NextGen Risk: Team Profile | Conestoga College

Heather Graham (Advisor)

A faculty member with the insurance program at Conestoga College since January 2022, Heather has more than 30 years of experience in the Canadian P&C insurance industry.

“Almost from the very beginning of my career, I was involved in education,” she says. “Once I obtained my FCIP {Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional designation], I started teaching CIP [Chartered Insurance Professional designation] courses. And then, at the Insurance Institute, I had the opportunity to develop their CIP program offerings, as well as seminars and licensing. And this is just another expression of that.”

Encouraging her students to participate in the case competition is just another way to “spread the gospel” about the P&C insurance industry, she says.

“It’s a dynamic industry. It’s ever-changing, ever-evolving. And I just want to share that love for the property casualty insurance industry with these students as well”

Emily Katherine Oei

Emily says she found out about the case competition through her program at the School of Business.

“I’m actually in the Advanced Business Administration Marketing three-year co-op program,” she says. “However, I did want to have this opportunity to gain more experience in a field with which I’m not necessarily familiar.”

However, as she points out, “every part of a business needs marketing.” She notes there’s a sales element to risk management plans, in the sense that clients need to be sold on how the plans will benefit them.

“So, I’m really liking the topic of risk management, learning more about it and how I can bring what I know in marketing to the table,” she says.  “It’s really cool for problem-solving. I also like how it factors into what I’ve learned in PR, and how you have to do crisis management as well.”

Luke Byunghun Roh

Luke is in the Bachelor of Commerce Financial Service degree program. He’s able to major in finance, but also minor in insurance.

Currently, he’s working as a claims reporting specialist for an insurer. “So, I handle the first notice of loss, and [inform] clients what coverages they have. And, if necessary, depending on situation, I’ll provide assignments such sending out towing contractors or appraisers as well.”

He finds claims to be “a very special place,” despite being hard at times.

A big part of the job is helping people to calm down after an accident, assuring them it will be okay, and going through the coverage with them. “I think that really helps,” he says, “because risk is everywhere.”

Ethan Thomas Stephenson

Ethan is in his second year of the business insurance program, but he’s already been immersed in the insurance business from an early age.

“Yeah, I’m a third-generation insurance [person] in my family,” he says. “My grandfather was an insurance broker. My Dad was an insurance broker.”

Ethan didn’t start out that way. In fact, he was initially in a computer science program. But after a year and a half, he decided that just wasn’t for him.

“And my dad pointed me into the insurance program, so I thought, ‘Why not give it a shot?’ And honestly, after going over all the course content, and meeting with all of the different professors, I just fell in love with the course.”

Ethan said he’s considering following in his father’s footsteps as a broker, or joining a claims department, “because I feel like in the claims department, you are out there helping people with their loss.”

Either way, he likes the aspect of helping people during their time of loss or even prevent the loss.

“A lot of insurance brokers now are have become risk managers who are helping out their commercial clients, for example, avoid losses so that they don’t have to make a claim.”

Shailee Milankumar Shah

Shailee is currently in the third year of a four-year program in commerce and financial planning.

“So, last year, if you would have asked me, I wouldn’t have guessed that I’m going to be going to this competition and representing Conestoga on a national level,” she says. “But I just took one semester of property and casualty insurance in the class last semester, and I think there was something that my professor saw…and honestly, I have been rewarded with the greatest of opportunities when it comes to insurance side.”

Among them, she had a chance to attend the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) convention in Niagara Falls last year. There, she heard one of the guest speakers say they never meant to enter the P&C industry, but something just drew them into this industry, and now they are committed to this industry like forever.

“So, I feel like that is something happening to me,” she says, adding she’s allowing that to happen.

Her intention is to become a CFP [Certified Financial Planner] one day in future. “But I also am open to going to insurance side, because you honestly, you never know what future holds for you.”

Is she aware of the number of commercial insurance brokerages acquiring financial services and wealth management. Would that be something of interest?

“That is a great possibility, honestly.”