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2019 Women to Watch EMEA: Sarah Reynolds

Posted On: Dec. 2, 2019 12:00 AM CST

Sarah Reynolds

Sarah Reynolds
Global head of cyber risks
Global Risk Solutions Inc.
London
Age: 50

Insurance offered Sarah Reynolds something her original ambition, becoming a math teacher, did not: the ability to work and continue studying, she said.

“I wanted to work,” she said of her decision to take on a professional trainee program in the insurance sector, which offered the opportunity to continue studying while also working. “I knew I needed an education, and insurance was the one occupation which gave me” the opportunity to continue learning while also earning.

Ms. Reynolds received her degree from Queen Mary College and joined the trainee program at National Farmers Mutual and Avon Insurance Group in 1987. She has been a loss adjuster for 25 of her 30 years in the insurance industry, perfect for someone “interested in understanding why something happened, what was the cause of it,” and what lessons were learned. “So, insurance claims was an obvious fit.”

Learning is something she continues to do in the cyber segment, “a space within the insurance industry which is rapidly expanding and changing all the time now. Luckily, for the past five years I’ve been able to focus exclusively on cyber.”

She joined Global Risk Solutions Inc. in May as global head of cyber from loss adjusters TM Consultants Ltd. in the U.K. Prior to that, she had been with Crawford & Co. and Charles Taylor PLC.

Her role as a loss adjuster in the cyber realm has evolved over time, she said.

“My role has changed, now leaning more toward providing a crisis management service,” she said, including having a service helpline, coordinating technical support and “guiding the policyholder through that process of assessing their loss and understanding the costs that arise from it.”

“I’ve known Sarah for a number of years, and in that time I have always viewed her as an innovator in terms of the loss adjusting practice,” said James Roberts, head of operations for Barbican Insurance Group in London. “I worked with Sarah on developing the framework for our end-to-end cyber claims solution, which forms the foundation of certain practices we have in place today. She is professional, proactive and easy to work with.”

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