Shelly Habecker

Shelly Habecker is the VP, Life & Health Sustainability Lead for Swiss Re Americas. In this role, she is responsible for driving Swiss Re’s Life and Health Sustainability Initiative, which is focused on working with partners to grow sales sustainably in underserved communities by making life and health insurance more available, affordable, and accessible. As an anthropologist with a PhD from Oxford University, Shelly has a passion for understanding people, their cultures, and their experiences so that she can meet customer needs, inspire innovation, and develop better financial safety nets for all.  Prior to joining Swiss Re in 2016, she spent two decades working in academia as an adjunct professor at George Washington University and Purdue University Fort Wayne; she also worked for the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement in Washington, D.C., UNHCR in several African countries, and the U.S. Peace Corps in Eritrea.