YIPs TURNS FIVE AS SOYSA RETIRES Firmly focused on the careers of young insurance professionals, the organisation has high hopes for times ahead
YIPs’ new president, Andrew Shepherd
YOUNG INSURANCE Professionals (YIPs) Australia and New Zealand is celebrating its fifth birthday. Founded in Melbourne in 2011, YIPs today has over 6,000 members and operates eight branches both around Australia and across the Tasman in Auckland and Christchurch. It now runs more than 35 educational events each year, which have attracted over 2,800 guests in the past 12 months. Sampath Soysa, principal of law firm Gilchrist Connell’s Melbourne practice, co-founded YIPs and has been its Australasian president since day one. Recently, he has decided to step down from the role. “I am retiring at a point when YIPs has never been at a higher point or in a
better position in its history so far,” he tells Insurance Business. Replacing Soysa is Andrew Shepherd, a Melbourne-based account executive at Marsh, who began his insurance career in 2010 on OAMPS’ personal lines team, after spending five years working in the UK’s banking industry. “I am confident that YIPs couldn’t be in better hands with Andrew Shepherd at the helm and an Australasian management team under him which would be the envy of many publicly listed companies,” says Soysa. “I am proud to have helped assemble and worked with that team these past five years and be able to leave that legacy.” Shepherd says he’s “incredibly excited” to lead YIPs into what he describes as “a new era to further support our members in their careers”. Among his aims are to attract school leavers and graduates into the industry, to work with ANZIIF and NIBA to further the interests of YIPs’ members, and to continue running educational events. Shepherd emphasises the importance of YIPs’ existence at a time when the industry continues to grapple with the challenge of attracting and retaining talent. “We need to work together to attract highcalibre individuals into the industry and to maintain their interest and motivation,” he adds. “As an organisation run by young professionals for young professionals, YIPs is perfectly positioned to understand
our members and to provide them with excellent networking opportunities amongst other professionals from each sector of the industry, as well as providing relevant and interesting educational events to allow them to develop in their careers.” Talking times ahead, Soysa says YIPs already has some exciting plans in the pipeline. “There are … significant plans already underway to form a global network of similar-minded young insurance professional organisations, starting with the UK and Canada,” he shares. “FY17 is very much [the] start of the next era in this remarkable and dynamic organisation. It is a great time to be a young insurance professional in this part of the world.”
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