At April’s meeting of the ICMIF Intelligence Committee, held in Washington D.C., the Committee approved the formation of a new ICMIF Leaders Forum which is aimed at young, high potential employees of ICMIF member companies.
The new Young Leaders Forum (YLF) will be comprised of millennial/Gen Y professionals (generally aged between 20 and 35 years old) who have been identified by their seniors as strong candidates to become future leaders within their organisations. The Forum will focus on the professional and personal development of its members, as well as providing added value to discussions of the Intelligence Committee and its outputs to the wider ICMIF membership.
The main purpose of the Young Leaders Forum is to provide a learning and development opportunity for younger employees by exposing them to wider issues impacting the insurance industry, strategic discussions and mutuality on a global scale. It will provide a chance for the members to network, learn from and collaborate with peers from other organisations around the world by sharing best practice. The Forum will also give them the chance to engage in strategic discussions with senior executives from other mutual and cooperative insurers at tailored ICMIF events, such as the upcoming Young Leaders Programme at ICMIF Biennial Conference 2017.
Commenting on the new Forum, Ben Telfer, Vice-President, Business Intelligence, said “The Young Leaders Forum is as an excellent opportunity for ICMIF member companies to both develop and reward their younger, high-performing staff. It will give them a chance to meet and interact with people from other countries and have the opportunity to learn about and exchange best practices with their peers. As potential future leaders, they will have the chance to develop new skills, be part of high-level strategic discussions, and gain a new global perspective of the insurance industry and what it means to be part of the wider mutual and cooperative sector”
Currently, the Young Leaders Forum has eight member representatives from ICMIF member companies: P&V (Belgium), The Co-operators (Canada), DEVK (Germany), Unipol (Italy), Swiss Mobiliar (Switzerland), NFU Mutual (UK) and Thrivent Financial and Securian Financial Group (both USA). The approved Terms of Reference of the Young Leaders Forum allows up to 16 members, who can serve for a maximum of a two-year term. Some of the early members of the Forum are shown in the picture above.
Ben added: “The benefits of the inter-company peer networking among young professionals has already been seen by the young leaders who came together at various ICMIF events last year and their positive experience and feedback has been influential in the ideation of the YLF. I look forward to working closely with them in the coming months and meeting many more similarly motivated young professionals at the Young Leaders Programme in London”
The Young Leaders Programme at the ICMIF Conference in London will include two exclusive breakfast sessions for young leaders, private social events and further learning and networking opportunities pre- and post-conference. While this will be run in conjunction with the main conference, it will not be a completely separate program, to give the young leaders the chance to attend all of the plenary sessions and social program of the conference. The delegate fee for attending the Young Leaders Programme will be GBP 975, representing a 50% discount on the full member delegate fee.
To watch a video of members of the Young Leaders Forum speak about the benefits of attending and what they hope to gain and bring back from the Young Leaders Programme in London, click here.
For more information on the Young Leaders Forum, please contact Ben Telfer ([email protected]).
