The Insurance Coffee House with Nick Hoadley

On this episode of the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, we welcome Miranda Hunter, Head of Investor Relations at Fidelis Insurance Group. Miranda talks to Nick Hoadley about: her background and career journey, from being born and raised in Bermuda returning to Canada for university and joining KPMG moving back to Bermuda after her CPA exams, to join PWC Bermuda the pivotal career advice she was giv...

On this podcast episode, we’re joined by Cullen Piske, President and, Michael Pitre, COO at Gray Surety. Cullen shares how ‘love’ led him to joining the Gray Insurance Company and moving around their portfolio companies before 'finding' surety.   Michael discusses his logistics and communications role in the US Marines, doing a Masters Business Degree at night, before joining Gray Surety in 2...

On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, we welcome Allison Keavey Luther, Deputy Chief of Human Resources at Boston-based Plymouth Rock Assurance Allison talks about her career journey from TV producer at CNBC to catching the start-up bug, working as General Manager for early-stage businesses. From there she rode a massive wave of growth at Wayfair, where she was ‘pulled’ in to HR. She jo...

On the podcast this week, we welcome Nick Campbell, Global Head of Credit & CEO Bermuda at SiriusPoint.  Nick talks to Nick Hoadley about:  being Bermudian but starting his career in the UK returning to Bermuda to be told he was the ‘wrong’ kind of actuary and wouldn’t get a job on island   his journey to becoming Global Head of Credit and Bermuda CEO of SiriusPoint the mix...

On the podcast this week, we welcome Andrew Couper, Chief Actuary at Conduit Re. Andrew talks to Nick Hoadley about:  qualifying as an actuary in 1995 and working in the London Market joining Conduit Re in November 2021 and his experience of working in Bermuda and London Conduit Re’s growth from launching in 2020 to writing $2.6bn of premium by Q2 2024 the characteristics and culture that mak...

On the podcast this week, we welcome Laura Pepper, Head of Claims at RenaissanceRe Laura talks to Nick Hoadley about:  her career journey from law graduate in to insurance and joining RenaissanceRe 10 years ago moving to Bermuda in 2019 for a one-year secondment and what’s kept her on island business growth and acquiring Validus Re in 2023 the characteristics that make RenaissanceRe a great p...

On the podcast this week, we welcome Andrew Thornton, Head of Advisory at Grant Thornton Bermuda. Andrew shares: an overview of his career journey from trainee accountant with Ernst & Young to joining Grant Thornton 20 years ago moving to Bermuda 2 years ago to run the advisory side of the business the outcomes of acquiring and merging with local firm, Arthur Morris having the ambition to grow...

On the podcast this week, we continue our Bermuda series by interviewing Jesse DeCouto and Tonia Morgan at Canopius Re. Chief Underwriting Officer, Jesse and Chief Financial Officer, Tonia talk about: their respective career journeys to joining Canopius Re where the business is now and plans for the future the culture and characteristics that make it a great place to work   their passion for...

On the podcast this week, we’re delighted to launch our new Bermuda Series by interviewing Katie Partington-Howarth, Chief Capital Officer at Ariel Re Katie talks to Nick Hoadley about: Her career background and joining Ariel Re in 2005 The culture and characteristics that make it a great place to work   How she engages in wider aspects of Bermuda life The opportunities Ariel Re provide for h...

This week, we are joined by Tara Foley who shares with us her journey to becoming the CEO of AXA, UK & Ireland and her passion for making a difference. The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by  Insurance Search . An international Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses in the UK, Bermuda and across the United States. Or follow u...

On this episode we interview Jose Luis (Pepe) Velasquez and find out how he has used his experience working at blue chip companies like Heineken to drive a high-performance culture at Mapfre USA. Connect with Pepe on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-luis-velasquez-906560/on LinkedIn or find out more about Mapfre USA https://www.linkedin.com/company/mapfre/ The Insurance Coffee House Podcas...

