The Insurance Professional of the Year Award is presented each year to a person who demonstrates leadership and exemplifies qualities that engender understanding of and respect for the risk management and insurance industry.

The award was established in the tradition of an annual award bestowed by the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters starting in the 1950s and continuing through 1996. Richard B. Simches, the founder of Safety Insurance Company, believed that it was important to recognize outstanding individuals in the industry and supported a renewal of the tradition which began again in 2002 as The Insurance Library’s Insurance Professional of the Year Award. Since then, a broad cross section of the industry has come together in fellowship and camaraderie each year to recognize an individual “who demonstrates leadership and exemplifies those qualities that engender understanding of and respect for the insurance industry.”