2021 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Caroline Tran Product leader, political risk, credit & bond-Europe
Axa XL, a unit of Axa SA
Paris
Starting a new job is daunting enough, but Caroline Tran found herself in uncharted territory in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among her first duties after joining Axa XL’s credit and political risk business late last year was to open a new location in Germany. Getting that done during the pandemic meant working through roadblocks that don’t normally stand in the way.
“I joined Axa XL to take the lead on business in Europe because basically it was a startup at that time,” Ms. Tran said. “And I wanted to develop the business line. I’m very entrepreneurial, and the challenge was really appealing to me.”
Those proved good qualities to have in the Germany launch. “When you’re opening a new office, you want to celebrate, be vocal about it. You want to promote it,” Ms. Tran said. Lockdowns, however, kept her from traveling to Germany and pinned down the local executive there.
“We had to be creative in how we created momentum,” Ms. Tran said. That meant ramping up promotion through social networks and holding “numerous calls with customers and brokers,” she said.
The approach worked. Now, with a fully functioning office, “we are working on creating close relationships with customers,” Ms. Tran said.
She has relied on such doggedness before. Management at former employer Atradius NV was not at first enthusiastic about her idea for an asset-backed political risk product for aviation clients.
“They said they appreciated that I wanted to be innovative, but that was a stretch that they may not be ready to consider,” she recalled.
“I built a very strong business case, held numerous meetings with bankers who had the know-how to structure these transactions. I went to convince reinsurers, one-by-one,” she said, and took the same tack with each of Atradius’ C-suite executives.
Convinced, management gave the go-ahead and within the first month coverage was being written, Ms. Tran said.
“She’s very practical and down to earth,” said Olivier David, global head of special products, trade credit and political risks at Atradius. Smart and hardworking, she’s also “driven and knows what she wants,” he added.
