Karen Barkley is President of Markel Canada Limited, responsible for the Canadian division of the Insurance practices of Markel Corporation a holding company for insurance, reinsurance, and investment operations around the world and ranked #504 by Fortune magazine in their list of the 1,000 largest companies.
Karen began her insurance career with Zurich Insurance in Ottawa in 1977, and has held various underwriting and management positions within AIG and CIGNA and ACE INA where she was also President and CEO. Karen has served as Chair of the Insurance Institute of Canada and on the boards of ACE INA & ACE INA Life, Markel Canada and Allsport Insurance Marketing. Karen holds the designations of MBA, CRM and CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional) and is scheduled to retire the end of this year.