2016 Women to Watch: Lynsey Cross

Lynsey Cross
Chief operating officer
AmTrust International, part of AmTrust Financial Services Inc.
London
Age: 42

In November, Lynsey Cross steered Lloyd’s of London company ANV Holdings B.V. through a successful acquisition by New York-based insurance holding company AmTrust Financial Services Inc.

She now will lead the integration of ANV and AmTrust at Lloyd’s and of the two companies’ managing general underwriters.

During her tenure as CEO of ANV, Ms. Cross blazed a trail as one of the very few female CEOs in the Lloyd’s marketplace, and her commitment to diversity and opportunity meant that almost half of ANV’s Lloyd’s leadership team was female.

She was appointed CEO of ANV in 2015, having joined in 2013 after serving as global chief of staff at reinsurance brokerage Guy Carpenter & Co. L.L.C. in London.

As a mother of four children, Ms. Cross acutely understands the challenges faced by women returning to work after a period of maternity leave. Companies across all industries lose a huge amount of talent when women, faced with the challenges of maintaining a work-life balance when returning to the workforce, decide to set up their own small businesses because returning to the corporate environment appears so difficult, she said.

Companies must “think outside the box” and enable flexible working to encourage these women to come back to the workforce, she said.

“If you want to have real loyalty in your company, you need to recognize the whole person who comes to work every day,” said Ms. Cross. For example, they may have a young family, or aging parents or, in the case of millennials, for example, hobbies or other commitments that are extremely important to them.

Companies need to find a way for their staff to achieve a work-life balance and to show employees that they don’t have to sit in an office all day to do a job well, she said.

James Tye, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P.’s transaction services business in London, said that during a challenging period for ANV while the AmTrust deal was being worked out, Ms. Cross was able to retain and motivate staff because of the enormous loyalty and trust she inspires in her team. Her openness and the fact that she “lives and breathes” the commitment she asks from her team was key to this success, he said.

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