britt Eilhardt, managing director of cyber risk solutions at Brown & Brown, and a 2022 Cyber Power Broker winner.

Risk & Insurance: What made you decide on insurance as a career path?

Britt Eilhardt: Reading and analysis as key skills. These were vital skills when I practiced as an attorney, and they transferred naturally to insurance.

There is no replacement for a close reading of the policy. This is especially important with cyber, where there is very little that is “standard” from policy to policy.

R&I: What has made this a fulfilling and rewarding career?

BE: The people bring this career and industry to another level. I feel incredibly lucky to work with such smart, thoughtful clients who are able to demonstrate their company’s risk management needs at a high level.

The market relationships are equally important and help to foster the type of long-term trust that helps get the challenging deals done and enables creative cyber offerings to our clients.

R&I: What challenges are cyber clients facing heading into 2023? How have you helped clients navigate a hardening cyber insurance market?

BE: 2023 is looking a bit brighter for cyber insureds — certainly as compared with 2022.

As the premium increases have slowed down and even gotten to the point of becoming flat in some cases, insureds will have to support what is a valuable, important coverage with budgetary needs in the recession-trending economy.

The ongoing challenge for cyber insureds will be year-over-year improvements to controls to demonstrate an alignment between their cybersecurity roadmap and those particular areas that cyber underwriters have particularly scrutinized.

R&I: What cyber risk management strategies have you see work well for clients?

BE: Time and preparation have continued to be instrumental in making for a successful process around cyber placements. Cyber, by nature, requires the close coordination of the IT security, legal/privacy and risk management teams alike.

R&I: How are cyber insurance professionals managing the industry’s talent gap?  

BE: The talent gap continues to be a challenge in cyber, but it can be smoothed somewhat with resourcefulness.

We have had the most success with building out new talent for those starting their careers, as well as pulling in rising stars from other lines who are looking for the challenge and fast pace of cyber.

Beyond that, it’s continuing to elevate those with experience in cyber who demonstrate the ability to think outside of the box.

R&I: You’re an avid public speaker, leading webinars and courses and producing content on a range of topics. Why is knowledge-sharing important to you?

BE: Cyber is such a rich topic, and it is particularly interesting because, first, there is always something new to discuss in terms of coverages and threats, and second, there continue to be many misunderstandings about the coverage in the headlines.

The above makes it an especially interesting topic to speak about and, I think, also what makes people continue to want to hear about it. &