Living in a land of opportunity
Relocating to pursue a career in Scotland has been a breath of fresh air for these three finance professionals...
Martin Potter
After working as an actuary in the Caribbean, what made Martin Potter want to move to Scotland to progress his career with Hymans Robertson? TalentScotland talked to Martin about his new life and job in Scotland.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND I’m originally from England but was brought up in the Netherlands and Nigeria as my parents were language teachers and travelled in their jobs. It was when I was reading maths and theoretical physics at Cambridge that I decided on a career as an actuary. I liked the idea of continuing to use a high level of mathematics – and the fact the industry qualification was particularly challenging. My first job in 1994 was with an actuarial consultancy in England and as a trainee had to do fairly menial jobs at first, like data transfer – in those days we had one computer between the four of us.
HOW DID YOU GET TO WORK IN THE CARIBBEAN? After five years at the company, a vacancy came up at its offshore office in Trinidad and Tobago to advise on pension plans throughout the Caribbean. I was just married, so I went out there with my wife and our first two children were born out there. I was thrown in at the deep end but got much more consulting experience than I might have expected, at a comparable level or age, back in the UK. It was a good broad experience and I stayed for three and a half years.
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO SCOTLAND? Working in the Caribbean made me think about what I wanted from my career and life: working for an independent, medium-sized company but with a good quality of life.
10
When I returned to the UK the company was soon taken over by a US firm so I decided to look around. My parents used to live in Largs on the west coast so I knew Scotland and the fact that it’s a less busy and expensive place to live compared to the south east of England. I was attracted to Hymans Robertson as it was the right size and
operates as a partnership – it had that spirit of independence and definitely seemed to be punching above its weight.
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE WITH HYMANS ROBERTSON? I joined seven years ago and now I’m a Consultant Actuary specialising in pensions, advising trustees and companies on their schemes, specifically the measurement and management of risk. I’m also a partner in the firm and I head up our Edinburgh office that opened two years ago.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT LIVING IN SCOTLAND? We live on the edge of the Trossachs and Loch Lomond National Park near Stirling but have easy access to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. We’ve made lots of good friends, the children have settled into
school really well and we enjoy the outdoor life. For me, it’s a great place to live and bring up a family.
www.talentscotland.com/financialservices
WORK
ENGLAND
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20