Bermuda Re/Insurance Group Travel To NY

In early September a group of 18 Bermudian re/insurance rising stars travelled to New York City as part of the Bermuda Under 40s Re/Insurance Group, an association of young professionals in the Bermuda market. They spent a week visiting and learning about the U.S. re/insurance market.

The trip was organised by Candace Roach of Validus Holdings, Ltd., tour leader for the Bermuda Under 40s Re/Insurance Group. Among the group were representatives of the insurance and reinsurance sectors, including brokers, underwriters and operational analysts.

“The purpose of the trip is to give young professionals who work in the Bermuda re/insurance market the opportunity to compare and contrast that market with another, in this case the U.S.” said Ms. Roach. “It gives them a greater understanding of how things are done elsewhere, to see what they are up against and to have a better idea, in some instances, of how their clients and markets function.

A not for profit group, The Bermuda Under 40s Re/Insurance Group has several hundred registered members in the insurance and reinsurance sectors and related industries. The group’s aim is to promote and foster interest and knowledge in all areas of insurance and reinsurance by providing a forum for members for topical comment, educational and networking opportunities.

The U.S. visit saw an “all access pass” to the market. The Bermuda “tourists” had a busy week. Monday, September 8th, began with a tour and presentation at Bloomberg, followed by presentations hosted by Marsh, Guy Carpenter and AXIS. The evening finished off with a networking event hosted by the U.S. Under 40s Group, which attracted over 50 participants from the U.S. re/insurance market.

On Tuesday morning, the tour continued with an action packed schedule. The first stop for the day was a tour of the New York Stock Exchange to see the iconic opening bell. From there the group took in a crop reinsurance presentation hosted by Allied World and a property presentation hosted Aon Risk Solutions.

The evening saw the Bermuda Under 40s group hosted by the Ernst & Young New York office which included a wonderful presentation on the future of underwriting and an evening of baseball in their corporate suite at Yankee stadium.

On Wednesday, Markel hosted breakfast along with a fascinating presentation on marine underwriting. In the afternoon, the group visited Arch Insurance Group offices, which overlooked the Statue of Liberty, for a presentation from their operations and compliance divisions. That evening, the group participated in the RAA Hot Topics for Underwriters Panel. T

hursday began at Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones with a tour of the floor followed by a discussion of the array of products offered in the re/insurance space. From there the group continued on with presentations from the New York Department of Financial Services, Endurance and Edwards Wildman. The evening closed with a visit to the Broadway hit musical “Book of Mormon” sponsored by Ariel Re.

In the final stretch of a marathon week, the group finished up with a presentation on nanotechnology presented by Chubb and a presentation by Munich Re on the ILS space.

The travellers flew back to Bermuda to return to work, invigorated by the experience and refreshed by the intensity of a hard-working week.

“All in all,” Ms. Roach said, “it was a very successful trip and I would like to thank all those who took part, both by attending and hosting, for making it such a positive experience.” Ms. Roach took over the tour leader duties after being entrusted the role from the previous leader, Mrs. Julia Mather of Miller Bermuda. “I was lucky enough to go on tour in 2008 to the UK when Julia was tour leader. She has done such a fantastic job over the past four tours and has made it what it is today.”

Victoria Cunningham, Chairwoman of the Bermuda Under 40s, agrees. “Julia has been instrumental in building such a highly regarded, educational tour and we would like to thank her for all of her hard work. This was my first Under 40s Tour and from what I have heard it was the best yet.

“Candace did a fantastic job of seeking out experienced industry speakers who presented relevant topics to the younger members of the Bermuda re/insurance industry. I was also amazed at how she managed to get 18 people around Manhattan without losing anyone! I have been on the Bermuda Under 40s Committee for 4 years now and this is one of the prominent events on our calendar along with our Panel Discussions and less formal networking events.

“This is our 10th anniversary year and we are proud of the impact we have made on the Bermuda re/insurance market and the reputation we have gained in our support of young industry professionals.

Travelling to New York with Ms. Roach were Julia Mather, Head of Miller Bermuda, Miller; Estina Francis, Manager, Deloitte; Jessica Kehrli, Assistant Underwriter, Chubb Atlantic Insurance Limited; Britten West, Underwriter, Hannover; Kiara Somner, Operations Analyst, Ariel Re; Stefan Smith, Risk Analyst, Ariel Re; Stephanie Outerbridge, Assistant Underwriter, ACE; Rachel Ball, Associate Broker, JLT Park; Jonathan Ball, Assistant Underwriter, Catlin; Ladrea Simmons, Associate Broker, Marsh; Amanda Fubler, Assistant Underwriter, Endurance; Zaira Jones, AVP Property Underwriter, Tokio Millennium Re; Duncan Frith, Assistant Underwriter, OCIL, Jeff Clair, Pricing Actuary/Property Underwriting, Arch Re; Victoria Cunningham, AVP Casualty Underwriter-, Tokio Millennium Re; Abigail Soares, Underwriter, Axis; Tiffany Swainson, AVP Finance & Operations and Katrina Dias, Assistant Manager, Claims, RenRe.

The next tour will take place in London in the fall of 2016. Persons interested in participating in the tour should contact Candace Roach at bdaunder40s@evolution.bm.

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