In the third instalment of the series, Insurance Age meets Matt Perkin, executive assistant (EA) to Zurich UK chief executive officer Tulsi Naidu, and Jo Burton, former EA to previous Zurich UK CEO Vibhu Sharma
Matt Perkin has been Zurich UK CEO Tulsi Naidu’s EA, or strategic assistant as the provider calls it, since April last year.
“No two days are the same, which is part of the attraction – it’s exciting and you don’t necessarily know how your week is going to pan out let alone your day,” he states.
His job is to be Naidu’s eyes and ears on the ground in the organisation and to understand how everything fits together to provide insight as well as prepare her for meetings and other engagements.
“The roles are all different depending on the person filling them and the executive you’re working for and you have the opportunity to shape that,” he explains.
Vital traits
Perkin notes that the most important traits for an EA are being able to complete tasks in a short period of time and the ability to build a network of people across the organisation in order to get information quickly.
Flexibility is also key. “Being able to pivot and turn and focus your attention in different areas is a skill that you develop over time,” he continues.
“I’m probably my own biggest critic in terms of setting myself high standards to deliver.”
While the EA post can be stressful at times, Perkin highlights that it is “fantastic for development” because he gets to spend a lot of time in and around different management teams and learn how decisions are made in the business.
He also sits in on a number of executive committee meetings to stay on top of what is going on at the insurer.
“Coming into a role where it’s all about breadth and knowledge of the end-to-end business has been eye opening for me,” he adds.
“It’s about comprehending how decisions made in underwriting affects the claims journey and how that in turn impacts the customer.”
Matt Perkin
Before becoming UK GI CEO Tulsi Naidu’s EA in April last year, Perkin held a sales and distribution role in Zurich’s municipal business for about four years.
In 2016 he was also part of a group taskforce formed by group CEO Mario Greco. It included 40 people from across the Zurich Group around the world and was put together to develop the firm’s group strategy.
“It was great in terms of developing time management skills and working with a different set of people with different backgrounds, cultures and experiences,” he remembers.
Perkin states that being an EA has always stood out as something he would like to do at the right time in his career.
“Once I was clear on that it was just about making
sure that the stakeholders knew about it and knew why I wanted the role.
“Then a combination of me finishing my work on the taskforce and the opportunity opening up to work with Tulsi, who was relatively new at the time, aligned so it was good timing.”
Professionalism
According to Perkin the EA position can also increase professionalism in the wider insurance industry.
“When you begin to understand how all of the pieces of the jigsaw that is an insurance organisation fit together you’re in a better position to understand the impacts and the outcomes that we are delivering for our customers,” he observes.
While Perkin is a current EA, Jo Burton has moved on from the role to become HR programme manager at the insurer.
Burton was previously former UK CEO Vibhu Sharma’s EA and she notes her job description included setting agendas for meetings, sourcing information and working on specific projects depending on what was going on in the organisation.
“A lot of it was just about supporting and being a sounding board for him – talking through a specific topic and sharing ideas – it was an opportunity for him to have someone to bounce his thinking off,” she remembers.
Support role
Burton adds that she had to keep abreast of what was happening across the company in order to give feedback and provide support.
Most of Sharma’s leadership team had their own EAs and Burton describes working closely with the others to get information together and prepare collectively for upcoming meetings and events.
She believes the role adds value to Zurich as an organisation by giving the senior management team members space to focus on doing the strategic parts of their jobs.
“By bringing your knowledge from elsewhere in the business, wherever you’ve been previously, to the position and dealing with a lot of the day to day stuff and making sure they’re prepared you’re enabling them to perform at their best in their role,” she continues.
Jo Burton
Burton has been with Zurich for a number of years including in a role as head of expenses for its UK GI business. In 2014 she became the EA to then UK GI CEO Dave Smith and later went on to be Vibhu Sharma’s EA when he took over.
She explains that she was drawn to the EA post after building up relationships with both the CEO and his previous EA while she was managing expenses.
“Because of the relationship I had with both of them I knew the opportunity was there when it came up and that it would give me a different perspective,” Burton says. “It was time for me to step outside of finance and learn something new.”
Burton is now HR programme manager at Zurich and she highlights that being an EA opens up a lot of opportunities for the future.
“I wouldn’t have imagined that I would end up working in HR for example, so that’s given me a huge opportunity to see a different side of the business,” she continues.
“I keep my options open to wherever I can use my skills in the future.”
Options open
According to Burton the EA post boosted her career by giving her a greater knowledge of the business as well as making her aware of the different opportunities and the breadth of skill needed within the company.
She admits that she does not have a dream job in mind for the future, adding that she wants to keep her options open.
“Building relationships at the senior level enabled me to build a network that I still have now. That opens doors to a lot of opportunities that I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise – either because I didn’t understand the opportunities or because I didn’t have the contacts to follow them up,” she explains.
“If I’d had a very fixated view of what I wanted to do I might not have gotten as much out of being an EA.”
When asked about the challenges an EA faces Burton highlights building up the strength to keep going at the pace that’s required and still deliver top quality work.
Perkin echoes that it is a very intense role which requires being able to prioritise when you have a long list of things to do.
But he adds that he recommends the job, concluding: “They are fantastic opportunities which add value for the organisations involved and the individuals as well.”