Zimbabwe born and South Africa educated, Warrick Beaver started his working life as an HR professional in the fashion retail industry. “If you're talking about journeys to insurance, fashion and retail is probably as far away as you can imagine. I was taught that you were a retailer first and an HR professional second”, says Warrick. “The lesson learned was, 'Understand where the value creation ha...

“Many people you'll work with and meet in business will be happy to accept information and explanations in the way it's being presented to them. Some people you work with will have a real appetite to go one level deeper because they'll want to know the drivers of the things they are seeing. They'll want to have a proper understanding about how that part of the business or that part of the market o...

“DE&I is one of the biggest challenges for the industry. For a lot of our clients in the US, it's one of their biggest priorities”, says Nick "Before we engage with a client, we really want to make sure they're set up for diverse candidates. It's so important for us as an insurance executive search firm, that if we move someone who's very successful into a new environment, that they're going t...

“The strength of our culture was something we used in the presentations to analysts and investors”, says Daniel. “We did some work around our employee value proposition and we asked our colleagues, ‘Why do you work at Hamilton?’ The common theme was collaboration and that's how we came up with the phrase ‘In good company’. As part of the IPO, we used it as our overall company tagline to say, ‘You'...

“In our experience, a reinsurance deal was being profiled in a physical binder full of paper. I thought, ‘How good would it be if we could take risk or bundles of risk and make a profile for it’", says Ben. "Think of all the information that you could attach to that profile. That was a very early concept. For a long time we debated, how this would work in the reinsurance world where we've got all...

“When you hire for specific experience, then you're always going to have to hire for somebody within the industry”, says Nicola. “When you break it down to what are the specific jobs to be done, what are the skills that are required to do those jobs, often those skills are industry agnostic. There are clearly some examples where that's not the case, but there are many examples where it is the case...

“We talk a lot at Howden around not just coming to work, but coming to build a business. It really allows people to kind of have that sense of ownership, that sense of purpose and really allows people to feel like they're part of what they're building”, says Charlotte. “They understand it and can take a lot of pride. It’s a really different mindset, that feeling of ownership, working as part of ou...

“It's a fantastic opportunity to build something for yourself but within an established business. It’s very much engaging with customers and driving dialogue around their search requirements”, says Martin But it’s also supported by a world class centre of excellence for delivery, so they can really focus on driving those relationships, identifying opportunities and doing a comprehensive handover t...

“We wanted to make sure that there were slates, they were diverse and had all the groups represented. It isn't a case of trying to stop someone from getting something they deserve. What you're trying to do is make sure these other groups get the opportunities they deserve", says Don. "I'm not a believer that we favor one group or another. I'm just a believer that everyone should have an opportunit...

“Given the potential of AI, we should all be focused on ensuring it's part of our strategic roadmap. It is an excellent tool that is going to allow us to rethink, reimagine how we deliver products, services and experiences to our client base”, says Prashant. “Is it machine learning? Is it deep learning? Is it unstructured data? Is it predictive models? What is it that you really want to achieve? W...

“Flexibility has been key. We've worked really hard to figure out, how do we meet the commitments to our customers, but also empower our employees to have the work experiences that they're looking for and that are a good fit for their families”, says Angie, as she discusses how Safety National are breaking down the barriers to inclusivity.   “We offer four weeks of paid caregiver leave to our...

“The blend between work and life is really blurred. It's important for employees to step back and have a good sense of purpose, belonging and balance”, says Jennifer. “We're sharing our expertise and our innovation. It's our employees who are doing that. No matter what position somebody is in, every day they're making something possible, whether it’s external or internal clients they're supporting...

“There is this misconception that the only way to grow or advance is to move into leadership. Some people just don't want that or aren’t sure”, says Andrea. “We want to give people an experience who aren't sure if they want to. We'll find opportunities to allow them to try their hand in things like the mentorship program, where they have an unofficial way of helping to grow talent.” On the Insuran...

“A lot of businesses talk about it, but do they really analyse what they need to do to build it? We've spent a lot of time thinking about what high performance looks and feels like within the context of a turnaround”, says Karen. “When I joined the business, I prioritized improving the culture, establishing values that really mean something, as well as working with Scott Egan (CEO) to ensure we've...