INDIANAPOLIS (March 1, 2021) — Michele Steele, of Zionsville, Indiana, has been recognized by OneAmerica® as an ASPIRE honoree as a result of her outstanding service on behalf of the life insurance, retirement and employee benefits organization.

Steele was one of 12 associates to be honored at the company’s seventh-annual ASPIRE awards banquet on Feb. 17. The ASPIRE principles — Achievement, Stewardship, Partnership, Integrity, Responsiveness and Excellence — guide more than 2,200 OneAmerica associates in all work endeavors. This year 318 individuals were nominated by 243 peers, supervisors or project partners for the annual honor.

“Our commitment ─ to be there for our customers and policyholders when it matters most — was never more evident than in 2020,” said Scott Davison, chairman, president and CEO of OneAmerica. “During the pandemic everyone stepped up, but Michele and 11 other honorees, in particular, delivered remarkable and sustained performance that kept us going strong. Their positive energy and resilience inspired others and helped us navigate through many challenges, both large and small.”

Steele, vice president of customer experience in Enterprise Marketing and Communications, was honored for Excellence in Execution. She was the lead of the Emergency Coordination and Communications Council in 2020, during the onset of the pandemic, the quick transition to remote work and throughout the events of social unrest in downtown Indianapolis.

“I felt that ‘inspired and resilient’ was my motto the whole year,” Steele said. “At one time, we were dealing with three separate crises, with the pandemic being one that was ongoing. We had to keep people motivated and engaged but also stay proactive. So, that was the epitome of being resilient.”

Steele grew up in Merrillville, Indiana, and was a three-sport athlete. She earned a bachelor’s from Marian University and now serves on the university’s board of trustees. Steele furthered her education by obtaining a master’s from Indiana State University. In 2019 she completed an executive program in business from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Steele says she leveraged her learnings from the Stanford executive education to navigate the year but that she couldn’t have done it without the team, as each person had a critical part to play.

“I can’t say enough about the talent of the team I was surrounded by each day,” said Steele. “We had the right people working together.”