Jeff

Name: Jeff Phillips
Company: Dempsey Partners LLC
Role/Title: Partner
University/Degree/Training: Arizona State University, Bachelors of Science, Mechanical Engineering

Why did you choose the insurance industry?
I didn’t.  It chose me.  I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering but did not want to be stuck in a cubicle by myself designing equipment.  I looked for careers that I could use my technical background but be more directly involved with people and general business.  I considered some technical sales positions before I heard about a job as a “loss prevention engineer”.  Basically the job entailed visiting and evaluating insured locations for an insurance company and writing a technical report identifying the construction, occupancy, protection and exposure for the facility.  After the inspection I would meet with the plant manager or an executive and describe any deficiencies that I identified and any recommendations that I had.  My report would go to the insurance company for underwriting purposes and copies would also go to senior executives of the company.

As a loss prevention engineer, I really knew nothing about insurance coverage or insurance business, but I did learn a lot about many different industries such as hospitality, heavy manufacturing, aerospace, retail, food processing, chemical etc.  It was a fantastic learning experience.  After a few years of working as an engineer, I moved into a claims adjuster role.  I still got to use my technical background investigating losses, but I learned a lot more about the insurance industry and coverage.

What have you done in your career so far?
Besides engineering and adjustment, I also spent some time in underwriting and sales.  All of these positions gave me a complete knowledge of the insurance industry and prepared me well for my current role as a policyholder claims advisor.  I no longer work for the insurance company but am now a partner in a consulting firm that provides resources and guidance to companies that have experienced catastrophic impacts to their business.  This is typically fires, floods and hurricanes, but can also include product recall, fidelity, and other forensic accounting activities.  We also help companies analyze supply chain interdependencies and business interruption values for insurance purposes.

What do you do in a typical working day?
No day is typical.  Every day is different.  If there has been a recent widespread catastrophe such as a hurricane I am probably meeting with clients, understanding their business and the impact to their business from the event, and helping them to put procedures in place to capture all their costs, mitigate their losses and return their business to normal as quickly as possible.  Then get on an airplane and go meet with the next client.  Every company is different with different people, different problems, and require different solutions.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
Meeting new people and learning new things every day.  The most rewarding part is providing solutions and helping individual people recover from situations that initially appear devastating.

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