68 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine BUSINESS, FINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP THELMA PERRYMAN MAY, FLMI CHIEF UNDERWRITER, DIRECTOR OF RISK MANAGEMENT (RETIRED) American National Insurance Company Houston, TX Thelma Perryman May dedicated 47 years to the insurance industry, with a career marked by long-term growth, innovation and efficiency. From 1990 until her retirement in November 2023, she served as the chief underwriter and director of risk management at American National Insurance Company, where she was responsible for overseeing health underwriting processes, developing comprehensive underwriting guidelines, reviewing insurance applications, determining coverage eligibility, and ensuring compliance with state and federal laws. Over her 33-year tenure with the company, Mrs. May consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership and deep expertise, contributing to her profound reputation in the industry. Mrs. May has accomplished much throughout her career, and she cites her most notable achievement to be creating a comprehensive underwriting manual that documented the company’s business rules. Prior to Mrs. May’s development, these rules existed only in individual memoranda and were maintained in notebooks, which proved increasingly cumbersome. As such, Mrs. May consolidated all information into a unified paper manual for underwriters and developed a streamlined version for agents. Notably, her work greatly improved efficiency and reduced the time required to issue insurance policies by systematizing the rules. Mrs. May helped the company scale its operations more effectively, ultimately supporting the acquisition of new clients and contributing to the company’s growth. Prior to joining American National Insurance Company, Mrs. May spent three years at Columbia Universal Life, where she managed health insurance underwriting products. However, when the organization moved from Houston, Texas, Mrs. May decided to seek new opportunities. She commenced her insurance career at Prudential Insurance Company in 1977 after earning a Bachelor of Science in operations management from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, which she completed in 1976. In addition to her work in insurance, Mrs. May dedicated over three decades to her church,
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