"Creativity is just connecting things," Steve Jobs famously said, making one of the most pursued attributes in the business world sound beautifully simple and obtainable.

Insurance is a multi-trillion dollar industry, and so, of course, millions of connections happen every day. Most of them go unnoticed. But every now and then, it's worth pausing to dwell on the impressive innovation that comes from a few of the industry's great leaders. It's worth acknowledging the smart product design, the intuitive risk modeling, the technological leaps and the fine art of selling a complex product to meet an individual need. It's worth celebrating all this industry accomplishes year after year, against great odds.

There are many creative minds making a difference in the industry today. Here, we present 20 of the greatest, a cross-generational, cross-disciplinary, cross-regional group that is truly making a difference in how we sell, market and think about insurance today.