CEA Chief Mitigation Officer Named to 2016 List of Elite Women by Insurance Business America Magazine

​(SACRAMENTO) California Earthquake Authority (CEA) Chief Mitigation Officer Janiele Maffei has been honored as one of Insurance Business America's "Elite Women" for 2016.

The list o​​f 144 "Elite Women" includes executives of major corporations, founders of startup businesses, a state insurance commissioner and even a U.S. senator—women the magazine has determined are "changing the face of the American insurance industry." Maffei, a structural engineer who has worked in the earthquake engineering industry for more than 30 years, is the only woman on the list who works for a not-for-profit.

​"In addition to providing earthquake insurance, CEA is equally committed to helping Californians mitigate their residential risk, and we are pleased Janiele's important contributions are being recognized by Insurance Business America," said CEA CEO Glenn Pomeroy. "Since joining CEA, Janiele has built a program bringing awareness and innovation to residential retrofit work."

​​​Under Maffei's leadership, CEA's mitigation program focuses on three key areas:

• ​​Providing financial incentives to homeowners through development of the Earthquake Brace + Bolt program, a unique and growing seismic residential retrofit program that targets older homes. Earthquake Brace + Bolt champions code-compliant retrofits based on science to ensure greater performance of these older, vulnerable homes in an earthquake.
• Research projects in collaboration with academic institutions and other industry experts to better understand the performance of retrofit houses. As a structural engineer, Maffei climbed under homes following the Northridge and Napa earthquakes to learn how to improve the strength of houses and build more resilient neighborhoods.
• ​Development of guidelines that provide cost-effective ways for homeowners to retrofit their older homes, and support for insurance-premium discounts for CEA policyholders whose homes have been retrofitted.

​Insurance Business America developed the "Elite Women" list to recognize women who had shown hard work and dedication in any facet of the insurance industry, an industry in which women hold a majority of the jobs but a minority of the leadership positions.

"Despite the many challenges still faced by professional women, there are many success stories that need to be told—and many insurance pros deserving of praise," the magazine said in its call for nominations.

Maffei, a resident of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, has been CEA's chief mitigation officer since 2011. She also serves as executive director of the California Residential Mitigation Program, which oversees the Earthquake Brace + Bolt program.