Vice President (VP) Commercial Lines

In this newly created role reporting to the Chief Underwriting Officer, the Vice President, Commercial Lines is responsible for providing leadership and for setting the direction of Commercial Underwriting including establishing the company’s underwriting philosophy, policies and procedures resulting in profitable growth and results with continuous improvement in a customer centric culture.

The leader is responsible for transforming Gore Mutual’s ability to support growth across Canada with national and regional brokers in product, pricing, risk management, reinsurance and underwriting operations.

The VP will lead a team of approximately 80 insurance professionals located in Ontario and British Columbia.

Specific accountabilities:

Provide Strategic Leadership for Commercial Insurance Lines of Business

• Provide leadership and direction to ensure Gore Mutual is a leading provider of CL P&C lines of business in Canada
• Develop strategies for the development, structure, pricing, risk eligibility and risk assessment of insurance products
• Provide insights and propose recommendations to C-suite on issues, risks, decisions to guide strategic direction and decision making
• Establish the annual business plan and budget for the Commercial Lines business
• Develop policies, guidelines and procedures that contribute to the effective, efficient, and profitable underwriting, processing, and issuance of insurance policies for all Commercial Lines business written by the company
• Continuously evaluate business initiatives against the strategy and the external environment to ensure alignment and initiate adjustments as required

Establish Risk Management Processes for Strategic Initiatives that Impact the Business Model, Technology & Processes 

• Establish, implement, and maintain appropriate authorization controls and procedures to facilitate appropriate risk acceptance and risk management
• Monitor adherence to underwriting policies, guidelines and procedures through periodic file reviews and other appropriate investigative techniques
• Establish and review appropriate management information to identify, evaluate and correct any deterioration or adverse trend in underwriting experience

Orchestrate, Plan, and Own Growth Plans & Outcomes Against Defined Strategy 

• Design, develop and maintain insurance products and wordings that are appropriate for the company’s strategy, business plans and marketing requirements
• Oversight of pricing, solutions for all lines of business
• Provide inputs and guidance in developing strategy to support business growth and scale up plans that are enabled by efficient processes and sustainable business operations
• Assist in the assessment, development and structuring of appropriate reinsurance treaties and facilities
• Steering the business growth and transformation initiatives to stay on course in the long-term leading the organization to pivot to expand
• Deliver competitive advantage by providing expertise in business process design and continuous improvement, by alignment of initiatives to business strategy and prioritization that help achieve breakthrough performance.
• Build internal capability within the organization to be able to gauge, recognize and seize opportunities to optimize, improvise and capitalize
• Contribute to the development of strategic initiatives and action plans to anticipate and support the needs of Gore’s growth targets for e.g. like M&A, geographic expansion etc.
• Optimize underwriting processes and procedures to drive efficiencies and appropriate service solutions

Develop and Build Relationships with Brokers to Support Strategic Partnerships

• Work with the distribution team on business development initiatives
• Represent Gore Mutual at industry forums, collaborating to explore emerging trends, technology, products, and approaches as input to innovative design thinking for Product delivery and pricing solutions
• Cultivate, foster, and grow long-term trusted partnerships within the broker groups to achieve the desired growth outcomes.
• Stay abreast with rapid-fire developments in technology – along with shifting markets, customer demands, competitive environments and trends in the P&C landscape and bring back intelligence to build programs suiting the needs for continuous transformation

Coach & Mentor Commercial Lines Directors & Leaders to bring Strategy to Life 

• Inspire, develop and coach a high-performance team to continually come up with novel approaches to the most complex problems
• Develop and retain top talent who can create the next line of leadership and excel within a diverse and inclusive environment.
• Ensure current and relevant training and development programs are implemented for all underwriting personnel
• Engage and connect team to the organization’s purpose, values, and leadership model behaviors
• Provide daily strategic counsel, guidance, and leadership and act as role model to team, ensuring the team's success by managing work quality and productivity levels
• Ensure constant professional development of team, consistently holding self and team accountable for behavior and performance
• Commit to continuous learning and improvement of leadership skills for team to be able to set and pursue stretch goals

Experience & Skills

• Approximately 10-15 years’ relevant property and casualty insurance experience with a minimum of 10 years’ in a senior underwriting role focused on commercial lines
• A minimum of 8 years’ experience managing and leading a team
• An impeccable reputation with brokers, known for commercial acumen, technical prowess and a natural ability to win trusted relationships
• A comprehensive awareness of the business and regulatory environment
• Strong understanding of general insurance strategies and how competitors, market cycle, technology and legislative trends will create opportunities and threats for the organization
• A hands-on management style with a strong result orientation and bottom-line focus
• Proven ability to lead, motivate and gain commitment from direct reports and staff
• High degree of personal and professional integrity
• Experience designing and steering large scale change and transformation strategies in the insurance industry while managing and engaging diverse stakeholder and leadership groups
• Strong familiarity with insurance operations in a highly technical environment with high EQ and strong interpersonal skills
• Demonstrated presentation skills and ability to develop clear narratives out of complex ideas
• Strong communicator, both verbal and written, with executive presence and the ability to influence across functions and at all levels of an organization
• Problem solver, analytical, flexible, passionate, and curious

Education 

• Undergraduate degree, Masters desirable
• CIP/FCIP designation