IEDA’s Insure Your Future program is pairing the state’s university students with varied careers in insurance.
As a tech-savvy student at Drake University majoring in computer science, data analytics and AI, Kendall Starcevich didn’t think she’d end up working in insurance. “I came to it by accident,” she says. “You don’t think of tech being in insurance necessarily, but it is — it’s everywhere.”
By chance, she met Kevin Croft, who runs Drake’s Insurance Innovation Lab, which does consulting work for Des Moines-area companies. Croft is also her school’s representative for Insure Your Future, a program run by the Iowa Economic Development Authority that secures qualified freshmen and sophomores at Iowa’s universities with internships in the insurance industry. Through Insure Your Future and the Insurance Innovation Lab, Wellmark hired her as a health services operations and systems intern.
Insure Your Future Breaks Down the Experience Barrier
The timing was ideal: Starcevich was a sophomore at the time and had been looking for internships but consistently only saw listings that required previous experience, which she didn’t yet have. Even though the Wellmark role was a departure from her studies, “they told me they would get me exposure to the industry, and it ended up being awesome,” she says. During her time at Wellmark, she worked with software engineers and helped launch a software upgrade.
As part of Insure Your Future, Starcevich also attended sessions the program led introducing her to more insurance companies in Iowa, as well as the chance to network with previous program participants. “It made it so much easier the next year summer when I applied for internships again,” she says. “I could reach out to people who already worked at companies where I was applying and ask if they like it there.”
She credits the program with also helping students workshop resumes, take advantage of LinkedIn, and build industry connections. “I’m not in the business school, I’m in the science school — and that’s not part of the curriculum,” she says. “[Insure Your Future] did a lot of that, which was so helpful.”
After Wellmark, Starcevich did a stint in agricultural science, and then joined Wellabe as a data science intern in the customer experience division in the fall of 2025. “Customer data is really nice because when you’re in data or software engineering, you can feel siloed and not part of the actual business, just coding away,” she says. “This is a positive use of data science, because I’m looking at customer data and trying to improve their experience,” she says.
Not only is it a year-round internship, but a full-time position awaits her after she graduates in May. Originally from Kansas City, Starcevich says she’s happy to make Des Moines her permanent home. “The Drake campus is eight minutes from downtown. A lot of my friend are here and staying, which is exciting for me because now this feel like home.”
“Everyone knows everyone here, and I see that as a good thing,” she says. “If you ever need a job someday, you know someone.”
