Young talent will ensure the future success of captives

As spring gives way to summer in the northern hemisphere, it’s worth reflecting on what 2023 has been like so far.

Let’s start with the good news. This year’s CICA meeting in Palm Springs was a stunning success, fully in-person and allowing the captive insurance market to meet and greet properly for what was, for many, the first time since COVID-19 raised its unwanted head. It might have been a little colder than normal for Palm Springs at that time of year—the hills and mountain tops had a lot of fresh snow—but it was great to see so many familiar faces. It’s been a long three years for everyone and CICA was a breath of normality.

But then there’s the other news. The war in Ukraine continues, resulting in damage and deaths that will take years to recover from. Inflation remains high, although it does seem to have peaked, and the economic signs are somewhat mixed.

So it came as a welcome relief, in a sense, to be able to work on this edition, our inaugural FORTY Under 40 publication. With so many conversations at CICA revolving on who’s retired or resigned, there could not be a better time to celebrate the up-and-coming talent rising through the ranks to fill the voids of the future.

This edition looks at those people who were nominated by their peers in the captives industry as being worthy of applause. I don’t want to duplicate too much of what I’ve written in the methodology part of this edition, but I would like to thank, again, everyone who contributed to this edition—it would not have been possible to create this publication without the eager support of so many of you, from the judges and the nominators to those nominated, and of course our sponsors and advertisers too.

I’d like to praise those who might have missed out being listed in the top 40. In some cases the standard was set so high that many who could have been listed were just pipped at the post. The good news is that we’re running the same project next year, so that those who missed the mark this year might well appear in next year’s edition—as long as they’re still aged under 40, and are still leading by example.

Without talent the captive insurance industry that we all know and cherish would be a pale shadow of what it is now. We need that talent, we need it to shine, to be retained within the market, to be allowed to grow and evolve and make its mark on the wider canvas of the insurance world.

So, let’s all reflect on talent and where we can find it. It’s out there. Sometimes it hides in plain sight and other times it beats a path to your doorstep. Wherever it is, embrace it. The leaders of the future might be just a heartbeat away.

Marc Jones, editor, Captive International