“So many of the highlights of my career are usually preceded by failure, and I have found that I learn and grow more from failure than success.”
Name:
Julia Henderson
Company: Brit Insurance Job:
Senior vice president, property treaty reinsurance
Timeline: 2013—Senior vice president, property treaty reinsurance, Brit Insurance 2010—Vice president, senior underwriter, PartnerRe
2010—Consultant, Nephila Capital 2004—Analyst, RenaissanceRe
Julia Henderson has over 10 years of experience in the insurance/ reinsurance sector, specialising in the property treaty market. She started in the industry working for RenaissanceReinsurance in the venture and property catastrophe units. Prior to joining Brit Henderson worked at Partner Reinsurance in Bermuda as vice president and senior underwriter, building and managing portfolios focused on property catastrophe reinsurance risks, including North American, ILS and world-wide assumed retrocession. She has also consulted for Nephila Capital and worked with insurance sector private equity investor Pine Brook Road Partners. Henderson helped start the new Brit Bermuda office in
November 2013 as senior vice president to build the Brit Bermuda property treaty portfolio focusing on US catastrophe, retrocession and industry loss warranties. In 2013, Henderson won the Young Industry Leader of the
Year award from the Bermuda Insurance Institute. She has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and holds the CPCU and ARe designations.
Why did you choose to work in this industry initially? I was interested in moving to Bermuda in 2003 to be closer to my now husband. I canvassed some of my fellow Babson College alumni who lived there, thinking my statistics focus at university might be relevant to reinsurance. I got in touch with Jay Nichols and I was lucky enough to be given a role in reinsurance by starting with him in his ventures team at RenaissanceRe.
www.intelligentinsurer.com
What has been the highlight of your career so far? So many of the highlights of my career are usually preceded by failure, and I have found that I learn and grow more from failure than success. Without failure, I know it means I’ve never really tried anything truly difficult or risky, as Teddy Roosevelt said “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” I am truly grateful for the career I have had, and look forward to future highlights. One thing is certain: I would not have the career highlights I’ve had without mentors supporting me including Jay Nichols, Jon Paradine, Brian Secrett and Jon Sullivan.
What has been the biggest challenge you have
encountered? My biggest challenge has been balancing my blunt, honest and open personality. My aim is always to be truly collaborative, although occasionally this is confused with aggression! My approach to management and different personalities is something I am always working to improve.
If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been? As strange as it sounds, I knew from a young age I wanted to work with numbers. Believe it or not, at 12 my dad would ask for my help (although I suspect he never really needed it) managing the finances of his business and filing taxes, etc. I have also been lucky to be in the position to try different things and take risks, including completely non-reinsurance related work, spanning from other finance work to entertainment. Given I have seen the other side and tried other things, I can speak from a fairly certain place that I am in exactly the profession I want to be in. In terms of career path, I know I am happiest when I am being
challenged, learning and being pushed out of my comfort zone. For my future, new challenges and growth are my focus. Opening an office, even for a very well established large Lloyd’s syndicate, in the current reinsurance market challenges me daily.
2015 | INTELLIGENT INSURER | 51
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