When I moved to Toronto eleven years ago, I set up information interviews with about 30 people in finance and insurance. For reasons that remain a mystery to me, the insurance people seemed the happiest. I decided to pursue a career in insurance. Eleven years later, I remain very pleased with my choice.I spent my first decade in the industry working as a commercial insurance broker and realized I love sales. I prided myself on helping potential clients identify the issues they had with their insurance program and finding creative solutions to fix them. While I personally oversaw and drove the sales process, preparing these solutions was a team effort requiring strong interpersonal skills. I worked with many internal and external teams - claims advocates, underwriters, adjusters, marketing, etc. I took the best ideas these teams provided and prepared proposals summarizing them to my clients (in plain English - not insurance speak).Recently, I transitioned from commercial broking to risk management. I'm no longer selling insurance. With that in mind, I still consider myself a salesperson (and always will) – nearly all of my job is communicating with other people. The writing, speaking, and presentation skills I learned in my previous life have been invaluable. As a Director in Brookfield Renewable, I assist our team by focusing on four main strategic initiatives: • develop and improve processes that underpin the insurance program• act as a friendly, accessible, and responsive resource that other teams (procurement, development, finance, etc) can access whenever they have any insurance-related questions• prepare and deliver training to our portfolio companies to help them take on more day to day management of their insurance needs• insurance due diligence on acquisitionsI also do many of the “day to day” tasks involved in maintaining an insurance program. In particular, I lead the North American claims function.When I’m not working, I’m traveling. I have lived in many cities worldwide – Vancouver, Ottawa, Paris, Brussels, and Puttalam (in Sri Lanka) to name a few. My home province of Newfoundland still has a special place in my heart.
Listed skills include Negotiation, Sales, New Business Development, Management, and 17 others.
