Kevin Borrett, Unum EEA Group
An accomplished speaker on ERM subjects and sought out for his views on the ORSA and risk culture in particular, Borrett has pushed beyond the boundaries of his role as chief risk officer for the European business of life insurer Unum, a position he has held since 2010. With past experience in general, life and London market insurers in underwriting, pricing and reinsurance roles – and even a stint on secondment at the regulator – he has gained a breadth of insight that is essential for a modern CRO. A trustee of the CII pension scheme, he was also recently elected deputy chair of Oric International, the operational risk benchmarking consortia.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
The variety of topics or issues that I engage in on a daily basis, the wide range of talented individuals I interact with and the fact that I'm still learning something new almost every day.
Who or what has inspired your work?
One recent inspiration has been F1 driver Sebastian Vettel. He often talks about the braking system on his Red Bull car being its most important feature, but not in the way you might expect: he routinely points out that brakes lie at the heart of his success as "they control the power from its engine, save the tyres and fuel, optimising overall race performance".
At Unum we have translated this into thinking about an agile risk culture: having key controls in the right places, to enhance and streamline business processes and decision making, optimising business performance.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to emulate your success?
Be curious and don't be afraid to pursue a line of enquiry to see where it leads. The role of the CRO is a very broad one and more often the value you add comes more from the questions you ask rather than making assumptions or offering opinions based upon the knowledge you have.
What have you learnt about communicating risk?
Risk and reward are intertwined and it's vital that this link isn't lost. At Unum we talk about optimising the balance between risk and reward, recognising we have significant appetite for insurance risk where that aligns to our expertise whilst there are other areas of operational and financial risk where our risk tolerance is quite different.
What are your other interests?
Golf which I play left-handed despite writing with my right hand, which might explain my high handicap, and being chairman of the local football club for the Sussex town in which I live.