Leading by Example

Ask James Cameron if he believes there is value in giving back and the response from the four-decades veteran of the insurance industry is immediate. “Absolutely,” says the president of Toronto-based Cameron & Associates Insurance Consultants Limited. “The rewards are so great.”

Cameron’s long-time efforts and leadership in the insurance industry were recognized most recently in September, when The CIP Society, the graduate division of the Insurance Institute of Canada, named him the 2013 recipient of the Established Leader Award. Cameron received the award less than two years after being recognized by The CIP Society with its 2012 GTA Fellow of Distinction Award, which is nominated by industry peers.

“You go back and think about the things you’ve done. I would do them all again, for sure,” Cameron says.

GATHERING EXPERIENCE

Cameron has had quite an education on his road to recognition, a road that did not start in insurance at all.

That said, his first full-time job investigating rail accidents, as part of CN Rail’s legal claims department, in the mid-1960s whetted his appetite. “It wasn’t insurance,” he says, “but it was claims training, for sure.”

The job also provided lessons about the importance of detail, information that would prove useful in future. Having attended two trials related to investigations in which he had been involved, Cameron saw the trial process first-hand. That process makes clear “if you’ve taken a statement, the information you’ve obtained, how critical certain answers to questions can be at the time that you take them.”

But he “wanted to expand beyond just railway accidents, so I moved into an insurance company.” He was hired as a supervisor at Phoenix Insurance Company in Toronto, he says, calling it “a bold move by the boss because I hadn’t had any insurance experience per se.”

Being responsible for hiring and developing claims staff, Cameron learned plenty. Among other things, he set up five regional offices, leaving Phoenix Insurance after having reached the position of claims superintendent for Ontario.

Cameron then joined Symons General Insurance Company, where he ran the claims operation. Having what he characterizes as “very varied business plans in terms of what it was writing,” his tenure at Symons General provided him exposure to different types and sizes of claims.

He was also involved in establishing a consulting operation within the company that provided services to clients for a fee – “whetted my appetite into getting into what I’m doing now” – and was exposed to reinsurance as a user of said services. “I was fascinated by the reinsurance world,” Cameron relays, so when a vice president position became available at Canadian Reinsurance Company, now Swiss Re Canada, in the late 1980s, he was up for tackling the challenge.

Along the way, Cameron obtained his Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) and Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) designations, and later his Canadian Risk Manager (CRM) designation and accreditation as a mediator and arbitrator. He has also served on industry associations (he is a past president of the Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association), taught Insurance Institute courses, served as a mediator and arbitrator for dispute resolution, spoke at conferences and taken part in countless social activities.

“I enjoyed presenting, speaking in public and was called upon to do a number of those,” Cameron says, “which expanded my network of contacts. That, I think, was one of the strengths that I brought to Canadian Reinsurance, the networking ability,” he notes.

“It was a new thing for me – to look at the business from that different perspective,” Cameron says of his time there. He returned the opportunity for the new view by using his network to help raise the profile of reinsurance, certainly among claims people.

Then in October 1994, he launched Cameron & Associates, a risk management and insurance consulting firm that provides specialized expertise in insurance-related matters, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Cameron settled on a consulting company “because I felt there was a need in the industry for some consulting services assistance and some presentation of reinsurance claims by companies on claims involving multiple exposures.”

His commitment to education, whatever form that takes, is reflected in the people he has hired – all have or are pursing designations.

He sees education as always being of use. “You may recall something from a class 10 years ago that you thought was totally unimportant,” Cameron says. “At least you can have that thought and can then explore more of the up-to-date details. It helps you to become a better insurance person.”

FOSTERING UNDERSTANDING

This is a positive Cameron has seen grow over the years. “There’s a much higher level of professionalism than there was when I started in the business,” he says, crediting efforts by the Insurance Institute.

Having more knowledgeable and articulate insurance professionals helps with providing more detailed explanations of what the product is and how it works – especially useful in these times of change.

Consider Ontario auto. It is a compulsory product, prices are fixed by government and government recently mandated rate reductions. Add that it looks like the product will again become a political issue in the next provincial election, setting the stage for even more change, and “for the industry, that’s an ominous thing.”

Education is also needed with regard to water-related coverage, Cameron suggests. “There could be a market for – and there should be a market for – that type of flood insurance (overland flood) within the insurance community,” he suggests. “It requires a change in the mindset of the insurance-buying population,” starting with “recognizing the limitations of the existing product and then collectively doing something about it.”

Overall, Cameron sees some encouraging signs in the insurance industry, including what he calls the emergence of Canadian companies through mergers and acquisitions. Part of that has to do with the Canadian banks getting into the insurance sector, mostly on a direct writer basis, but the share of non-Canadian-owned companies is much less than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

On the commercial side, Cameron notes more London and European players have started writing business, often higher-hazard business, such as professional liability.

“It’s good for the insurance industry, the diversification you get,” he suggests. There is now more competition chasing some lines of business that “were not as sought after by the bigger insurance companies as others, so they helped keep the rates reasonable.”

GIVING BACK

Cameron has given much of his time and effort to the industry over the years, but has received plenty in return. For example, his fundraising and efforts to create awareness on behalf of the Huntington Society of Canada were recognized in late 2012 with a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. Over the last eight years, he says more than a quarter-million dollars has been raised.

Among other charitable efforts, he has also lent his support to the Women In Insurance Cancer Crusade, the Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada, Camp Oochigeas and the Canadian Cancer Society.

“I’ve been a student of the insurance business and still am really,” Cameron says, adding the time and commitment this has taken has been well worth it. “There’s such a varied number of jobs in the insurance field that if you have a leaning towards a certain discipline, you can find an insurance job that will allow you to satisfy that.”

It has certainly proved the case for Cameron’s wife, Sharon, and two of their three daughters, all of whom have successful insurance careers.