Penny speed meets... Marc DonFrancesco, director of fraud and investigation specialists, Absolute Partnership

What was your first ever job – and were you any good at it?
Assistant at Marley Homecare. I was awful. I failed my probation for playing football in the warehouse

If an MP3 player really could only hold three tunes, what would you select for the ultimate soundtrack to your life?
Love Reign O’er Me by The Who; Is That Love? by Squeeze; and Alive and Kicking by Simple Minds

Who was your top teenage pin-up?
Debbie Harry, of course

My colleagues won’t know this about me but…
I have flown light aircraft solo from Biggin Hill yet can barely go up a ladder

Favourite book of all time?
Gangster, Lorenzo Carcaterra

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Van Morrison via Andy Homer: “The only requirement is to know what is needed and, doing the best you know how, deliver on time”

What would be your chosen superpower?
Teleportation – I’d get more done and avoid public transport forever

If you could be Prime Minister for the day, what change would you instigate and why?
Stop developing a society in which people do things because they think it is their right, rather than doing the right thing. Compensation culture, tenuous legal loopholes... I could go on

How would a typical school report about you read?
Natural at some subjects but displays little or no interest in others

My top tip for climbing the insurance career ladder is...
Study and take a genuine interest in insurance – it pays your mortgage

My last supper would comprise...
A meal at Langans. Good English grub

Who has been the most influential person in your life?
All my managers at Independent & Towergate but two at Aegon kept me on the rails: Malcolm Ayling and Richard Bennett

When I’m not working I like to...
Listen to music and worry
about QPR

Last film you saw?
The Sweeney. “Get
your trousers on; you’re nicked”

If I wasn’t working in insurance I would probably be...
Lost

Name your five ideal dinner party guests (dead or alive) very briefly noting what they bring to the party
David Bowie for songs and class; Bill Hicks for his interesting views on marketing; Oliver Reid for the drinking games; Rodney Marsh for some decent football stories; and Alan Cleary to mediate the above!

Marmite: foods of the gods or work of the devil?
Gods. On toast (must be white). Vegemite is bad.

Career high point to date?
Apart from Absolute? I don’t dwell on achievements but I am fortunate enough to have worked with many impressive people including Michael Bright, Steve McGill, Peter Cullum, Andy Homer and Mark Hodges

What do you say when strangers at a social gathering ask what you do for a living?
I’m in insurance doing some very interesting stuff. Honest

If you could travel back in time, where would you go?
Wembley, 4 March 1967 or 30 July 1966. QPR and England’s finest hours

Finish this sentence: Insurance is a great industry to work in because…
It’s full of opportunities, protects the things people value, and helps companies stay in business

Would you like to be probed by Penny on one of her speed meets? Get in touch via stephanie.denton@incisivemedia.com

This article was published in the 11 April 2013 issue of Post