Ep170 Simon Wilson, President Markel International: The market will dictate

One of the only real qualifications for my job is to be good at
getting on with all sorts of people – I really couldn’t do it if
I was too cranky or too shy. In contrast some of the people I
talk to aren’t natural communicators but as their careers have
progressed and they had to take on more public-facing duties
within their organisations, they have been forced to learn that
particular skill. Happily today’s guest is an insurance
professional who is a natural born communicator. Because of this
I think this Episode contains way more content per minute than
the average. Simon Wilson is President of Markel International
and is responsible for a business that operates in 13 countries
and counting on three continents. It’s also incredibly diverse,
spanning micro retail all the way to the biggest ticket London
Market wholesale business placed at Lloyd’s. Simon’s comfortable
talking on an extremely broad range of topics – from
specialty  classes and the effects of the hard reinsurance
market and the discipline of writing net lines in dislocated
markets, to casualty reserving and comparative strategies for
global business building and the development of highly
specialised industry vertical niches. We even dissect ESG and the
opportunities that vast swathes of green investment are throwing
up for the industry. It’s a breathless encounter that rattles
through an enormous amount at a very fast pace. Simon’s clearly
enjoying his role and his intelligence, insights, passion and
excellent humour shine through every minute of this episode.
Listen on, I think you’ll be impressed and you’ll learn an awful
lot. LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:
https://www.advantagego.com/