The key to successful M&A: Nurturing diverse talent
- Company & Leadership
Mergers and acquisitions have been a central tenant of Tokio Marine Group’s business strategy, but carrying out a successful M&A hinges on far more than financial results.
For Caryn Angelson, Group Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer (CDIO) at Tokio Marine Group, financial track records and business sustainability are paramount when evaluating any M&A opportunity. For long-term success, however, both sides also need to share a top-level commitment to a diversity of ideas and an understanding that utilizing all of our diverse talent is absolutely critical.

After a sluggish few years in the insurance M&A market, there is now an upswing in activity. In the second quarter of 2024, the global insurance market witnessed deals worth $28 billion—a growth of 35% compared to Q2 2023—as insurers and brokers increasingly seek entry into specialty lines that they would otherwise have to build from scratch.
Not all acquisitions are destined to be successful, however.
Obtaining the myriad benefits of M&A necessitates retaining talent throughout the target organization, from individual contributors to senior management. Retention of key talent requires a thoughtful and considered approach to the acquisition, rather than simply planting the flag at the acquired company and expecting assimilation.
Tokio Marine Group is made up of over 43,000 employees operating within a network encompassing 46 countries and regions. We have achieved our international presence through a diligent and thoughtful M&A strategy that puts diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at its heart, while also pursuing organic growth opportunities and staying close to the demands of our clients. After completing major acquisitions in the last 20 years—including Kiln, HCC and Delphi—we are striving to become a sector leader and, indeed, a thought leader, in our M&A approach by creating spaces for different cultures, experiences, and ways of working, that ultimately benefit the entire organization.
To date, our M&A strategy has provided us with global access and new expertise for our clients, whom we are now better able to help face cross-border challenges. Our successful track record on M&A has demonstrated that acquisitions should be completed purposefully and carefully, with a strong focus on fostering an environment where people feel empowered and can continue doing their best work.
While the meshing of an acquired company’s culture with Tokio Marine’s overarching values is a cornerstone of our growth strategy, a lot can go wrong during an ownership transition. Enabling employees to work to their highest capabilities is essential for the long-term viability of a newly joined business and requires hard work by all parties. Mistakes in handling and prioritizing human assets can lead to losing out on new team members who could have contributed greatly to the new endeavor. For successful M&A activity, we advocate investing a significant amount of effort and thought into DE&I.
The Tokio Marine Group way
Tokio Marine Group places an emphasis on talent retention and empowering employees by creating integrated management teams that utilize the best of our talent across the globe. Significantly, DE&I at Tokio Marine is not limited to promoting the representation and fair treatment of historically underrepresented groups. Rather, Tokio Marine believes that a key tenet and focus of DE&I must also be about fostering diversity of thought. In terms of our M&A approach, we do not create a hierarchy where one group is favored over another. Our approach is about including a diverse mix of voices, perspectives and opinions, with an emphasis on representation in decision-making processes.
Succinctly stated, a successful acquisition cannot be achieved with a monolithic group executing and delivering a strategy without input from the employees of all impacted entities.
Our approach to ensuring a robust DE&I strategy starts even before an acquisition takes place. Alongside assessing financial track records and business model sustainability, we identify opportunities where values are similar; forcing a shift in values upon a target company is a recipe for employee dissatisfaction and significant business interruption. By focusing on similar core values during the M&A process, the post-acquisition period goes more smoothly, as acquired companies can operate safe in the knowledge that the decisions they take align with the Group’s values.
A two-way approach to DE&I
Providing autonomy can present its own challenges, particularly when companies, post-acquisition, are at different stages of their DE&I journeys. We combat this issue for the entirety of our organization by fostering understanding through both top-down and bottom-up approaches. My role involves accelerating this mission through encouraging all employees to commit to inclusive behaviors, a culture of allyship, eliminating barriers, and working collectively.
One initiative I spearhead to accomplish our goal is organizing and facilitating periodic collaboration sessions between DE&I practitioners across different geographic regions and cultures, aimed at sharing best practices and identifying which problems need to be escalated to senior leadership.
We also prioritize facilitating dialogue and sharing opinions between executives and employees from all seniority levels across our organization. When necessary, we go a step further and host educational sessions with leaders to dive deep into relevant DE&I topics. Senior executives partake in tough conversations on how to become inclusive leaders, show allyship, and promote psychological safety for both sets of employees.
Aligning DE&I journeys is a tough but crucial part of the acquisition and post-acquisition process. Leaders cannot simply impose a new culture from the top down and expect everyone to comply. By emphasizing DE&I as a cornerstone of our culture, we empower our workforce to go above and beyond for colleagues and clients. In turn, we also challenge the view of the insurance industry as a monolith and hope to attract an increasingly broad variety of individuals from diverse and unique backgrounds to come contribute to our mission.
Our international business has grown rapidly through acquisitions, but the value of our group far exceeds the sum of its parts. Tokio Marine Group’s approach has allowed us to reap the full benefits of the talent, cultures, and expertise which these new businesses and their people have brought. With M&A activity in the global insurance market predicted to continue to increase, recognizing and supporting the people who underpin any acquired company must be prioritized.