In the Hot Seat: Tracey Skinner, Airmic chair

Tracey Skinner, group insurance director at BT Group, the UK telecommunications group, has long been an active member of Airmic and has accepted the role of chair of the association in what will inevitably prove to be a busy and challenging year for members of the UK risk management community, as they help their companies emerge from lockdown. Adrian Ladbury asked Ms Skinner about her background, what she plans to achieve with Airmic, what Airmic members need to do to help successfully navigate emergence from the lockdown and recovery effort, and the response of the insurance market to the crisis.

Adrian Ladbury (AL): How did you become a risk manager? What was your career path? Did you always want a career in risk and insurance or did it just happen that way?

Tracey Skinner (TS): I started out as a broker and moved across to this side about halfway through my career. I had always been interested in figures and financials. I almost went into accountancy but just found a career in insurance more varied. There are no two days the same.

(AL): What is your current job role? Are you a risk manager or insurance manager or both?

(TS): I am the group insurance director at BT Group. My role is focused on risk financing, including employee benefits. I am also very keen on how we manage our operational risk as this can have a significant impact on the financials, but the enterprise-wide overall risk management team sits within the compliance and audit area at BT.

(AL): How long have you been an Airmic member, what roles have you carried out at Airmic and what value does the association bring for members, in your view?

(TS): I have been an Airmic member for 17 years and have been on the board since 2016. I believe the membership represents good value for money. There is a wide variety of topics covered by Airmic. There are webinars, reports, special interest groups, forums and the like. In ‘normal’ years, the conference and dinner produce good networking opportunities, as well as opportunities to learn, debate and engage. This year we have taken the conference virtual with Airmic Fest, which will be held in September.

(AL): Why did you accept the role as chair of Airmic and what are your big plans for the year? How could and should Airmic become more valuable for members during this difficult time for all?

(TS): Having taken so much from Airmic over the years and seen how it has helped me to do my job, I decided to stand for election as chair to give something back and ‘do my bit’. I am very focused on the people-risk area. I believe this is a big topic right now for all, as we try to do the right thing with the wellbeing of our staff in these difficult times. I think that organisations can sometimes take quite a fragmented approach to people risk, with HR and insurance looking at different aspects and not working together. I believe it is time for a more holistic approach and feel that these teams should be working together. For example, employee engagement (or lack thereof) can contribute just as much to a motor accident, or even more so, than traditional driver training.

(AL): What role could and should risk managers play in the mitigation and management of a crisis such as the current pandemic? What value can they add at a time such as this?

(TS): Risk managers have a very significant role to play as they help steer their organisations through these difficult times. They need to assist the business to understand the impact on the risk assessments and what the new risk map should look like. They should take a step back and take a look at operational risk planning to see how well the organisation coped and what could be done differently should we have a second wave.

(AL): Does the crisis represent an opportunity for the profession to raise its game and profile?

(TS): Yes I believe that this is an opportunity for the risk manager to take a leading role in helping to steer the organisation through the crisis and help to improve the processes and procedures around risk management where they see the opportunity.

(AL): How do you think the insurance market has reacted to the crisis? Are you unhappy with the unwillingness of the market to provide pandemic cover via business interruption (BI) policies? Would you like to see new coverage developed for this risk and will it happen, or do you think that a government-backed pool is the only realistic answer?

(TS): I was very disappointed by the way the insurance industry handled the crisis. I believe a lot of the issues developed because of some very poor communication from the industry. With SMEs fighting for their livelihoods it was easy to predict that this was going to become a very heated discussion and it was just handled very badly. This is a huge risk, on the same footing as war. It would be difficult to see the industry able to provide a solution on its own, without government involvement.

(AL): Do you expect the market to further harden this year because of the pandemic and what should Airmic members do to secure the best available coverage on the best terms?

(TS): Without a doubt, the market will harden further this year. I would encourage Airmic members to start work early on their renewals. Be realistic about the cover levels they need. Hold as many conversations with the market as they can to understand what the market is looking for from them in terms of data and underwriting information, and do everything that they can to provide it.