2021 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Emma Stewart Chief actuary
Lloyd’s of London
London
Emma Stewart isn’t one to shirk from a challenge. Since joining Lloyd’s of London in 2016 as an overseas license support actuary, Ms. Stewart has steered a determined course, culminating in her being named Lloyd’s chief actuary in September of this year.
“I’ve always worked really hard at something I put my mind to,” Ms. Stewart said. “Challenges are like a red rag to a bull. I try to achieve my full potential.”
At school, math was a strong suit, which propelled her in 2006 to the University of Warwick to study mathematics, operational research, statistics and economics. Applying math to day-to-day situations in business and finance interested her, and several of the modules focused on actuarial science, which she enjoyed. From there it became obvious that an actuarial career was for her.
After graduating in 2010, she went into general insurance at EMB Consultancy, which later became part of Towers Watson and then Willis Towers Watson PLC. She liked the variety of the work, the fact that “no day is the same, no client is the same.” The opportunity to join Lloyd’s hit the same sweet spot “in terms of having the variety of all the syndicates, almost as clients as a consultancy would consider them, but also being in-house and having that freedom and ownership of being responsible not just to get the project done but to own the end results,” she said.
Ms. Stewart regards getting the role of chief actuary, which includes head of reserving and capital, and being the first female in that role at Lloyd’s, as one of her key business accomplishments to-date. Fostering a culture that provides opportunities for internal career development across her 80-strong team is another highlight.
Unlike some with a technical actuarial background, Ms. Stewart is very effective at communicating, said David Sansom, chief risk officer at Lloyd’s, who has worked with her for three years. “I’ve always been struck with how easy it is to engage with her on these topics — not something you can always necessarily say about actuaries,” Mr. Sansom said.
