NAME: Stephanie Lynch
NEW JOB TITLE: Morristown, New Jersey-based head of reinsurance at At-Bay
PREVIOUS POSITION: Morristown, New Jersey-based vice president of treaty reinsurance at Safety National Re
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: Businesses increasingly rely on technology to function, so the vulnerabilities of technology are creating increasing risk for businesses. As threat actors and malware evolve, the cyber insurance industry needs to make this risk more manageable for businesses.
GOALS FOR NEW POSITION: My goals in this position include communicating At-Bays unique value proposition in the reinsurance market, structuring a panel of support around our program, and building long-term relationships with reinsurers.
CHALLENGES FACING THE INDUSTRY: Due to the capacity crunch in the reinsurance space, some adverse loss results, and uncertainty around ransomware and recent events, there are now more requests for data-sharing within reinsurance. Its challenging to provide reinsurers enough information to evaluate and contextualize risk without sacrificing the confidentiality of our insureds unique security profiles or our proprietary scanning tool and underwriting secret sauce. Ultimately, we are finding ways to strike this balance with our partners. Aside from detailed risk-level data-sharing, we could provide more frequent open dialogue around what issues are impacting the market, what our R&D team is seeing, how our underwriters handle difficult risks, and how our claims team is navigating sophisticated claims. This would illustrate the thought process at the core of At-Bay and provide deeper insight to our panel without sharing too much insured-level detail.
FIRST EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY JOB MARKET: I began my career in actuarial reserving and financial reporting at Arch Reinsurance Co., which offered a great view into all lines of business and reinsurance operations while allowing me to fine-tune my technical skills. This was the best preparation for shifting to underwriting and now ceded reinsurance.
ADVICE: Ask a lot of questions. Youre often not the only one thinking of them. Expand your network, build meaningful connections, attend industry events, and introduce yourself confidently. Dig into the details at the office and try to add value wherever possible. Continue your education by completing designations relevant to your role. Even working in reinsurance, I always found that understanding more detail of insurance lines from an academic perspective helped me make connections faster and ask better questions on the reinsurance side.
OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY, A DREAM JOB: I would love to travel the world, build connections with people of all different cultures, and give back to communities in need. And now that I have a family, Id actually love to open and manage a local coffee shop.
COLLEGE MAJOR: Mathematics with a minor in actuarial science from The College of New Jersey.
LOOKING FORWARD TO: Im excited to work at such a young and growing company with new and interesting problems to solve every day. Everyone is on the same page working toward a common goal, and its fun to be part of this fast-paced environment.
FAVOURITE MEAL: Takeout from our local Thai restaurant usually a Panang curry and drunken noodle.
BOOK: Hard to choose, but some of my all-time favorites are Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann, All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah, Verity, by Colleen Hoover, and anything written by Malcolm Gladwell.
HOBBIES: I love photography, traveling, yoga, riding the Peloton, taking long walks with my family and dog to get coffee, doing DIY projects, and working on our house.
TV SHOW: Im not a huge TV fanatic, but I like to wind down in the evenings wrapped up in a blanket on the couch with a glass of wine, often watching the first half of whatever my husband picks and sleeping through the second half. Personal favorites are probably Queer Eye and Schitts Creek, and were currently watching Severance.
ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON: I have a toddler who keeps us busy on the weekends. Most Saturdays, youll find us out on a morning walk for coffee, at music class until nap time, then at a play date in the afternoon before family dinner. We also love going to the Turtle Back Zoo and Liberty Science Center.
