Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Telisa Yancy never imagined she would one day sit at the helm of a Fortune 500 company.
She describes a childhood where her role models were teachers, preachers and small business owners — no one from corporate America.
“I was a dreamer. I am a dreamer,” Yancy said while speaking at Cap Times Power Hour this week.
Decades later, Yancy now serves as enterprise president at American Family Insurance. The insurance group is among Madison’s largest employers.
She is the first woman and person of color to serve in the role.
Yancy joined American Family Insurance in 2009 as part of the marketing team after serving in marketing and sales roles for Ford Motor Co. and the Burger King corporation.
She became vice president of marketing in 2013 and later served as chief operating officer of the company’s agency business. Yancy became president of American Family Direct in July 2021 and took on her current role as enterprise president in November 2022, running strategy and operations for the company’s product, marketing, claims and all business units for both the agency and direct branches of the company.
As a young person, Yancy held strong aspirations to work in business. But living in Wisconsin was not part of those dreams. Her first experience with the Dairyland was a visit during a frigid March Madness college basketball game in which her University of Illinois team was playing in Madison.
“I was here, and I literally said ‘Who would live in Wisconsin?’ Because it was so cold,” she joked.
Telisa Yancy is the first woman and person of color to serve as enterprise president of American Family Insurance. Yancy was the featured speaker at Cap Times Power Hour on Jan. 28.
She never imagined she would settle here.
“What I did imagine was that I would be doing something of purpose. What I did imagine is that I would be doing something of impact,” Yancy said. “I couldn’t imagine this, but it feels like it was always in the cards.”
Yancy said she felt like she’s made it this far in the world of business because she never stopped being curious.
“Often we think that we’re graduating from college and you will stop learning and just start working,” she said. “What I’ve learned is that you will be on a continuous journey to continue learning, and that it would behoove you to take that fairly seriously early in your career.”
Yancy said she studies two things: business and sports — both of which she applies back to her role in leadership and both of which require reliable teammates, or co-conspirators as she calls them.
The best co-conspirators Yancy has found have all been in Madison.
“Madison, for me personally, is a place that is small enough that if you want to make an impact, you can, and big enough that if you make that impact, you will have a ripple effect inside of Madison and perhaps even outside of Madison,” she said.
Mark Richardson, president of Unfinished Business Consulting and CEO of GigBlender, interviews Telisa Yancy from American Family Insurance during a Cap Times Power Hour event at the Edgewater Hotel on Jan. 28.
The company that eventually became American Family Insurance Group will turn 100 years old in 2027, launching originally in Madison as Farmers Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
Companies that don’t serve their clients well don’t make it to that milestone, Yancy said.
“It takes a lot for a company to stay around that number of years and a lot of service and a lot of belief in customers,” she said. “I think there is joy in understanding the psyche of what the consumer wants and then figuring out how you deliver it.”
Mark Richardson, president of Unfinished Business Consulting and CEO of GigBlender, is the moderator of Cap Times Power Hour, a quarterly executive spaeker series.
Yancy spoke with Mark Richardson, president of Unfinished Business Consulting and CEO of GigBlender, at The Edgewater Hotel on Jan. 28 as part of Cap Times Power Hour, a quarterly Wisconsin executive speaker series.
The next Power Hour on April 8 will feature married couple Julie Fussner, CEO of Culver Franchising System, and Don Fussner, CEO of Johnsonville.
Erin McGroarty is the health and policy reporter for the Cap Times. Erin writes about Madison and Dane County’s health care industry and workforce as well as government policies affecting public health and access to care. Email story ideas and tips to emcgroarty@captimes.com.
Please consider supporting Erin’s work by becoming a Cap Times member or sponsor. Sustaining local journalism in Madison depends on readers like you.
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