Women in reinsurance


PrOFILE Name:


Joan Lamm-Tennant


Company: Guy Carpenter & Company Job:


Global chief economist and risk strategist


Timeline: 2007—Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC


1997—Founding president of General Reinsurance Capital Consultants (GRCC)


In addition to her current responsibilities at Guy Carpenter, Joan Lamm-Tennant serves on MMC’s ERM Advisory Committee; and leads a joint industry microinsurance initiative. Lamm-Tennant is the recipient of the 2013 APIW Insurance Woman of the Year and the 2012 International Insurance Society Kenneth Black Award for service and commitment to the advancement of the global industry.


Prior to joining Guy Carpenter in 2007, she was the founding


president of General Reinsurance Capital Consultants (GRCC). When joining GenRe in 1997, Lamm-Tennant was an adviser to the chief investment officer and board on setting risk guidelines. She also supported GenRe New England Asset Management, a subsidiary of GenRe, in the design and delivery of risk and capital advisory services to insurers worldwide.


Prior to her executive positions in industry, Lamm-Tennant had


a successful academic career. She advanced from an assistant professor for finance and investments to the Thomas Labrecque professor at Villanova University.


“A career highlight has been building our microinsurance initiative


at Guy Carpenter,” she says. “It is a project in which several insurers work in collaboration to create a market providing risk services to the underserved. I’ve been given phenomenal support from Daniel Glaser, president and CEO of MMC and Alex Moczarski, the president and CEO of Guy Carpenter, as well as several leaders from Zurich Financial Services and XL Group.


“We recognise the double bottom line: that we can be profitable


and still have a positive social impact. The highlight has really been having support from these industry visionaries who are highly focused on delivering in the near term yet have a vision for what can be over the long term.


“At Guy Carpenter we are involving our clients and together we


are applying our collective global expertise to develop and deploy innovative products for the underserved and build new and sustainable markets. Addressing significant issues in our societies and economies cannot be accomplished alone—the highlight is being a contributor to our industry’s vision and help drive our plans for what can be.”


She says the biggest challenge of her career was transitioning from


her role after 20 years in academia, into an active position in the insurance industry.


“I entered the insurance industry initially on a sabbatical,” she


says. “One major reinsurer was interested in embedding some of the work I was doing in the management of their risk portfolio. At the end of the sabbatical, I elected to remain in the industry full-time. I wanted to live the experiment, and be an active participant; not a passive observer.


“Making the transition from academia to industry was a humbling


experience for a mature woman with a successful academic career behind her. While I knew the ‘science’ of our business, I had no reference for the ‘art’ of what we do. I also lacked the network and needed cultural assimilation. I was given some incredible mentors and they helped me succeed.”


Her current ambition is to open up a market serving the risk needs of the underserved and to be a small part of the emergence of the middle class.


“The world population is seven billion, of which four billion


people live in poverty on less than $10 a day,” she says. “Only 1.8 billion are considered ‘middle class’, which is living on $10 to $100 a day. Economists estimate that, with the right approaches, the underserved could find their way into the middle class, expanding to 3.2 billion by 2020 and 4.9 billion by 2030.


“Our goal is to use microinsurance to create a market for small-summed insurance that allows the underserved to progress through the economic pyramid and into the middle class as past generations have done.”


May 2014 | INTELLIgENT INsUrEr | 25


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