Profile
Brooke Hunter has built her career on choice: choice to launch her own business 20 years ago, choice to continue a fifth-generation Canadian brokerage legacy on her own terms, and choice to speak candidly about family, ambition, and consequence. Named to Insurance Business Canada’s Elite Women 2026 list, the president and CEO of HUNTERS International Insurance stands out for charting a path defined by independence and conviction.
Hunter founded HUNTERS in 2005 after gaining sophisticated risk management experience in Vancouver, Hong Kong, Sydney, and leading a large Toronto brokerage. The Toronto-based company advises accomplished Canadian families, businesses, and boards around the world. Her career spans complex claims, crisis response, and distressed insurance situations, with personal experience at boardroom tables where difficult decisions unfold in real time.
She describes her single biggest achievement as founding her business more than 20 years ago and building it while raising what she calls “two exceptional humans.” Hunter delivers the accomplishment with characteristic humour, adding that managing it all feels “next to impossible considering I am only 38.”
That blend of intellect and levity defines her leadership. She characterizes her approach as “highest intellect – trustworthy execution – with humility and humour.” Humour, in her view, is not incidental. It inspires. It steadies teams. It creates space for candour in environments where risk and responsibility shape outcomes.
The current challenge in her role is focus. Opportunities for growth and improvement are abundant. Staying aligned on the highest and best use of resources requires discipline and attention to process. Hunter keeps her eye on the mechanics of delivery and the larger objective, ensuring expansion does not dilute performance.
Her governance experience reinforces that breadth. Hunter has served on the boards of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada, the Toronto Insurance Conference, the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise, St. Clement’s School, the Canadian Mothercraft Society, and two private clubs.
For seven years, she was a director of Morrison Lamothe, including its private label coffee subsidiary, Club Coffee. She completed the University of Toronto Rotman Director Education Program and earned her ICD.D designation, followed by the Competent Boards Sustainability and ESG designation.
In the private risk space, she holds the Wharton/Chubb CAPI designation and is active with the Private Risk Management Association. She is also president and director of Huntro Investments, a family office, and recently completed two terms on the board of UNIBA Partners, an international broker network based in Brussels.
Recognition as an Elite Woman matters, though she resists the notion of imitation. “Not my footsteps – but illuminate they have choices. And with choices come consequences.” For Hunter, leadership includes being transparent about those choices, particularly around family. If she could change one thing, it would be encouraging more direct conversations about the realities women face in balancing ambition and home.
Regarding her legacy, she hopes to have “yelled from the rooftops how fabulous an insurance career can be.”
22 St Clair Ave E, Toronto, ON M4T 2S5
416 323 8201
brooke.hunter@huntersrisk.com
linkedin.com/in/brookehunter1
huntersrisk.com
Brooke Hunter
President and Chief Executive Officer
HUNTERS International Insurance
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Bio
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Profile
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Bio
Milestones
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Bio
Milestones
2002–2010
2005–2015
2014–2015
2015–2017
Present
2002–2005: Solicitor General at Nova Scotia Department of Justice
2010: Awarded the Progress Club Women of Excellence Award
2002–2010
Vice President, Performance Excellence and General Counsel at Capital District Health Authority
2005–2015
Co-Lead for Quality, Patient Safety, Risk, Performance, and Accountability in the Transition Project for the Nova Scotia District Health Authority
2014–2015
Vice President, Quality and System Performance at Nova Scotia Health Authority
2015–2017
CEO at HIROC since 2017
Present
Milestones
Milestones
Sept 2021
Feb 2022
Apr 2022
Jul 2022
Aug
2022
Suncorp Bank introduces Solar Home Bonus offer for customers who are choosing renewable energy for their homes
Sept 2021
Month-on-month market share growth commences
Feb 2022
Suncorp Bank wins the Canstar award for most outstanding value in investment loans
Apr 2022
Suncorp Bank wins Money Magazine’s Bank of the Year and Business Bank of the Year awards for the fifth year in a row
Jul 2022
Suncorp Bank’s turnaround times are the lowest they have ever been. The lender becomes Australia’s first certified carbon neutral bank for both its operation and transaction services
Aug 2022
Milestones
As a founding member of WOW! (Women. Opportunity. Winning.), an employee resource group created for all women of Ryan Specialty, Phillips Topping has long championed for women in the industry.
“It’s very important to set an example and to not only inspire but mentor other females,” she adds.
In addition to her sharp marketing eye, the key to Phillips Topping’s success lies in her high-energy approach and positive attitude.
“As the leader of a team, it’s important to motivate and encourage your team members. People work very hard and do their best and it’s important to recognize these efforts. For my career overall, my attitude has been one of curiosity. The more you can learn, the better you’ll understand the business, and then the deeper your knowledge will become, making you a better team member.”
Chief underwriting officer of executive risk at Chubb
President of financial insurance solutions at Kemper
Chief underwriting officer at Axis Capital
CEO of global Insurance at Endurance
CEO of global Insurance at Sompo International
As CEO, her central challenge is shaping collective leadership. She asks how the shared leadership efforts at HIROC can contribute more than the sum of individual efforts, particularly when those she leads are high performers in their own right. It is, she acknowledges, a good problem to have.
“I am inspired every day by my female peers,” Gaulton says. “My optimistic and determined approach to life, truly a sense that most things are possible, along with my curiosity, interest in learning, and focus on relationships and building on the strength of what we collectively bring to an issue, may be what sets me apart.”
Working in a sector where assumptions about credibility persist, she has encountered moments when ambition and drive were not always welcomed. When faced with those assumptions, she invested in her expertise and focused on results. She also challenges the narrow image of what leadership in insurance looks like. Women balancing family and career, she argues, bring a skill set the industry would benefit from recognizing more fully.
Being named an Elite Woman carries responsibility. “Women frequently feed back to me that seeing me in leadership gives them hope that they can also do this,” she says. “With this in mind, I take my role as an example for others very seriously.”
The legacy Gaulton hopes to leave is measured in balance and contribution. She wants to be known for devotion to family and friends, commitment to colleagues and their success, and the quality of service delivered to clients.
“Women frequently feed back to me that seeing me in leadership gives them hope that they can also do this”
Catherine Gaulton,
Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC)
“I am inspired every day by my female peers”
Catherine Gaulton,
Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC)
“I’ve always believed that if you love what you do, you’ll never settle, and that attitude has guided every decision I’ve made”
Danny Ibrahim,
KeyRate Mortgage
“My strongest professional quality is my ability to build trust and long-term relationships, whether with clients, colleagues, or stakeholders”
Danny Ibrahim,
KeyRate Mortgage
“My strongest professional quality is my ability to build trust and long-term relationships, whether with clients, colleagues, or stakeholders”
Danny Ibrahim,
KeyRate Mortgage
“I’ve always believed that if you love what you do, you’ll never settle, and that attitude has guided every decision I’ve made”
Danny Ibrahim,
KeyRate Mortgage