Rising stars
career; 2) low competition in the field; and 3) just take a couple of exams and you’re done—no master’s or PhD required. I found out very quickly how challenging the exams would be.
Do you think the industry is attractive to young professionals? No, many people starting out in the industry are friends or family of industry executives—this is particularly true in reinsurance. When I speak with high school and college students, they still have the impression that every position in this industry is a life insurance door- to-door sales job. There is a lot that the industry can do as a whole to draw in
Name: Sean Ramlal
Company: QBE Re Job:
Assistant vice president, lead treaty underwriter
Timeline: September 2014: AVP, lead treaty underwriter, QBE Re
July 2014: President, Reinsurance Under 40
October 2009: AVP, pricing actuary, Allied World Re
June 2006: Actuarial analyst, CNA Insurance
May 2005: Reinsurance claims/ actuarial, Platinum Re
Describe your career so far and current role. I started what turned into a yearlong internship at Platinum Re in their reinsurance claims department. During that time I passed my first actuarial exam and asked if I could transfer into their actuarial department. In June 2006, I started an actuarial analyst position with CNA in Chicago. I moved back to NY when I accepted an actuarial role with Allied World Re in October 2009. During this time, I joined the board of the Reinsurance Under 40s group as their education chair for two years before becoming president in July 2014. At the end of September 2014, I left AWRe and joined the
reinsurance underwriting team at QBE Re. I am currently working on general casualty and professional lines.
Why did you choose the re/insurance industry? I went to St. John’s (The College of Insurance), majored in actuarial science, and I’ve been in the industry since I had my first real internship. I chose my major based on a number of factors: 1) highly respected
40 | INTELLIGENT INSURER | May 2015
young people from the general public, even at a very early age. It is encouraging that risk management and actuarial science programmes continue to grow in size. When I graduated from St. John’s, I was one of six in the actuarial class, now, it’s several multiples of that.
Do you think the re/insurance industry offers good opportunities and career development to young professionals? Many re/insurance companies used to offer training and rotation programmes, but this is not as common as it once was. Budgets have been slashed, everyone is doing more with less, and as a result, new hire classes have shrunk significantly. The sweet spot now for a new hire is someone with at least two years’ experience. This is a double-edged sword for most companies since they want to
offer opportunities and develop careers for young people but do not want to devote the resources to train someone just to have them leave after two years. The shrinking of these training programmes has resulted in an industry age gap between senior leadership and those who will take their place as they retire. One of the things I try to do as president of the Reinsurance Under 40s group is talk to executives about how they are addressing this gap and hope they take action to secure the future of this industry by making sure young people have the experience, training, and knowledge necessary to become industry leaders.
What are your aspirations for the future? I’d like to start my own reinsurer one day. I am on the right path, taking in everything I can, and trying to expand my network and meet as many people as possible. I firmly believe that the connections I make early in my career are going to be the industry leaders of the future. This is one of the reasons I am so involved in the Reinsurance Under 40s community. Ten years from now, the members of the group will be industry trendsetters and thought leaders. Relationships formed in advance of that will make future partnerships a lot more seamless.
If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been? I’ve always been a fan of detective shows and financial markets. The combination of the two made me ambitious enough to apply to the FBI and other agencies for jobs investigating white collar crimes. I never heard back, but it wouldn’t have mattered because I don’t think I could pass the FBI fitness test anyway.
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