2017 Hot List Recipient

2020 Hot List Recipient

2021 CEO of the Year

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Scaling mountains in life and insurance

“Give me a hill,” Aoibheann Baskiran said, smiling, as she recounted adventures in Ireland, Wales and around Europe. She had recently returned from Northern Italy, she said, hiking in the Dolomites with her son. “It was early in the season – the switchover from ski season to walking season. On our second or third day, we were travelling upwards, and the path had been buried in snow,” Baskiran recalled. “So, we had to go a different route. We took a moment to adjust. Thankfully, we had the right gear with us, and we went slowly. That was definitely a challenging moment.” Baskiran is used to detours – in hiking as well as in her professional life. She began her career out of university in the field of chemical engineering. She worked in diverse environments ranging from a chicken processing factory to a large gas utility provider reopening pipes in

Northern Ireland, and even a paper company in the Arctic Circle in Sweden. “It was fun but a tad risky,” she said. Baskiran later moved to Accenture, working on transformation programs across various sectors, including health insurance, life insurance and general insurance. Her time at Accenture spanned nearly 13 years and exposed her to a “cross-functional and cross-sectional array of businesses.” But while her role as a consultant was enriching, it lacked the direct impact she sought. “Being a consultant, you’re always one step away from actually owning the result,” Baskiran explained. “I wanted [to own] the result of what I was doing.”

Today, as vice president of small business at Travelers, Baskiran works with cross-functional teams to bring products to market. Her role also involves overseeing traditional and online trading, as well as delegated authority schemes. “Travelers is a huge organization, and I’ve had the chance to work with people across various functions,” she said. “That’s been my experience both as an engineer and now at Travelers – if you’re open to opportunities, they’re there for the taking. What I’ve enjoyed most is the ability to move, test and challenge myself while working with interesting people.” Insurance also offers Baskiran the opportunity to flex a skill she applies in hiking: being able to adapt to constantly changing environments and challenges. “You have to have a good plan, be prepared for differing weather conditions and be adaptable,” she said.

Each role at Travelers has brought new challenges and learning opportunities, and Baskiran’s leadership style has evolved through it. Her top priorities as a leader? Collaboration and inclusion. “I’ve had a varied background in different industries, and I’ve learned that success comes from bringing together diverse skill sets for a common goal,” she said. “To build and optimize our products, we need a cross-functional team – from the creatives in marketing and propositions to those focused on broker experience, and from finance and actuarial experts to the core skills in underwriting and risk management. We also need detail-oriented project managers, portfolio managers and IT professionals.

“It really takes a village to create and refine products, and it’s crucial that every skill is valued, or the process just doesn’t work.” For Baskiran, building and optimizing products requires pulling from diverse talent across all areas of the business. An emphasis on teamwork also ensures that everyone feels a sense of belonging and purpose. However, Baskiran candidly admitted that celebrating success is something she continues to work on. “Too often as business leaders, we’re on to the next thing,” she told Insurance Business. “You have to take the time to reflect on achievements and celebrate with the team.”

Spotlight

This desire led her to step inside the insurance industry, taking on roles where she could directly influence outcomes. Her move to Travelers was facilitated by connections she had made during her consultancy work. “I made the bold move to start working for myself after my time with Accenture,” said Baskiran. “It was really the relationships I had built that led to new opportunities – people I had connected with reached out to me with offers. That’s been a recurring theme in my career: relationships pushing me forward and being brave enough to say yes.” Over her 13 years with Travelers, she has held various roles, starting in personal lines and moving through strategy, acquisitions and direct business models before focusing on small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) within the commercial broker market in the UK and Ireland.

In a dynamic world, your clients need insurance protection they can trust. That’s why Travelers tailors insurance and risk management guidance to each organisation we insure. We cover a wide range of specialist business classes and can help protect a company as it evolves – so your clients can focus on driving their business forward. We have been insuring your clients’ ambitions for generations: Travelers wrote the first auto insurance, aircraft liability insurance and personal accident cover for astronauts. We are backed by more than 165 years of experience and financial strength, and we continue to be among the world’s leading commercial property casualty insurers. www.travelers.co.uk / www.travelers.ie

Company Profile

165

Travelers was established

offices across UK & Ireland

30,000

experts worldwide

600+

experts in the UK & Ireland

13,500

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“It really takes a village to create and refine products, and it’s crucial that every skill is valued, or the process just doesn’t work”

Aoibheann Baskiran, Travelers Europe

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Developing a collaborative, inclusive leadership style

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“My experience both as an engineer and now at Travelers [is] if you’re open to opportunities, they’re there for the taking”

Aoibheann Baskiran, Travelers Europe

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To date, one of Baskiran’s proudest achievements at Travelers has been expanding the product breadth and depth of offerings for SMEs over the last five years. “Travelers in the UK is a specialist insurer, particularly known in the mid-market space. I’ve had the opportunity in the last five years to work with the team to digitise and bring that specialism into SME,” said Baskiran. “We’ve been launching and optimizing our products each year, building out our underwriting team, and bringing that proposition to the market. It’s been like working in a startup within a large corporate organisation, with all the challenges and opportunities that brings.” Travelers’ multinational presence has also bolstered Baskiran’s team. “We have great tenure within our US organisation in small business,” she said. “Joining that experience up with our deep, local knowledge has been a fantastic opportunity to work on building our SME proposition from the ground up.” Reflecting on Travelers’ achievements, Baskiran expressed enthusiasm for the growth and expansion still to come. “We have so much to do,” she said, noting the insurance industry continues to deal with a wide range of challenges, especially in managing expenses while understanding and covering risks. “We have to keep our expenses down to deliver the product at the right price.” This balance is particularly tricky in the small business sector, where trading efficiently while understanding client needs is crucial. Technological advancements, such as predictive analytics, third-party data and artificial intelligence (AI), are playing a growing role in addressing these challenges. “The more we can do through third-party data or big datasets, the better,” Baskiran said. Despite these hurdles, Baskiran is optimistic about the future – and particularly excited about the potential of predictive modelling and AI. The application of these technologies to small commercial insurance could revolutionize the way risks are assessed and managed. “Small businesses aren’t as clean-cut as personal lines, so it’s our duty to make sure we get it right,” she said.

Opportunities and challenges in the SME space

years ago

2009

2011

2013–2015

2015–2018

2017

2019

Left Accenture and started consultancy firm

2009

Joined Travelers as head of personal lines Ireland

2011

Joined international strategy team

2013–2015

Launched the UK direct business model

2015–2018

Received the Chairman’s Award

2017

Started as head of business insurance SME across UK & Ireland

2019

Milestones

2009

2011

2013– 2015

2015– 2018

2017

2019

Left Accenture and started consultancy firm

2009

Joined Travelers as head of personal lines Ireland

2011

Joined international strategy team

2013–2015

Launched the UK direct business model

2015–2018

Received the chairman’s award

2017

Started as head of business insurance SME across UK & Ireland

2019

Milestones

2009

2011

2013– 2015

2015– 2018

2017

2019

Left Accenture and started consultancy firm

2009

Joined Travelers as head of personal lines Ireland

2011

Joined international strategy team

2013–2015

Launched the UK direct business model

2015–2018

Received the chairman’s award

2017

Started as head of business insurance SME across UK & Ireland

2019

Milestones

Read on

Favourite quote

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”

- Oscar Wilde

Years at Travelers

13 (2011–present)

Years in the industry

20+

IN Partnership with

Aoibheann Baskiran finds inspiration and balance outside her successful insurance career through hiking

VP business insurance, SME

Aoibheann Baskiran

Over