Rising star: Tom Murphy, Axco Insurance Information Services

How did you get into insurance?

Probably like a lot of people my age I just fell into it a bit. I was lucky enough to be able to secure a number of weeks interning with the risk management team at Marsh during breaks at university. Throughout that time I was exposed to a huge array of interesting areas that I had no idea beforehand were linked to insurance. I came to understand how truly global the industry is and its effect on all corners of society. Since then I’ve never really looked back and couldn’t imagine not working in insurance.

Do you have a role model or mentor and what have you learnt from them?

I’ve been working with my manager Patrick Baker for a number of years now and he’s most definitely had the biggest impact on my career and insurance learning. He’s great at pushing people to run with ideas and embracing change, which is infectious. He also encourages everyone around him to do the same.

How has your view about the insurance industry changed since you started?

When I first started in insurance, there was a big stigma around the industry being slow to adopt change and how behind the times it was, but insurance is starting to shake that off. Embracing new technology and finding innovative ways to conduct business are a central part for every player in the sector and there is an incredible amount of investment that is going into it that probably wasn’t as noticeable five years ago.

Where do you hope to be in 10 years?

Hopefully within insurance in some capacity. There’s a lot of exciting change and new ideas happening at Axco, especially around risk and technology, and I hope to be central to that over the coming years. I have a significant interest in the Middle East and North Africa region too, so I’ll look to grow more into that area over time as well.

If I wasn’t working in insurance I would be…

Travelling to far-flung corners of the world.

“Tom’s sense of calm and his strong can-do attitude gives the team and our customers a high degree of confidence that he will deliver.”

Patrick Baker, global head of client solutions, Axco Insurance