Laura Deutscher

Laura Deutscher is a seasoned industry professional and corporate board member with over 35 years of experience in the financial services, insurance, and professional service sectors and was recognized as a Business Insurance’s 2013 Women to Watch honoree. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Women Corporate Directors (WCD), and Extraordinary Women on Boards (EWOB).

In her role as the Chief Financial Officer of Gallagher Bassett she achieved dramatic improvements in business performance including a 43% increase in revenue with accompanying earnings growth of 61%. She also conceived and launched the Finance Architecture Transformation, which set a five-year road map that leveraged technologies and processes to scale the business and support multi-billion-dollar growth targets.

Serving as Executive Vice President and COO of CNA’s eBusiness Unit at CNA Financial Corporation, Laura executed the e-commerce strategy, driving ongoing development of an industry leading platform for the small business market, supporting 2,500 independent agents and $700 million in revenue. Laura led the 200-person organization with a $200 million investment plan through the successful delivery of six major releases. She was Vice President and Controller for the $3.5 billion Commercial Insurance Business unit, responsible for FP&A, Management Reporting, Internal Controls and Compliance, and management of a $730 million expense budget.

Starting her career in audit at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Laura moved to financial consulting providing services relating to mergers & acquisitions, financing transactions, and business reorganizations participating in over 100 transactions across a varied group of industries.