Often the only woman in the room

Tracey Gibbons has learnt a few harsh lessons over her long and successful career.

“When I was more junior, I could be in a meeting and talk about something and I’d get shut down,” Gibbons recalls about her early days breaking into the insurance industry four decades ago.

“A man would say exactly the same thing and people would say, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s a great idea.’”

Gibbons, now the head of QBE Re Bermuda, found the only way to ensure her voice was heard was to stand up for herself.

“When I was younger, I thought that if I was really good at what I did and I made the company money and I was consistent and reliable and always volunteered and stepped up that it would be recognised. That’s not always the case,” she says.

“You have to toot your own trumpet sometimes and just say, you know, I’ve done that.

“It’s happening less now because I’m often the most senior person in the room. But now, if I see that happening to someone else, I’m motivated to speak out and say, ‘They just said that.’”

“I think one of the reasons I’ve succeeded in the industry is that I’m not scared to speak my mind.”

Gibbons joined QBE Re two years ago partly because of its progressive approach to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Since then, the company has launched an Inclusion and Diversity Policy and is on target to increase the number of women in leadership from 35 per cent to 40 per cent by 2025; women at the board level has already risen to 44 per cent. QBE also has targets in place on ethnicity, disability and LGBTIQ+.

Those difficult early experiences make Gibbons an ideal role model for young women trying to climb the ladder.

“I’m lucky I have succeeded but I know how hard it was for me,” she says.

“I often wonder, if I was a male, where would I be now or how much more quickly I would have got into this position.”

She sits on the board of educational mentoring group Women in Reinsurance and the ABIC Diversity and Inclusion Committee, is an active speaker on DEI and acts as a mentor to many young people.

“A lot of people reach out to me on LinkedIn because they want to get into the industry or they’re at an impasse and they’re not sure what the next step is,”

Gibbons says. “I’ve never declined to meet anyone for a cup of coffee.

“When I started, there was nobody who looked like me to look up to. You look at it now, we’ve made so much progress. There are so many females in very senior positions, but we need to do that for all types of diversity and we’ve still got a long way to go for women. QBE is committed to making progress in this area.”

QBE aims to create a pipeline of quality individuals for senior roles by recruiting diverse candidates at all levels. During interviews, hiring managers are mindful not to “favour the person who’s similar to you” and look beyond outward confidence in interviews, which has historically given an advantage to privately educated candidates.

“I’m looking for the rough diamond,” Gibbons says.

“This whole process has to start at entry level, identifying the high potential individuals from a diverse background and supporting them as they learn and grow.”

QBE conducts training on discrimination, bullying and, in Bermuda, the racial history of Bermuda, while staff are encouraged to be their authentic self at work; the company will also be a “Rainbow Sponsor” for this year’s Bermuda Pride month.

The biggest challenge moving forward, Gibbons believes, is education.

“There are a lot of people who go along with the whole DEI thing because they have to, but then they hire people who look and think the way that they do.

“If we could educate people and convince them of the benefits of having a diverse workforce for themselves, for employees and for society as a whole, I think that would be a big step in the right direction.”

Gibbons advises young people to initially look for jobs that provide them an opportunity to learn and where senior colleagues are willing to teach them.

“Reach out and make sure you have at least one good mentor,” she adds.

“The big thing that was missing for me was having a champion, that is someone who will put you forward to do things, or promote your capabilities within the company.”

BIO: Tracey Gibbons is head of QBE Re’s senior underwriter and manager with extensive experience as a mentor, coach and champion to individuals. She sits on the board of Women in Reinsurance, a networking and educational organisation for women working in the reinsurance industry, and is a member of the Association of Bermuda International Companies’ DEI Committee. In 2015, she in the insurance industry by Intelligent female executives in Bermuda by Bermuda Re and ILS Magazine. She was given the “Women to Watch” award by Business Insurance Magazine in 2019.