“When anyone asks me for a highlight, I would point out that for anything that we commit to in life, the destination is not what matters but the never-ending journey.”
Name:
Olivia Nigh
Company: JLT Re (North America) Job:
Vice president
Timeline: 2013—Vice president, JLT Re North America 2004—Vice president, Towers Perrin
Olivia M. Nigh began her career in reinsurance in 2004 with Towers Perrin and joined JLT Re in November, 2013 in connection with JLT Re’s purchase of the reinsurance brokerage business of Towers Watson. She has broad client account
servicing responsibilities, including programme
design, marketing, and contract documentation. Her current client responsibilities include five workers’ compensation state funds, five public entity pools and two regional companies with significant workers’ compensation and municipal portfolios. She is a key member of the workers’ compensation and public entity practice groups. Prior to JLT Re, Nigh worked at Tenaris as a project manager, specialising in liquid natural gas plants materials sourcing, and she began her career at Enron as a utility risk analyst. She received a BA in mathematics and Spanish from Colgate University and a MBA in investment management from Drexel University. She has achieved the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) designations.
Why did you choose to work in this industry initially? My first job out of college was at Enron. After the fallout there, I had taken a job in the oil and gas industry as that was prevalent in Houston. Once the economy started to recover from the aftermath of 9/11, I was networking for a new position that would serve as a career opportunity and not simply a job. I recall a specific conversation with Tricia Guinn, a close family friend and mentor, who told me that I could excel at various careers, but that she really thought I should consider being a reinsurance broker. She introduced me to the brokerage business at Towers Perrin (now JLT Re) at the time and the rest is history.
www.intelligentinsurer.com
What has been the highlight of your career so far? When anyone asks me for a highlight, I would point out that for anything that we commit to in life, the destination is not what matters but the never-ending journey. I enjoy the people I work with both within JLT Re and with clients and reinsurers. I love the ever-changing day-to-day aspects of my work as it leverages both my analytical skills as well as negotiating prowess.
What has been the biggest challenge you have
encountered? When I reached an account manager role, the reinsurance market was entering a hard part of the cycle. I did not have the luxury of delivering good news to clients so I learned very quickly how to negotiate terms and conditions in a hard market with reinsurers and present any bad news to clients. It was not a soft introduction to account management (pun intended).
If you had chosen a different profession/career path, what would it have been? I am always curious where I would be if I had continued to pursue the actuarial exams. I gave it serious consideration in college and then decided I wanted to try something different.
2015 | INTELLIGENT INSURER | 75
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