MICHELLE D’AMICO

Michelle D’Amico graduated from the University of Prince Edward Island in 2009 and started her career as an auditor with Grant Thornton. As soon as she obtained her Charted Accountant designation, she moved to the Cayman Islands in 2012 to take an audit role with KPMG. She was unexpectedly placed in the captive insurance department, which at that time she had never heard of.

She said she learned a large amount in a short period of time and wanted to continue building on the industry knowledge she had gained in her time in Cayman. D’Amico moved to Vermont in 2013 and started her captive management career with Aon.

She spent the better part of the next 10 years in various captive management positions handling the day-to-day accounting and regulatory matters for captives and risk retention groups (RRGs) and assisting companies form captives in various domiciles. She obtained her Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation in 2020. She ultimately wanted to move into a consulting role as she loves helping companies make decisions.

All the experience she has accumulated in various roles in the industry over the past 10+ years put D’Amico in a great position to be able to accept a role as a consultant with Aon’s Risk Finance and Captive Consulting (RFCC) team when she returned from maternity leave at the end of 2021. In April 2023, she was promoted to a senior consultant and she has been thoroughly enjoying her role with Aon’s RFCC team, where she gets to use her experience to help companies determine whether a captive makes sense for them and how they can more effectively utilise their captive.

D’Amico was described as being able to skilfully run a variety of captive consulting projects incorporating team members from other Aon groups as well as external resources, guiding clients through the process in an organised and insightful manner resulting in clear and sound client recommendations. She has led several very complex captive insurance studies that required substantial research, input from internal and external sources and concluded on clear courses of action for clients. This included domicile issues, type of captive (group, PCC, single parent, RRG, association, etc), capital levels and sources, and risk participation.

Here she lays out why she recommends the captives industry to young professionals and why complacence should be avoided.

Do you feel that the captive insurance industry is a rewarding sector to work in?

It is an extremely rewarding sector to work in. I can’t think of many other career paths that I may have landed in where I would have the exposure to such a broad range of industries and knowledgeable professionals. I never go a day without learning something new and no two days ever look the same.

Would you recommend the captive insurance industry to young people as a future career path?

I would certainly recommend this as a career path. I hope to get more involved with promoting the industry to the next generation. It seems most people in the captives industry have a story similar to mine, where most of us “fell into the industry by chance”. But I think it’s important that the industry not be complacent given how competitive the job market is.

I’m glad to see that the captives industry has started to make a conscious effort to market itself as a career path.

How do you feel that the captive insurance industry will evolve?

The industry will do what it has always done and that’s continuing to evolve to meet the needs of the companies it serves. I see no shortage of support from domicile regulators, service providers, and industry organisations in making sure that continues to be the case.

Do you think that your long-term future remains in the captive insurance industry?

I have no plans to leave the captives industry any time soon. I truly appreciate the continuous learning that my current role offers. This career has given me the flexibility to be successful at work while balancing life as a new parent.