WIL Next: Vuarnet Alonzo
“Risk-taking is not a skill you learn, it’s a choice you make.”
This sentiment, which comes from a statement by Tinder founding team member Rosette Pambakian in a Forbes article, has become one of Vuarnet Alonzo’s favorite pieces of advice and the embodiment of her career journey with CSAA Insurance Group.
Vuarnet Alonzo, CSAA’s director of client services
CSAA
Alonzo, CSAA’s director of client services, says that being a risk-taker has led her to new opportunities she never could have anticipated. In 2014, Alonzo was one of the first hired into a brand-new pilot department at CSAA, where she worked as a medical payments adjuster. As pioneers of the department, Alonzo and her team established the groundwork for its necessary processes and created training materials as they navigated their new roles.
“People say my niche is doing brand new things here,” says Alonzo. “I learned it all pretty quickly, even though it was new to me at the time. I think that good timing is what allows people to really step up, even if they’re brand new, to help mold the role.”
In the years that followed, Alonzo took on various roles within the organization. She worked as a personal injury protection (PIP) specialist, where she handled more complex cases, and was eventually promoted to PIP supervisor. Alonzo took on yet another role for a pilot department in medicare compliance, which CSAA had previously outsourced, as a medicare compliance manager. In 2022, Alonzo took on her current position, where she manages new and existing client relationships, oversees new business development opportunities and prepares business presentations and proposals.
Along with her other responsibilities and roles, Alonzo was involved with CSAA’s Covid-19 call center. At the start of the pandemic, the organization shifted some of its claims employees to work in a call center, rather than furlough or lay off its employees, where they helped to process a backlog of unemployment claims and state-wide vaccine appointment scheduling. Since 2022, CSAA now provides contact center, training and claims services externally.
As the program manager, Alonzo was tasked with establishing the business development workflows, and quickly learned how to use different applications to create a solution that fit the program’s needs. She collaborated with other departments in the organization, including digital hub and IT, leveraging Microsoft products like Planner, Automate and Power BI to create a solution that offers activity tracking, documentation and collaboration, among many other functions. Her efforts in implementing this solution have increased productivity and reduced human error, according to CSAA.
Recently, Alonzo took a risk to temporarily halt the department’s Request for Proposal (RFP) business development activities in order to prioritize the advancement of its internal infrastructure. Despite the significant short-term risk of this decision, Alonzo felt that this was a necessary step forward.
“I found that with the resources that we were using for the process, there was an opportunity where we could be a lot more efficient and strategic,” Alonzo explains. “From my standpoint, if we’re not doing it in the right way, we’re potentially losing and not bringing in those opportunities, and we’re wasting a lot of time and resources.”
During the pause, Alonzo attended conferences and learned from industry-based resources and experts to build out a new process workflow. This proved to be highly successful and established an efficiently structured program that now supports a comprehensive accountability model and effectively mandates involvement and approval from key stakeholders in all RFP submissions.
“If you have the opportunity, or if you can make the opportunity, to take a risk and join something new, especially at the ground floor, that basically allows you to have that vital role in developing a brand voice and narrative where you can show your passion and hard work,” Alonzo states. “Especially for women out there, know that we are found to take fewer risks than men in the workplace, so you should work hard to overcome that, because it can be a vital part of your career success.”
