“I would have been quite happy staying in the ‘ivory tower’ reading books and writing papers, but I decided to challenge myself and I have no regrets.”
Name: Victoria Guest Company: Hamilton Insurance Group Job:
General counsel
Timeline: 2012—General counsel, Hamilton Insurance Group
2009—General counsel, Ariel Holdings 2006—General counsel, RAM Reinsurance Company
Victoria Guest is a member of the founding management team and has nine years’ experience in the reinsurance industry, as well as 22 years of corporate law experience. From July 2009 until July 2012, Guest was general counsel and
corporate secretary of Ariel Holdings. From January 2006 to June 2009, Guest was general counsel and corporate secretary of RAM Holdings. Prior to joining RAM, she practised for 12 years with law firms in New York. She received her
AB.in Humanities from Stanford University and her JD from Harvard Law School.
Why did you choose to work in this industry initially? I was a senior associate at a New York law firm working around the clock on venture capital, M&A and myriad other transactions when a headhunter called and asked if I would be interested in becoming the general counsel of a reinsurance company located in Bermuda. The word “reinsurance” wasn’t even in my vocabulary at the time, but it was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse.
What has been the highlight of your career so far? Helping to build Hamilton Re, and now Hamilton Insurance Group, from the ground up.
What has been the biggest challenge you have
encountered? I have endured a number of educational “trials by fire”, but perhaps the most challenging was navigating the 2008–2009 financial crisis as the general counsel of a financial guaranty
www.intelligentinsurer.com
reinsurer that went from a AAA rating to no rating and from an IPO to delisting.
If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been? I would have been quite happy staying in the “ivory tower” reading books and writing papers, but I decided to challenge myself and I have no regrets.
2015 | INTELLIGENT INSURER | 49
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