PEOPLE
CAREER PATH
RISK-TAKER
Alexandra Glickman says the secret to her success lies in never being afraid to take risks After graduating from UC Berkeley, Glickman took the LSATs with a friend. Her friend’s score was high enough to gain her entry to Harvard Law, but Glickman’s wasn’t, prompting her to rethink her plans “It was a lucky circumstance that I didn’t have the score to attend Harvard and that I was so competitive with my friend. I looked in the newspaper and found a job for $1,000 a month”
1981
1983 PLAYS A FATEFUL TENNIS GAME Glickman performed so well in the marketing department of a catastrophic loss restoration department that she was pressured to transfer to the company’s home office – until a conversation at a tennis match offered an alternative
TAKES AN UNEXPECTED DETOUR
1983
“One fateful day, I was playing in a tennis tournament and my partner, an insurance professional, said he wanted me to interview at his brokerage. I took the risk and interviewed”
LEARNS FROM THE GROUND UP Glickman’s first job in the insurance industry meant starting at the bottom, but a personal connection with a potential client led to a sudden improvement in her standing “We marched into the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and damn if we didn’t get the account – and all of a sudden I didn’t have to park five blocks away. My status didn’t change, but I started working on the accounts; it allowed me to learn the brokerage from the ground up”
1997 1998
GETS INVOLVED WITH CITY OF HOPE A client was the first to recommend that Glickman get involved with the cancer treatment and research center, where she has now volunteered for two decades “He knew it would resonate with me. If we are given the opportunity to succeed, it is our moral imperative to help those who don’t have that fortune. You can do well by doing good”
2007 IS RECOGNIZED BY LLOYD’S The recognition conferred by the Lloyd’s of London Surplus Lines Broker of the Year Award made it one of Glickman’s most treasured honors “It meant that we were recognized by the Lloyd’s community. I was fortunate to be seated next to Lord Levine, and we found that we shared a lot in common. The next year I was in London, and I was honored to be invited to spend the High Holy Days with his family”
IS MADE MANAGING DIRECTOR At age 36, Glickman was the youngest sales manager at Johnson & Higgins when Marsh bought the brokerage; she became a managing director and went on to develop and launch real estate and hospitality industry specialty practices. However, she was unhappy with the company’s culture ”I did not resonate with their way of doing business; it wasn’t client-focused. I was the only managing director to walk away under my own steam – I did so on the ninth day after my contract was over”
2001 JOINS GALLAGHER After leaving Marsh, Glickman set her sights on another major brokerage: Gallagher “I liked their reputation, they were public, and they took risks. I knew I had to take this risk, and God bless the clients who followed me. No one knew who Gallagher was at that point, but it had excellent leadership and an ethical core – nothing can substitute for that”
www.ibamag.com
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