PEOPLE
CAREER PATH
CONSTRUCTING A CAREER MECON Insurance founder and CEO Glenn Ross has built his expertise in insurance over three decades, and his success story continues At 19 years of age, the promise of a company car led Glenn Ross to apply for a role at the Engineering Insurance Bureau in Auckland.
1978 A DRIVE TO ENTER INSURANCE?
1985 TRADES UNDERWRITING FOR BROKING After working as national engineering manager for NZI, Ross joined Bowring Burgess Marsh & McLennan as a broker for its largest construction client. In doing so, he had the chance to work with the late Hamish McKenzie, a man he describes as one of the doyens of the construction broking market. After McKenzie’s passing, Ross found himself juggling the accounts of both of New Zealand’s largest contractors.
I didn’t know what insurance was, certainly not in an engineering sense, and I couldn’t spell bureau. But I got the job
1978 LAYS THE FOUNDATIONS According to Ross, his time at the Engineering Insurance Bureau provided him with a solid grounding in insurance basics. “It was an excellent learning environment because we surveyed mechanical equipment and refrigeration facilities; we underwrote the various risks that we surveyed; and we did all of the claim assessments for them. We did this for many different insurers.”
1985
1996
ENTERS RISK MANAGEMENT Ross worked as a risk manager for Fletcher Construction for several years. “I absolutely loved the Fletcher company and the people. The diversity and the complexity of the contracts that those guys engaged in was the spice of life to me back then … I was also on a committee that produced the NZ Institute of Architects’ SC1 contracts … that, to me, was an invaluable experience.”
HEADS ACROSS THE TASMAN Ross relocated to Sydney to undertake a role with Lumley Insurance. “I was brought to Australia by Roger Bostock … to manage and grow their engineering book, and that included starting construction from scratch for them. And, I guess, being competitive by nature, I set my sights on making Lumley the largest engineering portfolio in Australia. It took around seven years to achieve that.”
2016 BUILDING UP THE BUSINESS Today, MECON is highly regarded for its expertise in underwriting construction risk. Ross says the business continues to grow above even his team’s own expectations. “We’re looking to expand our product range, but still with a construction focus. We’ve recently launched in New Zealand, and I think growth and acceptance in that market is going to be challenging, because it is, in effect, a new start for MECON … but it’s certainly an interesting and exciting prospect for all of us.”
2003 ESTABLISHES MECON Having achieved his ambitious goal at Lumley, Ross was looking for a new challenge, which ultimately led to him founding his own underwriting agency, MECON Insurance. “I figured that if I could get Lumley’s book to grow from zero to significant in seven years, I could probably do the same for a company that I started, too. It was probably a leap of faith, but I guess failure never entered my mind. It seldom does.”
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