Industry veteran, André Louw, on the Next Generation of Insurance Leaders

As the judging for the 2024 Young Insurance Professionals (YIPs) and Barry Nilsson Next Gen Insurance Leader Award kicks off, we’re excited to introduce this year’s industry guest judge, André Louw, Chairman of Howden for the Pacific region.

André brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to the judging panel, and shares his thoughts on the future of insurance, the importance of building and maintaining professional relationships, and the qualities he’s looking for in the next generation of insurance leaders.

What are you looking forward to as a judge this year?

We live in the Information and Environment Age, and our risks increasingly reflect this, but our risk transfer instruments, and capital allocation predate this Age, as do I. However, members of YIPs are Information and Environment Age natives and therefore have a far better feel for our risks in this new Age and how they can be transferred innovatively.

As a veteran in a market still crowded with legacy solutions, I am looking forward to fresh, disruptive ideas which challenge our legacy solutions and stimulate contemporaneous and futuristic risk transfer and capital allocation.

What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of an insurance leader?

“Relationships”. Insurance is intangible and simply constitutes a promise to pay, and trust is therefore a key component of insurance transactions. The deeper the relationship underpinning the insurance transaction, the deeper the trust. This is particularly important because insurance is in the “Things go wrong all the time” business, and when things do go wrong, strong, trusting relationships will facilitate the promise to pay far better than weak or non-existent relationships will.

As a network for young insurance professionals, YIPs plays a vital relationship-building role. The young professionals you have drinks with at a YIPs function today will be senior professionals in insurers, brokers, insureds, loss adjusters, accountancy firms and law firms in 10-15 years. For the rest of your career (increasingly so as you rise in seniority), the relationships you establish at YIPs will stand you in good stead when you negotiate complex promises to pay.

Read more about the YIPs Barry Nilsson Next Gen Insurance Leader Award here.