Michelle Dudek on Her Career in Environmental Insurance

Michelle Dudek joined Aspen Insurance on January 6, 2025, as Head of U.S. Environmental. We sat down with Michelle to understand her role, what opportunities lie ahead for her team, and the skills she considers important to have a career in the environmental insurance industry. 

Could you please tell us a little about yourself, previous employment, and your current role/responsibilities at Aspen?

I joined Aspen Insurance in January 2025, as the Head of U.S. Environmental, and have spent my 20-year career in the environmental insurance industry. Beginning as a graduate in a training program in Atlanta with AIG, my roles there took on increasing responsibility in both the New York and Philadelphia/DE areas, and I most recently served as their Chief Underwriting Officer for Environmental, Global Energy and Trucking divisions.

In addition to my role at Aspen, I hold the role of “mom” to two girls, Emma (5) and Lizzie (6). During my free time, I love playing tennis, improving my golf game, playing cards, reading, travelling and cheering on Philly sports teams. 

How do you and your team work with one another, and fit into the wider Casualty team?

The environmental division is part of the U.S. Casualty portfolio, and my team is spread across seven branches which generally align with broker territories. Being embedded in different geographies across the country helps us cultivate strong relationships with local brokers and clients, equipping us with better insight into regional factors that may impact risk.  

What are some of the skills needed to have a successful career as an environmental executive in insurance?

In the environmental industry you need to balance a technical knowledge of pollutants and their effects on the environment, with an ability to assess the financial impacts our clients may experience in the event of an incident. Each risk is unique and requires leaning on a deep understanding of loss patterns, while also keeping pace on the changing regulatory landscape that impacts environmental liability.

The best underwriters in our industry know how to identify environmental risk, put together a tailored insurance program that addresses our clients’ needs with respect to pollution and other liability lines, and successfully position that solution as a differentiator in the marketplace.   

What attracted you to Aspen?

I ultimately made the decision to join Aspen for the opportunity to lead an underwriting division, the strong product mix and the people on the team – both divisionally and within corporate leadership. From reputation and personal experience, I could quickly see that Aspen prioritizes collaboration, transparency and responsible decision-making, which ultimately empowers underwriters to do what is right for our company and clients. I was excited to lead a team that prioritizes those values.   

What are your key priorities for 2025?

My key priorities for 2025 include:

• Market visibility – Aspen has been in this industry for over 15 years and continues to be a carrier of choice for our brokerage partners. We make it a priority to meet with and listen to our brokers and clients to better understand their needs. This in turn allows us to create a risk management solution that is tailored to their exposures.
• Underwriting excellence – staying current on premium, loss and litigation trends to ensure our products are priced competitively as well as appropriately considering factors such as social inflation, mass/ toxic tort focus, and industry trends.
• Operational excellence – ensuring that we equip our underwriters to perform in a way that prioritizes disciplined underwriting, efficiency and transparency, so we can continue to be best in class underwriters for our customers. 

How would you sum up the culture at Aspen?

What has impressed me about Aspen’s culture is how approachable every leader is, the consistent solicitation of employee feedback to improve our company, and the feeling that we are all working towards a common goal.

Carriers can distinguish themselves in a few ways including through their products, their service and their appetite. While these are critical elements in creating your identity in the marketplace, the people on your team make the biggest difference. Aspen’s underwriting team has diverse expertise and varied perspectives which contribute to our collaborative culture.