In his first month as President & CEO, Dean Klisura participated in a Q&A and shared his thoughts on industry trends, the Guy Carpenter advantage, and his leadership philosophy.
What are some important industry trends you’re seeing, and how would Guy Carpenter evolve to address them?
Today, the (re)insurance sector operates in a rapidly changing and uncertain world with elevated levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The impending degree of change looks set to transform the risk landscape like never before. The industry and our clients are facing challenges and opportunities in many areas, including climate and natural disaster, social inflation, cyber and technological evolution.
Managing climate risk is becoming an increasingly prominent component of an organization’s overarching environmental, social and governance (ESG) approach, with the majority of our clients expressing a strong desire to develop robust strategies on this front.
Guy Carpenter is committed to our ongoing evolution through our client-centric approach. While the named perils may change, the need to anticipate and manage risks strategically to increase resiliency and secure future growth will always be our priority in serving clients.
How is Guy Carpenter innovating to address the issues associated with climate change?
Climate change is increasingly influencing the frequency and severity of natural catastrophe perils, with physical climate risk creating both acute and chronic threats. In addition, the shift to a less-polluting, lower-carbon economy is spawning multiple transition risks.
We recently announced the launch of a suite of climate advisory and modeling services, as clients look to develop and integrate robust climate change strategies into their overarching ESG programs. The integrated range of services is designed to address multiple facets of physical, liability and transition risks.
The services include physical risk modeling, risk governance and regulation, risk transfer (including parametric instruments and catastrophe bonds), new institutional arrangements (advice on public risk transfer and public/private partnerships) and insurance solutions.
By using catastrophe modeling tools suitable for different future time horizons and warming assumptions, geographic accumulations of risk and underwriting, Guy Carpenter, with the collaboration of other Marsh McLennan businesses, can enable clients to quantify impacts under various climate scenarios.
How is Guy Carpenter working with clients on cyber?
Data insights, product innovation and enhanced market intelligence are also fueling ongoing evolution in the cyber sector, especially regarding ransomware. Guy Carpenter is working closely with our clients to share updates on the threat landscape, deliver cyber industry insights, construct relevant modeling scenarios, and design reinsurance placements to protect these portfolios.
How will Guy Carpenter continue to bring value to clients as it relates to the shifting risk landscape?
At Guy Carpenter, we pride ourselves on close collaboration with our clients. With unique access to our clients’ C-suites, we are in a very good position to hear their concerns and provide the insights they need. We analyze their portfolios carefully and work with them to understand and quantify risk. It can be a challenge for clients to navigate issues such as cyber, the pandemic and climate change. The good news is that with our focus on data strategy, analytics, and strategic advisory, we feel that we are in an excellent position to support them. When it comes down to it, the range of services we provide goes well beyond the reinsurance transaction.
What is your core leadership philosophy?
I’m a big believer in hiring the right people and giving them the autonomy to succeed. Beyond that, my goal is to lead by example—to be open and honest even when I sense that my opinion is not the most popular one in the room. I’d also say that although strategic knowledge is a must, it’s nothing without the ability to inspire those you’re working with. You’ve really got to focus on engaging people and giving them the tools to innovate.
What are you most excited to do at Guy Carpenter?
Our colleagues are Guy Carpenter’s greatest asset. I am most excited to get to know them—and especially to hear their ideas on how we can best position the firm in 2022 and beyond. It’s truly a privilege to work with so many talented people