Graduate Profiles

Vivienne Lochhead

I graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, concentrating in Marine Biology.  I then continued into graduate school, also at USM, studying Marine Science concentrating in Bio-optical Oceanography.  After working as an oceanographer in Bermuda for 6 years, I went back to graduate school at Brown University to receive my Master of Arts in Teaching concentrating in Secondary Science Education.  Clearly, at the time reinsurance was not the career path that I had in mind. 

However, I have learned that reinsurance is a very exciting way for the scientist in me to participate in a business environment.  Nowadays, the knowledge that an underwriter requires to successfully comprehend the marketplace depends not only on the present economy, but also on the knowledge of the natural environment and how it affects risks. 

Although, I am not straight out of school, the graduate experience has been a key position for me to enter into the field of reinsurance.  I greatly enjoyed the recruitment process, which entailed both personal and team-building activities to showcase strengths.  During this process, I really started to feel the Aspen Spirit and know that this was a company that worked very well together and one where I could see myself belong.

I was employed as part of the 2006 Graduate Programme in Bermuda as an Underwriting Assistant with the Property Reinsurance Team.  Aspen has supported me with many opportunities for training and development.  The 3-week course at the beginning, definitely allowed me to develop my understanding of insurance/reinsurance.  As well, Aspen encourages me to strengthen my contacts in the scientific community by sending me to conferences, including the Annual Summit on Hurricanes and Climate Change in Crete. 

Application to Aspen is definitely worth it.  Aspen really does take a keen interest in their graduate programme and expose the graduates from day one.  Obviously, while learning the ropes, there are some mundane tasks.  However, these are far outweighed by the opportunities to be a key team member in the department as well as in broker/client meetings.