Q: Where did you start your insurance career?

A: Some may say I was born into the industry; others have said for years I have been an apprentice to John Fitzpatrick, my Dad. I have always had no doubt that this industry would ultimately become my life.

Officially, on paper, my career started straight out of school, on reception and doing some paper filing and making a mean cup of tea or coffee for visitors – with no clear career path or plan. This was at my Dad’s second specialist underwriting manager which he had started – H&L Underwriting Managers. At H&L, I was lucky enough to be exposed at a start-up phase to all aspects of the business, as we were a small team. Everything from underwriting, to claims to accounts and more, became my domain which gave me an overview of the broader aspects of running the company.

Unofficially, my career started when I was much younger where I did my school homework on the boardroom of corporate insurance companies or when I got roped into helping in the holidays putting together hard copies of policy wordings for pocket money when a new underwriting manager was being launched. Being exposed to the industry and the people in it showed me how this industry has propelled people forward when they’ve followed their individual paths and not only have they changed the lives of policyholders across the scope of the industry, their own lives, and their lives of their families have been affected positively by having found their purpose within the landscape of the insurance industry.