NextGen Risk: Team Profile | Mount Royal University

Will Mitchell (Advisor)

Here at Mount Royal, we’ve got three streams in finance. One is the CFA analytical role that both Rishi and Hein are part of, and I believe Shane as well, actually. But I’m going to include Shane in my class, because he’s in one of my classes and the financial services, which is focused on financial planning. I teach the financial planning courses, and that’s largely my background.

I was a discretionary investment manager. I used to manage portfolios for wealthy clients. And what I found is you need to take a holistic view when dealing with clients. So it’s not just about managing the investments. It’s about, okay, well, how do we manage risk? What is the client’s insurance situation look like? What’s their state plan look like? And so, I was licensed in both life and accident sickness insurance.

I think it’s a fantastic opportunity. This is our inaugural participation in the case competition for Mount Royal, and I’m really hoping this becomes an annual event for us going forward.

Heinrich Grobbelaar

Just like Rishi, I am a fourth-year finance student. I have quite an analytical background academics-wise. I came to the competition because Rishi and I got an email from Will. What particularly drew me to [the opportunity] is that my best friend actually works within the [insurance] industry. He’s always talking very highly of it, as well as about the social aspect of it. So, I wanted to start to understand on a deeper level how [insurance] professionals approach complex risk problems.

I have some friends who work in the reinsurance industry. They speak very highly of it. I am quite drawn to reinsurance, but also to risk management.

Rishabh Balakrishnan

I’m Rishi. I’m a fourth-year finance major. At this point in my university life, I’m just trying to get as much experience as I can with different industries. I have a little bit of consulting and financial analysis experience from my previous internships. I feel like we live in such interesting times, when insurance has become such a big part of a lot of the businesses.

I feel this industry is fundamentally being repriced in real time because of everything that’s happening geopolitically. Also, my own eagerness to know about different kind of industries really motivated me to apply to be a part of this team.

I’ve been really interested in underwriting, for sure. But risk is something I’m more familiar with, considering I worked in a setting where I had to do a bunch of scenario analysis — going through a bunch of investor materials. If the right opportunity came around at the right time, I would definitely want to try [risk analysis] for sure.

Shayne D’Arcy

Like Rishi and Hein, I have an analytical background. I have a financial services background, as Will mentioned, and a little bit in international business. Insurance is a worldwide thing, so my background in international business and the finance side combines together [well].

Recently, I met with the vice president of sales for HUB International in the BC area, completely unrelated to this competition. We just talked about insurance briefly and what he does. It was my first to what insurance is.

It’s definitely an interesting industry. Everyone thinks of insurance as just one stream. It’s like, ‘Here’s your car insurance,’ and that’s that. But it’s such a broad area. The risk management side is huge in insurance. Ther are just many realms to explore, so it’s definitely a really cool competition.

Unavailable for an interview: Anant Pal Singh Bhullar, Anshveer Singh