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UP CLOSE: Sean McPhillips

Posted On: Jul. 17, 2016 12:00 AM CST

UP CLOSE: Sean McPhillips

NEW YORK-BASED SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND HEAD OF U.S. PRIMARY CASUALTY

Aspen Insurance

PREVIOUS POSITION: New York-based regional vice president for primary casualty, Eastern zone for Aspen Insurance, a division of Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd.

LOOKING FORWARD TO: Developing a strong team known for profitable growth, and offering the (excess and surplus) marketplace alternative solutions for opportunistic risks.

ON LEADERSHIP: Show by example. My most important leadership trait is to work harder than I expect everyone else to work.

CHALLENGES FACING INDUSTRY: Passing the baton of knowledge among generations and balancing the importance of millennials' energy and input to the process with the experience of seasoned professionals.

CRYSTAL BALL: I see the market becoming more global and the world becoming a smaller and smaller place.

FIRST INDUSTRY JOB: National accounts casualty brokerage trainee with Johnson & Higgins.

ADVICE: Learn as much as you can. Ask questions and listen. Question conventional wisdom and hang in there. Things do not happen overnight.

OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY, A DREAM JOB: A winemaker in the Italian countryside.

HOBBIES: Wine and beer making, carpentry.

PETS: Dog person. My standard poodle, Samuri, is part of my family. He is almost human. Sometimes there are cool cats, but they act like dogs.

DON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT: The keys, because getting locked out stinks.

PET PEEVES: Fans wearing a jersey to a sporting event that is for a team that is not competing.

FAVORITE SONG: “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison, (dedicated to) my wife of 30 years, Saint Paulina.

COPING WITH MONDAYS: Start thinking about Friday night.