A bright future

This year’s Rising Stars reflect the growing diversity of Bermuda’s risk transfer industry—and show that the sector’s future is in good hands.

Bermuda’s success as one of the world’s leading risk transfer centres has many causes, including its location, its ability to adapt and innovate and its highly regarded regulator.

Another factor has been its capacity to attract and nurture talent. It’s been noted that Bermuda is one of the few places in the world where students asked about their career aspirations will declare they want to be an actuary or an underwriter—most of their peers in other parts of the world have little idea what those roles even are.

But the reality of having had re/insurance as the Island’s main economic driver means young Bermuda residents often grow up with an awareness of re/insurance that makes it an industry of choice—in much the same way their parents or grandparents would have been drawn to tourism.

As a result, Bermuda has become a wellspring for young re/insurance professionals, and this year’s group of Rising Stars is no different.

Six rising stars have been nominated by their managers and peers and they cover the wide range of professions that risk transfer demands. While Rising Stars almost by definition are young, the age range of this year’s group is impressive—it is after all possible to be still rising in your 40s.

“All display a passion for their work and a belief that their work has purpose.”

This year, we asked our nominees to answer our eight questions in their own words.

Why did you choose a career in re/insurance?

• What makes the re/insurance industry attractive to young professionals?
• What opportunities and challenges have you faced?
• Who inspired you or acted as a mentor in your career?
• What differences does your generation bring to the industry?
• Is the industry welcoming to younger people?
• What are your career goals?
• If you had chosen a different career, what would it have been?

While they work in different areas of the industry and have followed different career paths, our featured stars have some things in common.

All display a passion for their work and a belief that their work has purpose—that re/insurance is vital to people’s lives and helps to make the world go around.

They also believe that it is important for the industry to keep becoming more diverse, not only in terms of gender and ethnicity but perhaps unsurprisingly, in terms of age as well. They believe their experiences and skills have value and need to be heard.

Most important, at a time when the insurance industry is expressing concern about recruitment and retention, Bermuda has less to fear—with Rising Stars like these, the future is in good hands.

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