{"id":1031,"date":"2026-07-08T15:09:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/?p=1031"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:10:00","slug":"from-curiosity-to-career-how-payton-greenlee-23-found-her-path-in-risk-management-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/2026\/07\/08\/from-curiosity-to-career-how-payton-greenlee-23-found-her-path-in-risk-management-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"From Curiosity to Career: How Payton Greenlee \u201923 Found Her Path in Risk Management & Insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Payton Greenlee<\/a> \u201923, one of the most important career decisions she ever made was choosing a major she knew almost nothing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in Michigan, Payton was already familiar with Butler University. Both of her parents are Butler alumni, and family visits to Indiana often included a walk through the campus they once called home. When it came time to choose a college, Butler felt familiar \u2013 but the career she would ultimately build there was anything but expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved the atmosphere,\u201d Payton says. \u201cThe smaller class sizes and the relationships you could build with faculty were huge for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she prepared to start college, Payton knew she wanted to study business. While exploring majors within the Lacy School of Business, one program kept catching her attention: Risk Management and Insurance<\/a>. The program’s strong career outcomes, growing industry demand, and opportunities for young professionals initially drew her in. Once on campus, conversations with faculty, alumni, and industry partners helped her see just how broad the field could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Gamma Iota Sigma<\/a>, Butler’s student organization for those interested in risk management, insurance, and actuarial science, Payton was introduced to professionals from across the industry and exposed to diverse career paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the thing that locked me in,\u201d she says. \u201cI realized there were so many different directions I could go. It’s not just one specific career. There were so many opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That realization marked the beginning of a college experience centered on exploration, mentorship, and hands-on learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LSB\u2019s Davey Risk Management and Insurance program is recognized among the nation’s leading RMI programs<\/a>, known for its 100 percent job placement rate, required internships, industry partnerships, and experiential learning opportunities. For Payton, those advantages weren’t simply statistics, they became part of her everyday experience as a student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the classroom, she built a strong foundation in insurance, risk analysis, and business operations. Outside the classroom, she gained exposure to the profession through networking events, career mentors, mock interviews, and student organizations designed to help students connect their education to future careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty members played an important role in that journey. Professor Tom Faulconer, whose enthusiasm and industry experience helped bring complex concepts to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis energy made class really fun,\u201d Payton says. \u201cHe made learning about insurance interesting by bringing in real world examples.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many Lacy students, Payton’s learning extended far beyond lectures and textbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One experience that stands out was underwriting exposures for businesses participating in LSB’s Real Business Experience<\/a> program. Having once been the student developing a product through RBE, she later had the opportunity to evaluate those businesses through the lens of liability and risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was so cool,\u201d she says. \u201cYou were once the student making the product, and then you were actually underwriting it and seeing what had to be done from a liability standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experiences like that gave Payton something she would later draw upon in every interview: real examples of how classroom concepts translated into business decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI talked about Real Business Experience in every interview I had,\u201d she says. \u201cI loved how often we were taking what we learned in class and applying it to real situations.\u201d She later became a RBE Coach for a few semesters, bringing the experience full circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That preparation became especially valuable when Payton landed an internship with The MJ Companies<\/a>, one of America\u2019s largest privately held insurance agencies, headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The internship was designed as a rotational experience, allowing her to spend time with multiple teams across the Risk Management + Commercial Insurance department and gain a broad understanding of how the company operated. Rather than simply observing, she was invited into meetings, worked on meaningful projects, and gained exposure to client-facing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, she arrived prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLSB did such a great job exposing us to the industry,\u201d Payton says. \u201cNow that I’m involved in our internship program, we still see that preparedness in Butler students today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began as an internship quickly evolved into something more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Payton remained connected to MJ during her final semester at Lacy, working part-time while finishing her degree. After graduating in 2023, she joined the company full-time as a Risk Management Associate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next three years, she advanced through several roles \u2013 including Risk Transfer Associate and Risk Transfer Specialist \u2013 before being promoted to Associate Client Executive in January 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, she works directly with clients to develop strategies that help organizations identify risks, reduce losses, strengthen operations, and build long-term resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While insurance is certainly part of the conversation, her work goes far beyond policies and premiums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe help companies buy insurance coverage, but there’s so much more to it than signing on the dotted line,\u201d Payton says. \u201cWhere are there issues we can help build a strategy around? How can we help them improve and become best in class?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role is one she envisioned for herself from the very beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I started, I knew I wanted to become a Client Executive,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing in the role I’m in now is something I’m really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As her career has progressed, one lesson has remained constant: curiosity matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStay curious,\u201d she says. \u201cCompanies know you’re learning. They care about your willingness to ask questions, think differently, and continue growing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, Payton believes the value of her Lacy School of Business experience becomes even clearer with time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationships she built, the opportunities she pursued, and the hands-on experiences she gained continue to influence her career every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe more years you’re out of college, the more you realize it,\u201d she says. \u201cThe resources, the people, the opportunities \u2013 you really don’t find another business school that does it the way we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For Payton Greenlee \u201923, one of the most important career decisions she ever made was choosing a major she knew almost nothing about.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Michigan, Payton was already familiar with Butler University. Both of her parents are Butler alumni, and family visits to Indiana often included a walk through the campus they once called home. When it came time to choose a college, Butler felt familiar \u2013 but the career she would ultimately build there was anything but expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the atmosphere,\u201d Payton says. \u201cThe smaller class sizes and the relationships you could build with faculty were huge for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she prepared to start college, Payton knew she wanted to study business. What she didn’t know was exactly where that path would lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2812,"featured_media":1032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[38],"class_list":["post-1031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}