ERIC LEE - COMMERCIAL INSURANCE BROKER

MCROBERTS SECONDARY SCHOOL ALUMNUS

My name is Eric and I am currently a commercial insurance broker at Marsh. I graduated from McGill university in 2017 with a B.Com. in finance and started this job since then.

How did you decide on becoming a commercial insurance broker and when was this decision made?

Everyone in my industry has a story of how they ‘fell’ into insurance as not many people know about it growing up. I stumbled upon Marsh whilst browsing my university’s careers page and learned that it was a risk advisor to companies across all different industries. Until then, I always associated insurance as a commoditized product for personal home and auto. I sent in an application and the rest is history.

What is a normal day like at work?

Currently in the ‘marketing’ department, my primary responsibility is to sell my client’s risk to underwriters in the insurance marketplace and negotiate favourable terms for my client’s insurance placements. Although many insurance companies are in Canada, it is not unusual to facilitate deals with insurance markets abroad particularly in the US, London, Zurich etc.

What do you like the most about being a commercial insurance broker?

My favourite part of my role is building relationships / friendships with underwriters to get the deal done. I also enjoy doing sales presentations and learning about how analytics / risk engineering play a big role in negotiations.

What are the benefits of the job?

As part of my job, I have had opportunities to travel, meet people in the c-suite, and be part of an amazing company community at Marsh.

What advice do you have for high schoolers?

Don’t fall into the ‘success’ construct that society tries to push on you. Know that we are all blessed with different abilities and circumstances; we don’t all start with the same “set of cards”. Understanding these truths will bring clarity and take away that ‘status anxiety’!

Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericlee-/