Rising stars
“A young technology professional may be able to participate in an ongoing technical refit in the re/insurance industry, and that could be an exciting opportunity.”
Name:
Jay Cahill
Company: RenaissanceRe Job:
Vice president Timeline: 2009: Vice president, RenaissanceRe
2008: Assistant vice president, RenaissanceRe Ventures
2007: Research analyst, Barclays Global Investors (acquired by BlackRock)
2004: Private equity associate, TA Associates
2002: Investment banking analyst, UBS Investment Bank
Why did you choose the re/insurance industry? I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina had an impact on some of my friends and family. When I left graduate school in 2008, I learned about reinsurance and I was keen to contribute to an industry that is very relevant to rebuilding communities after
catastrophes—RenaissanceRe
being a leader in this area especially. Do you think the industry is
attractive to young
professionals? I think more could be done to advertise some of the novel opportunities in the industry. Over the last 15 years, I have seen many of my peers drawn to the technology or investment industries. I was too, initially, as a computer programmer, and then as an investment banking analyst. The re/insurance industry still has significant unrealised gains
available to it, in my opinion, as it further integrates information technology, perhaps more so than banking which is already further along its technology adoption curve.
16 | INTELLIGENT INSURER | May 2015 So a young technology professional may be able to participate in
an ongoing technical refit in the re/insurance industry, and that could be an exciting opportunity. Also, the re/insurance market proposes solutions for novel risks that the capital markets cannot, as yet, especially in some of the more specialised lines of business that I am involved with, like casualty clash or terrorism coverages. I think these sort of novel risk solutions could be attractive to young investment professionals.
Do you think the re/insurance industry offers good opportunities and career development to young professionals? Yes, I think it does. The London Market especially does a good job of bringing together Under 30/35 groups with a focus on networking and career development. Compared with those other popular industries I mentioned in my previous answer, the re/ insurance industry has tended, historically, to delegate authority to individuals later in their careers. However, as this Rising Stars Under 35 feature itself suggests, I believe that is changing a bit. Offering challenging positions to young professionals is beneficial for the industry overall—it establishes a bit of balance between youth and tenure, which keeps knowledge transfer flowing in both directions.
What are your aspirations for the future? I would like to spend more time thinking about how to grow the market for insurance, and therefore reinsurance. I hope to find ways to make existing insurance products more attractive to the end customer and help develop innovative new products. If priced correctly, these developments could motivate a larger percentage of global GDP to be spent on insurance, which should be good for all stakeholders.
If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been? I have
always enjoyed working with small businesses and
entrepreneurs. I would have been a service provider to entrepreneurs of one sort or another; perhaps a venture capitalist.
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