2024 Most Influential Women: Myleah Shrimpton

After over two decades in the insurance industry, Myleah Shrimpton is comfortable enough to get vulnerable about who she really is.

“I have finally embraced that I do not have a competitive spirit,” Shrimpton says. “This has always felt like a liability and not an asset in business until I realized in my current position that a spirit of harmony and meditation is often needed most.”

Shrimpton is the vice president of claims and administration at Ollis/Akers/Arney, where she is licensed in property, casualty, life, and health insurance. In her 14 years with the company, that goal of consensus has driven some of her most notable successes. For example, in helping a client resolve an air ambulance bill of over $58,000, Shrimpton was able not only to see all charges waived but also to facilitate collaboration among the hospital, insurance, and billing teams to reach an amicable solution.

“I love it when I have been able to step in for resolution and clarity, making a stressful situation less so,” she says.

Throughout her career, Shrimpton has tied her insurance expertise to work in the patient advocacy fields, serving on Patient Family and Advisory Councils for CoxHealth and the Missouri Hospital Association. In those positions, her passion was fueled by her own health scare in which an electrical issue in her heart led to a near fatal cardiac incident. Shrimpton says she had experienced symptoms for years, but they had been dismissed as an anxiety disorder.

“I desired to encourage women to be their own advocates and to bravely bring forth health concerns, even at the risk of not being believed,” she says.

Shrimpton’s story was featured in the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women 2017 campaign. She has also become a proponent of mental health, serving as board secretary for the Ozarks Counseling Center.

In keeping with her tendencies toward mediation and harmony, Shrimpton has done extensive work at the state and regional level bringing peer networks together for agent roundtables in partnership with Beyond Insurance. Her graduate research focuses on third-party litigation funding through a tort reform and national security lens. That work has led to legislative opportunities in Jefferson City and Washington, D.C., a role on the legislative policy committee with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, and risk management legislative opportunities in conjunction with the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents.

No matter what lies ahead for Shrimpton, you can expect even more passion projects in her future.  “I have stopped taking on projects to prove my worth,” she says. “I have started paying attention to what makes me come alive and doing more of that.”