At Hagerty, we understand that emergency management is not only about being on the front lines during a disaster—it also hinges on the tireless behind-the-scenes efforts of our dedicated internal team. As Employee Appreciation Day approaches, we are excited to highlight some of our unsung heroes whose contributions often go unrecognized but are essential to our collective success. This month, we sat down with three professionals from our Finance, Graphics, and Operations teams to learn more about their career paths and critical roles at Hagerty.
Tell us about yourself and how your career path led you to Hagerty.
Kate Lewis-Lakin: I began my career in local government, spending the first six years serving communities across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. I was working in a City Budget Office when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and was tasked with navigating Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs for the first time. It was a crash course in all things emergency management, and I knew that much of the nation was also sharing in the newness of this experience. This experience sparked my interest in working at Hagerty, where I could help communities across the country navigate situations they had never expected or prepared for.
Liz Siegel: Growing up, I never truly excelled at anything other than art and design. I was never an ambitious person with life-changing goals. Sports and math were always the enemy. Science was boring. An art studio was the only place I felt free to be myself to the fullest extent without having to fit into some predestined mold. My mother, a lover of the arts and a successful freelance graphic designer, naturally nurtured this love. She always had the best art supplies and coolest computer programs a small, creative child of chaos could only dream of.
Diverging slightly from my mother’s path, I pursued a degree in Industrial Design at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) rather than Graphic Design. This decision gave me a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and how products translate into the physical world. Even so, the path of Industrial Design was nearly parallel to that of Graphic Design, with many overlapping themes, allowing me to take numerous Graphic Design courses in tandem. It was only after my four-year stint at UIC that I decided to use my design powers for visual good instead of consumerism and pursued a graphics-related career instead.
Having gained job experience during my summers as my mother’s design assistant, I was able to land my first solo design job as a Production Artist for Manufacturers’ News, Inc. Three and half years in, I knew it was time for a new challenge and broadened design horizons. Honestly, emergency management was never on my radar. My path to Hagerty was coincidental, solely reliant on Google’s search results for “Graphic Design Jobs in Evanston.” Now, almost six years later, I am one of the three delightful graphic designers who make up the creative design team at Hagerty. I truly could not imagine myself doing anything else.
Zach Elkin: I believe that growing up in a family of social workers, whether consciously or not, laid the foundation for my career in helping others. After receiving my undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), I moved to Washington, DC, to participate in a year-long Jewish Service Corps program. From there, I spent over a decade in various program management and operations roles with DC- and Chicago-based organizations committed to improving educational and life outcomes for underserved youth. In 2014, I moved to Evanston, Illinois, and soon after joined the school administration in one of Chicago’s western suburbs. There, I oversaw a portfolio of services and programs that benefited more than 500 families. In the fall of 2019, I had the pleasure of connecting with Steve Hagerty through a neighbor (as anyone in Evanston knows, Steve is well-connected!). I was introduced to Katie Freeman, Hagerty’s Director of Operations, just as my responsibilities at the school shifted to overseeing COVID-19 mitigation strategies and case response operations. This experience served as a perfect segue into the work Hagerty was doing, allowing me to transition into the broader field of emergency management.
Tell us about your role at Hagerty and what you find most rewarding about the work you do at the firm.
Kate Lewis-Lakin: I play a unique role as a project coordinator for our Chief Operating Officer (COO), Brad Grining. This position gives me the opportunity to collaborate across several internal teams — Finance, Human Resources (HR), Information Technology (IT), and Operations — to implement process improvements and expand our data-based management capabilities. My primary project to date has been the implementation of a new system for our timesheets, expense reimbursements, and invoicing. I continue to serve as the primary administrator of the system, working with Zach Elkin to address support requests. This role has given me the wonderful opportunity to work with our professionals on the ground and across the firm, exploring new and creative ways to leverage our tools to better serve both our employees and clients.
Liz Siegel: No two days are alike for the design team, as we work on a wide range of projects. We handle both internal projects (such as proposals, company branding, training items, fun event materials, and various requests from corporate leadership) and external projects (including client work, city/government contracts, and more). Our team is called upon by anyone in the firm who needs support with formatting, templates, branding, and creative solutions. The most rewarding aspect of my work is hard to define, as it spans different areas. We play an influential role with the Recovery team, where we design billboards, newspaper advertisements, websites, and handout materials that are seen by millions. We also contribute inspiring work for the Preparedness team, designing engaging training materials and thought-provoking tabletop exercises (TTXs). From assisting with rebuilding communities to training those on the frontlines, and even helping a colleague, it feels rewarding to use my creative skills to make a meaningful impact and help heal the world in my own small way.
