A class apart: successful professionals don't always have the traditional educational background that you'd expect. A look at a few of our brightest 2008 Power Brokers highlights the advantages of schooling outside the classroom

Risk & Insurance, April 1, 2008 by Erin Gazica

SUMMARY

* Michael Lamprecht is a techie who found a niche in his father's industry by serving the underserved dotcoms.

* John Purdum found his passion working for an industry that had failed his family when their grocery store was destroyed in a hurricane.

* Ann Stephenson started at a TPA by sorting mail, end hard work, determination and a little encouragement from management helped her rise to the top.

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A college degree is an unspoken necessity in today's job market and business world, right? Higher education is just one little line on a resume, but a crucial one, something that people take for granted that their insurance brokers possess. Or is it?

Sure, it would be close to impossible to land a job today--even an entry-level one--at a brokerage firm without having graduated college first. But the academic demands on executives these days are far greater than those that were placed on the previous generation. Executives in their fifties and sixties grew up in a time where a high-school diploma was required for an entry-level position and a college degree was seen as an asset--not a requirement.

A theory worth exploring is that brokers without a college degree more than make up for their lack of formal education. They may not have the diploma, but they studied hard, worked hard and passed many tests to earn the success that they have achieved. They were self-propelled to rise up the corporate ladder, probably more driven than their traditionally educated counterparts. In many cases, their decision to not attend college or to drop out before graduating was motivated by financial issues and not by the hot-headed ego of a 20-something. In all cases, their business and life experiences have shaped the high-powered broker they've become.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

A technology guru who recently joined Aon after a 10-year stint at Arthur J. Gallagher, Michael Lamprecht is known for his passion for errors and omissions, a rapidly changing field that requires constant monitoring to keep pace with the way that technology is being used. At 36, he's on the younger side of the Power Broker age range, which makes sense considering his talent with computers.

Lamprecht followed high-school graduation with a brief stint at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. A unique business model churning around in his head finally led this entrepreneur to drop out of school.

"It's one of those things that you look back on and wish you could change, actually," he says.

Not to say that Lamprecht wasn't successful. He did his homework, sought out capital and opened a video arcade business. Picture the 90s, when the sophisticated video home console systems of today did not exist and arcades were a mecca for pimple-faced teens. Lamprecht raked the money in for the short time he was in business. At 25, he hung up the venture and turned to his father, a lifelong insurance man employed at various Aon legacy companies.

"I realized I had pretty much topped out," recalls Lamprecht, "so I reached out to my father and said, 'Tell me more about what you do.' And he told me, 'It's probably not for you, don't get into it.' And I said, 'Well, I'm definitely getting into it then.' "

Heeding his father's well-placed advice--that it would be a big gamble to sacrifice his entrepreneurial spirit and business management skills to take a major pay cut for an entry-level position in insurance, in a rigid environment that may not suit him--Lamprecht went to work for a six-month probationary period as a telemarketer in the New York office of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

"I really doubled down," he says. "I didn't just work hard, I really sought out the smartest people that I could possibly find and learned through osmosis. Surrounding yourself with smart people can make you smart too."

Lamprecht had a thirst for knowledge that seemed unquenchable. He set up a rigorous training program for himself that included talking to everyone from the contract attorney that deals with the client, to the information security officer and the software developers to the quality control, procurement and intellectual-property experts. Then he would return to his office at Gallagher and corner executives, trading their lessons on policy drafting and wording and dealing with underwriters and modifying endorsements with his one major marketable skill--"I would teach them how to use their computers," he says.

After getting that slow start, Lamprecht realized it would be wise to seek out an area that was underserved. Enter the computer craze of the 90s, just the beginning of the dot-com era. At the time, senior brokers shied away from that industry because of its lack of high-revenue companies. Ultimately, Lamprecht's first customers that brought him a meager $1,500 a year ballooned into a huge book of business of almost unmanageable proportions. With that, he took the reins of the technology leadership at Gallagher and soon worked his way into another underserved niche, errors and omissions.