Danielle Tkachyk of Niverville recently received the PAL Young Achiever of the Year award for her work in the insurance industry. On November 19, the Insurance Business Awards (IBA), a Canadian initiative to recognize leading companies and professionals, held their annual event virtually and recognized the top performers in the insurance industry across several key categories.
Awards of this nature are often a platform to share up-to-date industry news, opinions, and insight, and the IBA online event also featured panel discussions to grow the skills of participants before presenting the awards.
Nominations for the national awards are fielded from clients, co-workers, friends, and industry partners and Tkachyk believes she was selected for her industry involvement, rate of brokerage growth, and the high performance/rewards culture she fosters in the workplace.
“In the past, the PAL Young Achiever of the Year award has been named Young Broker of the Year and Young Gun,” says Tkachyk. “Not only was I humbled to be selected from a crop of emerging leaders, I was even more flattered to make the ‘young’ cut.”
Tkachyk has a high commitment to innovation, processes, personal volunteerism, and executive presence, such as participating with awards and industry initiatives, publications, and speaking engagements.
An Entrepreneur Is Born
Her impressive drive is no surprise to those who know her personally or encounter her in her many roles in and around Niverville. But it’s safe to say that becoming the president of her own insurance company wasn’t always her dream job.
“Didn’t every kid dream of becoming an insurance broker when they grow up?” jokes Tkachyk. “After graduating from Niverville Collegiate, I pursued my education degree. I always blocked my classes so I could work to afford during post-secondary. I obtained my insurance license to have a professionally oriented, respectable profession while doing so. The rest is history.”
With her passion for education and her insurance license, Tkachyk ended up teaching courses for Manitoba Public Insurance and was often recruited to work on government-mandated projects. She began to facilitate professional development sessions, which are mandatory for insurance brokers. This is often when she would cross paths with senior management and brokerage owners who inevitably offered her jobs.
Although she was flattered, she declined opportunities that distracted her from her promising career as a training coordinator.
Then, in 2010, Tkachyk was given the opportunity to become a partner with PMC Insurance. She took a risk and bought in to the company.
“And I never looked back!” she says.
She went on to buy the remaining shares in 2017, making her president of PMC Insurance. In 2020, she put her own stamp on the business, rebranding the brokerage as Savante Insurance Inc.
“I do everything I can to be an effective leader, which often results in non-traditional nocturnal office hours as the mother to very busy two- and four-year-old girls, the spouse to a fellow entrepreneur, and did I mention I own a jewellery studio?” says Tkachyk. “My young family is in the midst of the building phase of life and it’s reaffirming to know that our work is being recognized as exceptional.”
She says that the team of experts at Savante make it look easy—and it’s her commitment to an atmosphere of teamwork that makes the recent national award so important to her. Indeed, to Tkachyk, the award isn’t just a personal career achievement; it shines a light on the expertise that exists here in Manitoba.
“All too often awards of this magnitude are heavily represented by brokers from the largest provinces,” she says. “To recognize the unrivalled skills that reside within the walls of Savante is awesome! It garners the attention of insurer partners, prospective clients, and future talent. This is recognition by the insurance industry of excellence.”
Thriving During COVID
It’s impossible to talk about business success today without acknowledging the challenges of operating during a global pandemic. As Savante’s president, Tkachyk first ensured that they did the same things as every other business in Manitoba: meeting or exceeding new cleaning protocols, installing signage and decals to ensure distancing and safety, and implementing mask usage.
But her goal wasn’t to survive the pandemic, but thrive.
One of the first things Savante did was overhaul their technological infrastructure to allow employees to work from home using a secure network connection. The new technology also enabled them to accommodate transaction requests from a distance via phone, text, email, and curbside pickup.
When so many industries find themselves cutting back on services, Savante added the issuance of marriage licenses. This service targeted those couples who were having difficulty accessing them due to the closure of Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Savante also separated its team into three cohorts—one based strictly out of Steinbach, and two from Winnipeg. Employees were given the option to either work from home or in the office, with the caveat that if the customer-facing team contracted COVID-19, the alternate cohort would staff the office while the former isolated.
In conjunction with SGI Canada—which serves Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario—Savante organized a community food drive in support of Centre Flavie, a local organization providing food and basic needs for immigrant families.
Savante nominated the emergency staff at the Bethesda Health Foundation for a Red River Mutual donation. Currently, the results are pending and they intend to use the funds toward the purchase of a massage chair for frontline workers.
They even have a soup fairy. What is a soup fairy?
“She drops off homemade soups, prepared by one of our small business hospitality clients, for customers and their family members recovering from COVID-19,” explains Tkachyk.
Defending the psychology of the team when it’s all too easy to feel isolated is important to Tkachyk—and for all these initiatives, she either shares the credit, or passes it along completely to her team.
“There are not befitting words in the English language to accurately relay the immense pride I have for my team and how Savante adds value during these unprecedented times,” says Tkachyk.
As for the future, she says that Savanate is currently licensed in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with plans to expand into Alberta, British Columbia, and New Brunswick. In the new year, they’ll open a new office off Highway 12 north of Steinbach.
“In my former big corporate life, my reward for hard work was more work, and although there was the ladder-climbing perception of progress, it was always leaning against someone else’s building,” adds Tkachyk. “Now I own the building.”
