Finance/Insurance: ELENA EDWARDS

In February, Edwards was promoted from the French travel insurance company’s North American CEO to chief markets officer for the parent company. She continues as the chief executive of the North American region and has also been named to Allianz Partners Group’s management board.

Formerly a mechanical engineer, Edwards started her 30-plus-year career at General Electric, where she worked as a global supply chain leader and managed a manufacturing facility for GE Plastics.

Edwards’ trajectory took an unexpected turn when GE’s financial executives chose her to lead insurance units and she fell in love with the way the industry helps customers at challenging moments in their lives, according to trade website Digital Insurance.

Edwards moved to Genworth Financial in 2004 as chief operations officer and worked for the Fortune 500 insurer for almost 15 years.

She joined the Henrico-based U.S. business unit of Allianz Partners in 2019 as general manager. A year later, Edwards was promoted to be CEO of Allianz Partners USA. Allianz has more than 19,000 workers globally, with about 800 associates in Virginia. She is a graduate of Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with degrees in mechanical engineering.