Abrar Ihsan: Leading risk management in the insurance industry

What is your professional and educational background?

I am a Risk Management Professional with over 15 years of experience gained within the Insurance industry across FTSE 100 Personal Lines Insurer, Lloyd’s of London Syndicates and Big 4 Insurance Consulting Practice.

My current role is based in the City of London at International General Insurance Ltd which is a Nasdaq Listed Commercial and Specialty Lines (Re)Insurer with Annual revenue of $0.7 billion.

I am a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and hold a Master of Arts in English from the University of Aberdeen.

What is the most exciting thing about your work?

I am excited to have the daily opportunity to work in close partnership with C-Suite and key decision makers across a range of functions from Underwriting, Claims and HR to Actuarial and Finance.

No day is ever the same within Risk Management and, if we do not take risk, we do not progress either as organisations or individuals. This makes my work fast paced and I operate in a complex environment where I strive to add value through implementing effective risk management and protecting the assets of the organisation against shock movements.

Being part of the dynamic Financial Services (Insurance) industry provides an exciting opportunity to use the latest technologies and benchmark myself against some of the most talented colleagues and peers across the globe. It also gives me great satisfaction to be part of an industry which does social good and which helps communities, individuals and businesses recover in times of difficulty.

What attracted you to Cambridge Judge Business School and the Executive MBA?

Since childhood, it was always my ambition to one day have the privilege of being selected to study at Cambridge and immerse myself within a world-class business school. Firstly, at Cambridge Judge I will be taught and challenged by world-class professors. Secondly, I wanted to be part of a business school which had a wider ecosystem. Cambridge University offers the ability to be part of a collegiate system (Queens’ College for me) and provides access to an excellent network of individuals and organisations from entrepreneurs, Nobel laureates to executives leading the most successful organisations.

Finally, the diversity of backgrounds and quality of the Cambridge Judge cohort is what stood out. My Executive MBA colleagues’ global experiences and perspectives provide me with a great opportunity to reflect and enhance my own career trajectory by collaborating closely with them.

What are you hoping to get out of the Executive MBA?

I hope that the Executive MBA will provide me with a variety of effective tools and frameworks that will support my own self-assessment and self-awareness. I hope that it will accelerate my career trajectory by providing me with enhanced business and leadership skills. I also envision that, given the entrepreneurial activity within Cambridge’s Silicon Fen, my entrepreneurial thinking will be cultivated.

I also hope and strive that I can positively contribute to the journey of my Executive MBA colleagues and they also can benefit and leverage from my insatiable intellectual curiosity and excitement towards professional development and further learning.

What are your long-term career ambitions?

My long-term career ambition is to gain a Board Level position within the Financial Services Industry or embark on a Portfolio career.

I am excited to see the myriad of directions the Cambridge Executive MBA takes me and ultimately could take the path less trodden.