Natalie Kojababian
Intern
AmWINS Group
Personal bio: I am from a small town in California called Burbank, which is not too far from the University of South Carolina (USC). Growing up everyone around me, including myself, thought I would grow up to become an attorney or inevitably go to law school because I always had a strong passion for the law. Though it is not too late for that, I have really fallen in love with the field of risk and risk management, where there is a wide variety of options for what you can specialise in and what type of careers someone can peruse.
Professional profile: I am currently a business administration major with an emphasis in entrepreneurship and risk management minor at USC. I am currently a member of our newly chartered Gamma Iota Sigma chapter on campus and will be the next diversity and inclusion officer (GammaSAID Chair) in the fall. In addition, I will be a part of the LavaLab for my last two semesters as I finish off my degree to create and develop products, services and tangibles for emerging markets with other fellow USC students.
As a finalist in the CICA essay contest, how has this helped develop your knowledge of the sector?
As a finalist in the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) essay contest, I gained a sufficient amount of knowledge and practice as I underwent this feasibility study with my partner Megan Moore.
It was great to be able to work together as most people would in a team to create a captive. In addition, participating in the captive made me realise there is a tremendous amount of research that goes into developing a captive and how we can prepare to conduct a sufficient amount of research if we were put in a real life situation.
After graduating from university/ college, what will your next steps in your captive insurance career?
After graduating from USC I will be looking for a job in the insurance and risk management industry. Though I have not signed an offer with any company specifically, I am currently very interested in brokerage and underwriting.
What is your ultimate goal and career aspirations within the captive space?
I would love to immerse myself in the captive industry and potentially work with a group to create an actual captive for a client who is in need of one. I am not sure when exactly I will peruse the captive market completely, but I hope that sometime in the near future either with an internship or a job I can experience what it is truly like to provide captive solutions to clients.
What/who have been your influences in the captive industry?
I would have to say there have been two major influences for me in the captive industry. First being the USC risk management programme where I learned endless amounts of valuable information about the captive industry and markets, how to create a captive, and how captives are implemented into a business to become a viable tool to utilise in insurance practices. My second influence would have to be Ward Ching himself. He not only spoke during one of the video calls that CICA hosted this year, but he showed his endless support for Megan and I and all the students that had the honour of taking his class in autumn 2019. Professor Ching brought an abundance of guest speakers to our class and even took us on field trips to learn exactly how risk management works and provided us with real life examples of how to assess a risk, place the risk properly and to provide solutions for every type of client. I am extremely grateful he taught our class about captives and hope to sit in during his classes this coming fall.
What is your impression of the industry?
Initially, my first impression of the industry was that the captive industry is a very creative one. Captives allow you to put all your knowledge and research about a given topic together, f igure out how you can provide a solution for your client and be extremely creative during the whole process to properly insure a risk. I think many people in the insurance field who are looking to express their creativity and are really up for a challenge should consider a potential career in the captive industry.
Richie Ortiguerra, senior vice president, AmWINS, Access Insurance Services “I have had the pleasure of working with Natalie when she interned at AmWINS last summer. Natalie was a fast learner; very energetic, intelligent and a hard-working person that was very organised. I admired how she handled herself in social settings - whether it be at an industry event, a retailers office or a team meeting, Natalie was always very professional and well prepared. My experience with Natalie was excellent, she will be an asset to any company.”
