2015 Bermuda:Re/insurance+ILS 27


What has been the biggest challenge you have encountered?


The move to underwriting threw up several challenges. I felt that everyone was speaking a different language. It was a challenge to quickly learn all the reinsurance terminology and acronyms. My first underwriting position was on a specialty lines team, which allowed me to hedge my financial background while learning underwriting skills.


If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been?


I would have become a surgeon—while it is a stressful job, which involves a lengthy journey to the operating room, there is an attraction to being able to improve someone’s quality of life. ■


Carmen Gracey


Job: Assistant vice president, global underwriting Company: AXIS Re Career path 2012—Assistant vice president, global underwriting, AXIS Re


Carmen Gracey is an AVP, underwriter at AXIS Specialty where she is responsible for modelling and pricing UK, international, and US property programmes. She joined AXIS in 2012 from Platinum Underwriters in Bermuda where she was most recently AVP, underwriting international and specialty lines. She previously held senior accounting roles at Platinum, Ace Tempest Re and KPMG Bermuda.


Gracey received a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University


and is Certified Public Accountant (CPA). She has also completed the Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) and Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designations.


Why did you choose to work in this industry initially?


After university, I joined KPMG in Bermuda where I was initially exposed to the reinsurance industry. The attractiveness and variety of opportunities available within the industry, both on-Island and overseas, led me to pursue a career within reinsurance. I started my reinsurance career as an accountant before moving to underwriting.


What has been the highlight of your career so far?


Being fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to move from the “back office”, as an accountant, to the “front office” as an underwriter has been the highlight of my career so far. I wanted to enhance my understanding of the industry and felt I needed the balance between analysing the numbers post deal to seeing reinsurance transactions from start to finish. Developing relationships within the industry is also a rewarding component of my position. Having a company that facilitated the move and believed I could make the transition was both empowering and rewarding.


“I wanted to enhance my understanding of the industry and felt I needed the balance between analysing the numbers post deal to seeing reinsurance transactions from start to finish.”


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