Interview

Meet the Team: Katie Flynn, Underwriter, Financial Institutions

Meet the Team: Katie Flynn, Underwriter, Financial Institutions

How did you get into the insurance industry? While studying philosophy at university, I attended a talk on risk management that sparked my interest in how organisations identify, assess and manage risk – and its wider social and economic impact. This led me to explore insurance as a career, and after graduating I joined the…

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Meet the Team: Gregor Lockhart-Smith, Underwriter, Specialty Reinsurance

Meet the Team: Gregor Lockhart-Smith, Underwriter, Specialty Reinsurance

How did you get into the insurance industry? I joined IQUW in 2022 after graduating from university with a master’s degree in Materials Engineering. When I first went to university, I was set on becoming an engineer and wanted to work in either the aviation or sports technology industries. While I was studying, I realised…

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Meet the Team: Alex Mearing, Senior Underwriter, Credit & Political Risk

Meet the Team: Alex Mearing, Senior Underwriter, Credit & Political Risk

Tell us how you joined the insurance industry? While I was at university studying Anthropology, I interned at Talbot in aerospace reinsurance. I had previously met people who were working in insurance and was aware of the sector. I found my internship interesting and after graduating, I was taken on as an Assistant Underwriter in…

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Meet the Team: Imogen Southcott, Underwriter, Cargo & Specie

Meet the Team: Imogen Southcott, Underwriter, Cargo & Specie

What brought you into the insurance industry? I had a work experience placement at an insurance company when I was in secondary school. At the time, I was trying to choose my educational path between going to university and becoming a PE teacher or following in my mum’s footsteps and working in the City. I…

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Meet the Team: Arpit Patel, Senior Underwriter, Delegated Authority Property

Meet the Team: Arpit Patel, Senior Underwriter, Delegated Authority Property

How did you join the insurance industry? After graduating from university, I worked as an analyst for the Bank of England whilst I decided what I wanted to do. We were coming out of a recession and a period of volatility, and insurance appealed to me as a stable industry which a friend suggested would…

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Meet the Team: Tyrah Ackaah, Claims Handler

Meet the Team: Tyrah Ackaah, Claims Handler

Tell us how you got into insurance I was studying History and Law at university and was introduced to the insurance industry when I took a module in insurance law in the final year of my undergraduate degree which sparked my initial interest. I knew I didn’t want to become a lawyer. Through a career…

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Meet the Team: George Connell, Lead Underwriter, Structured Solutions

Meet the Team: George Connell, Lead Underwriter, Structured Solutions

Tell us about how you got into insurance.  After leaving Bristol University with a chemistry degree, insurance wasn't on my radar. However, after speaking to one of my brother’s friends within the industry, I was attracted to the concept of the marketplace, the personalities involved, and the social aspect. That, combined with the industry’s entrepreneurial, analytical, and intelligence-led aspects – which I felt suited my skill set – led to me exploring insurance…

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Meet the team: Teniola Tijani, Underwriter, Energy

Meet the team: Teniola Tijani, Underwriter, Energy

Tell us how you arrived in the insurance industry and about your career before IQUW. I was in touch with a charity called The Brokerage Citylink, which helps students from low socio-economic areas into City roles. Through them, I got a summer placement with Ark Syndicate on the Energy underwriting team before my economics degree…

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Meet the team: Ali Welchman, Lead Underwriter, Ports & Terminals

Meet the team: Ali Welchman, Lead Underwriter, Ports & Terminals

Tell us about how you got into insurance and your career prior to joining IQUW.  After realising that my initial career hope of becoming a dentist was not going to work out, I decided to enrol in a Chemistry degree at Cardiff University. I wasn’t really wedded to the pharmaceutical R&D route, so while I…

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Meet the team: Kate Hughes, Underwriter, Political Violence & Terrorism, War

Meet the team: Kate Hughes, Underwriter, Political Violence & Terrorism, War

Tell us how you joined the insurance industry I didn’t know anything about the insurance industry and had applied to a variety of different graduate schemes in different financial sectors. I ended up joining the Marsh graduate scheme in 2021. I studied Economics and Politics at university, so when I was put into the Political…

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