Zach Elkin: Since early in my career, I have gravitated towards dynamic, multifaceted roles that require shifting back and forth between strategic planning and detailed operational work throughout the day. I immediately found this synergy at Hagerty, where, as a member of the Operations team, I partner with professionals across the firm’s internal business functions and client-facing teams to improve day-to-day operations, meet client needs, and advance business development goals. My favorite projects to date have been supporting the rollouts of two firmwide system transitions – projects that are critical to building a strong infrastructure and enabling Hagerty to grow sustainably. I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction in knowing that my behind-the-scenes work, though often several layers removed from our consultants in the field, is helping Hagerty deliver results to our clients and ultimately make a positive difference in the world.
Which of Hagerty’s core values of innovation, integrity, teamwork, and excellence resonates with you the most and why?
Kate Lewis-Lakin: Teamwork — the Hagerty team is my absolute favorite part of working here! It is a pleasure to work in an organization with professionals who are dedicated to public service and always willing to work as a team for the benefit of our clients. I could not have achieved any of my accomplishments during my time with the company without the collaboration of our internal teams working together to drive our operations forward. In my capacity as a system administrator, I enjoy getting to work with new colleagues on a regular basis and helping them learn something new or working together to solve a problem they are having.
Liz Siegel: For me, it is definitely teamwork. Hagerty feels like a melting pot of knowledge — at least from my humble perspective as a designer. While I have taken my fair share of FEMA training and even helped design a few, I am far from an expert in emergency management. I am continuously impressed by our professionals’ wealth of knowledge on subjects that are far outside of my design realm. Being able to work side-by-side with individuals from such a wide range of backgrounds inevitably elevates the quality of services for our clients. We each have something to learn from one another and something to nourish in each other going forward. That being said, my favorite team to work with is the Operations team, hands down. There is nothing more stressful than having to submit an online proposal with the clock ticking abnormally fast. We work as a unit to always get proposals polished and submitted on time. We play to our strengths, tag in where needed, and communicate holistically through personalized Slack emojis. This team has some of the craziest, smartest, and funniest people I have ever known.
Zach Elkin: The value of excellence stands out for me because I have always held myself and my work to high standards, and I can confidently say that everyone with whom I have worked with at Hagerty has the same mindset. There are many paths to excellence, but I liken my north star to one of Steve notes in his leadership philosophy, that the “little things matter.” These little things, like spell checking an email or offering support to a sick colleague, are essential to fostering a positive work environment and upholding a strong reputation amongst clients and partners. Striving to be our best professional and personal selves pays tremendous dividends in the short and long term.
If you could travel to one place you have never been, where would it be and why?
Kate Lewis-Lakin: My spouse and I are hoping to take a trip to Hong Kong sometime in the next year or so, with a big emphasis on eating all the delicious food.
Liz Siegel: Copenhagen, Denmark! It has been on my to-visit list ever since I passed up the opportunity to go abroad during college. Fun fact: Copenhagen has the oldest flag design in the world! The city embodies everything my dream home would have, and is the second happiest country in the world. They have extraordinary public transit and a heavy bike-friendly culture, which I absolutely adore. I have the cutest seafoam green bike, which would fit in perfectly. Their buildings are astoundingly colorful and have the most unique histories. Also, they have some brutal Viking history, which I find absolutely fascinating. I think what enchants me the most is the laid-back culture, which is such a contrast to the fast-paced, go-go-go energy of American life. I like to relax. I also like pastries. If I ever get to Copenhagen, you will definitely find me in a park, staring at colorful buildings, as I relax while nibbling on a pastry.
Zach Elkin: It is impossible to pick just one place, so I will cheat a little and say that I would love to visit some of the tiny, lesser-known Jewish communities around the world, including those in the Philippines, Peru, and Namibia. Jewish people represent just 0.2 percent of the global population, and while the vast majority reside in Israel and the United States (US), I think it would be fascinating to have the opportunity to connect and bond with fellow Jews living in non-Western countries.
Thank you to all our professionals for your continued hard work and unwavering dedication to our ever-important mission: helping our clients prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.
Learn more about the unique preparedness, response, and recovery solutions Hagerty offers disaster-impacted communities here.
Kate Lewis-Lakin is a Senior Managing Associate in Hagerty’s Operations Division with over eight years of experience in local government and corporate operations. At Hagerty, Kate has overseen a range of internal process improvements and system innovations that have moved corporate functions forward and promoted more efficient management and invoicing for our clients.
Liz Siegel is a Managing Associate on Hagerty’s Graphics Team with nearly six years of experience in the emergency management industry and 10 years as a senior graphic designer. In her role, Liz maintains and develops the Hagerty brand and supports material development such as client deliverables, sponsored advertisements, digital publications, infographics, and marketing materials for both in-person events and online user engagement.
Zach Elkin is a Managing Associate in Hagerty’s Operations Department with over 15 years of experience in program management and business operations for social impact organizations. At Hagerty, Zach represents Ops on cross-functional teams to execute firmwide IT system transitions; administers Hagerty’s Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform; coordinates hardware transfers for employees and project teams; and supports data collection, reporting, and other tasks for compliance and business development activities.