Brenda (Ballard) Austenfeld
President, National Property Practice, RT Specialty
Brenda (Ballard) Austenfeld is President of RT Specialty’s National Property Practice and has dedicated her professional insurance career to wholesale and retail brokerage. Throughout her career, Brenda hasdeveloped a wealth of knowledge and deep relationships within the global insurance industry.
Brenda is the Leader of RT’s National Property Practice providing leadership to brokerage teams in sales and strategy initiatives while working closely with management of key market and client partners. Oversight is also provided for all of RT Specialty’s property procedures to support and mentor brokers within the national practice. As a member of the executive management team for RT Specialty, Brenda is a key player in a variety of other areas providing leadership for the firm.
Prior to her role within RT, Brenda was Executive Vice President of the National Property Practice and Partner for Westrope, a leading wholesale brokerage firm with corporate offices in Kansas City. Brenda’s guidance and established relationships with underwriters and company management helped Westrope’s property practice grow exponentially and become well-known for its ability to creatively and effectivelyhandle specialized and catastrophic property exposures.
Brenda also served in several leadership roles before Westrope. She began her career at Alexander and Alexander as Vice President of Risk Management Marketing. She later served as Director and Senior Vice President of the Global Property Practice Group for Aon Risk Services Companies, Inc. In this role, she was a national resource for all Aon offices and assisted in the design and brokerage of major global property programs.
Brenda serves on the Board of Directors for WSIA (Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association) formerly NAPSLO. She also serves on the Executive Board of Trustees for the Kansas 4-H Foundation. Brenda was chosen by Business Insurance to be in their inaugural “Women to Watch” class of 2006. The Kansas City Business Journal included Brenda in their class of “Women Who Mean Business.” She has also been featured in Midwest CEO among their article dedicated to “Most Influential Women.”