Gallagher tape of professional athletes for summer insurance courses

The Gallagher insurance company operates a new type of summer trainee: professional athletes.

Last year, the insurance giant expanded its internship program to offer positions to professional athletes, giving them a path to prepare for life after sport. In return, Gallagher discovered that the stars also tend to shine in the field.

“They know what it is to work hard and how long this path is to succeed,” said Chris Mead, director of marketing at Gallagher. “They know what it is to be part of a team and how to direct one.”

This year, Gallagher has opened the program to eight members of the Chicago stars of the National Women’s Soccer League. Leilanni Nesbeth and Chardonnay Curran, a current and former team midfielder, skipped the occasion of a paid internship respectively.

“It means a lot for us to be able to put our foot in the door,” said Nesbeth in an interview with CNBC.

“I have never had a job outside football,” said Curran. “Being a professional football player was my first career, and I was never in a business setting.”

Gallagher launched its program of partnership trainees for athletes in 2024, controlled with four players from the Falcons of Atlanta from the NFL.

For six weeks, participants acquire professional experience, development of professional skills and career mentoring, while learning the ins and outs of the insurance brokerage, sales and corporate culture.

Gallagher, a sponsor of the Chicago NWSL team, adapts its internship program for athletes participants in order to adapt to their demanding hours.

For many, this support is crucial. Professional sports careers can be short and unpredictable, and income can vary considerably. NWSL’s average salary is around $ 125,000 per season, according to the League.

Gallagher’s goal is to prepare the athletes for what comes next.

“We went there by not knowing anything about insurance, and now I could probably remove my head on RPS,” joked Nesbeth, referring to a term of the industry meaning “risk investment services”.

For Curran, it was a question of modifying preconceived concepts in the insurance sector.

“After doing the internship, everything I thought about insurance was exactly the opposite,” she said.

Curran and Chicago stars have mutually agreed to separate days after talking with CNBC.

Mead said Gallagher continued to hire some of the athletes’ trainees as an employee when their game career is over.

He said that in Europe, the company uses a professional rugby player who is one of its star sellers.

“There is a moment when the bulb is triggered and they see how the celebration of a victory on the field is no different from the celebration of a victory after a sale or to do something wonderful for a customer,” Mead told CNBC.

The links between insurance and professional sports are not new.

For years, State Farm has published catchy advertisements featuring the former quarter-back of the Giants of New York Eli Manning, the former shooter of Indiana Pacers Reggie Miller, the heads of Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes, the fever goalkeeper of the Indiana Caitlin Clark of the WNBA and a crowd of others.

On Monday, AIG announced that it became the first Fortune 500 company to participate in an EFL League Two club, with an investment at the Salford City Football Club in the United Kingdom

Nationwide, an NWSL partner, also manages a similar internship program with league players, offering them a professional development program at the headquarters of the insurance company in Columbus, Ohio.

“We hope that the players leave with new skills and experiences that could serve them now and in their careers after the game, perhaps back to Nationwide,” said Jim McCoy, vice-president of sports marketing for Nationwide.