In the latest instalment of our Alumni Spotlight series, we speak to Adrian Lynch, CEO of Blue Ocean Reinsurance Group, who graduated in 1995 with a degree in European Studies and Insurance with French at University of Limerick.
Adrian discusses his journey from undergrad at UL to CEO of his own company.
Tell us about yourself
Born and raised in Limerick City on the north side, so a trip to UL was about as exotic as it got for me back then.
I’m married to Mayo woman Sinead and have five kids, my own Red Branch Knights...
I left Ireland in 1998 and worked in the Cayman Islands and New York pretty much since. We are actively in the process of looking to move back to Ireland.
Why did you choose to study at UL?
Being from Limerick, it was on my doorstep and my sister who went to UL before me appeared to be having a wonderful time socially.
UL had a great reputation academically to be fair but from a practical point of view it allowed me to live at home and get a part time job (bar work in McKnights and Nancy Blakes in Limerick City - of itself an equally invaluable education).
What were the highlights of your course?
I was very fond of Michael McMahon our insurance lecturer as Michael - though clearly an academic - had worked as an underwriter in his day and brought some real on the job experience.
When adding in the co-op opportunity to gain on the job experience it opened my eyes in a way the academic side hadn’t for me. I actually enjoyed the final year project more than I did the exams!
Michael and I have stayed in touch and chat often about the evolution of the insurance and reinsurance side of the course, something I am keen to support.
Would you believe when I started working for IRMG in the Cayman Islands in 1998 I was working on some claim files where the underwriter was none other than Michael McMahon in his previous days. We had a few laughs about that over a pint at the Munster Hurling Final when we met up.
For some reason alternative risk and reinsurance, though I understood little of them, seemed exotic and sexy to me (remember it was 1991) so I ultimately focused on those areas in my career.
What advice would you offer to students considering studying at UL?
I suspect the same advice I would give my own kids about university life and that is balance and integration. Get stuck in as education is far beyond the academic. I was probably a little too interested in the non-academic side of the house (from a maturity perspective) but am a firm believer that education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
I realise in hindsight the trimester system brought an academic discipline that benefitted me. The sport and cultural and artistic side of UL was very well developed, and it was important to me to fully embrace all aspects of that.
UL is rewarding in that you will get out of it what you put into it and in many cases in multiplies.
What advice would you offer to students considering studying insurance?
My youngest son had a 'bring your dad to school day’. He asked me if I dreamed about working in insurance as a young child. Sandwiched between some kids’ neurosurgeon and stockbroker dads, I had to be honest.
In all seriousness we were part of the early group who came from that course and though I know it has evolved, it was a wonderful grounding and preparation for industry.
It also practically was very helpful with exemptions towards the Chartered Insurance Institute exams, which allowed us to keep the momentum.
There are so many sub elements within insurance, and it opened my eyes to many areas of the industry that created real career opportunity for me. Insurance crosses all aspects of all industries – without exception. Not a bad hedge career wise!
Were you a member of any clubs or societies?
I was active in the ‘Lit & Phil’ Debating Society which I just loved. We had some wonderful characters, talent, and speakers in that group. That same society afforded me Irish Times debates and inter university debates, my claim to fame getting absolutely hammered by (during a debate) and hammered with (post debate) none other than UCD’s Dara Ó Briain and now judge Kerida Naidoo in the Irish Times debates.
I was a social hurler in college, deluding myself into thinking I was Fitzgibbon standard. I struggled for pace in 1991-93, so I suspect I would be seen as actively going backwards pace wise with the modern game.
What are some of your favourite memories from your time at UL?
I loved the grounds in UL, it's like a small city now but back then it felt like a small village.
In hindsight we were so spoiled in terms of musical talent and visiting bands in UL. Ber Angley was famous in terms of booking college bands but when you think we hosted Power of Dreams, Aslan, The Stunning, An Emotional Fish, The Cranberry Saw Us (really aging myself), Hothouse Flowers , That Petrol Emotion, and a few others it was a wondrous time and I often think of how lucky we were to have such close access to such great talent back then.
Could you update us on where you are now in your career?
Now having almost 30 years in the industry, I spent 18 years with Aon in New York and Cayman, and 12 years pretty much working for myself.
I have set up and run two life reinsurers of my own and recently set up an insurance adviser and manager specifically for the reinsurance sector for whom I act as CEO – Blue Ocean Reinsurance Group.
The cost of doing business offshore has increased significantly, so we tend to provide the infrastructure for reinsurance companies start to finish. The business is based in Cayman but we are opening in Bermuda and Onshore US, with back offices in South Africa, Sri Lanka and our first employee in Ireland.
How did your course and your overall UL experience prepare you for the career you have now?
I believe the overall college experience has a role to play in preparing you and with hindsight I often think that the course was in fact progressive and of its time. Now as my own kids embark on their college experience I believe there are more options so less chance of getting it wrong but in short there is no wrong choice.
Education now is a continuous upskilling and I was guilty of the poorly held view that once I got through college I was done. In reality my education was really only beginning because again I was immature academically and it took me years later to figure out that college was rarely about what you learn but more how you learn and apply it.
That said my UL course was well received by prospective employers and kudos to it. I would love to see how it has evolved because Insurance is now playing catch up after years of lack of change. It’s a wonderful opportunity for those in the course to challenge the parameters…
What has been a career highlight so far?
I spent seven years in New York City after 9/11 as North American Director of Sales for AON. As an Irish man in America it was the best job in the world and doors opened easily for me at the time, leveraging that Irish network.
It was also our pre-kids time and assuming they don’t read this, a very happy time for Sinead and I as we travelled at the drop of a hat. Now with seven of us it's more like a military invasion to go anywhere. The PLC world eventually becomes stultifying as you end up doing more and more with less and less. Vision extends to the horizon of next quarter and though I am an incurable optimist I did become a bit cynical in the PLC world so love now working with a few solid partners where we go in the direction we want to.
What are your hopes and plans for the future?
Having turned 50 I guess I have less of my career ahead of me than behind me (eeek) but with that comes vision and a little wisdom. Working with folks I trust and enjoy and with clients who appreciate what we do is what I am all about.
I still have a bit of runway ahead, especially with five kids to put through college, I believe actuarially I can retire at 112.
It's easy to say work at what you enjoy, but I do believe with wisdom comes a clarity around what you want to do. I fully recognise with bills to pay many folks have to plough on through though.
Change is somewhat frantic and manic in the commercial world these days and I worry about the pace of AI tech devaluing traditional skills such as broking, underwriting and sales. I keep hammering into my own kids that communication, emotional intelligence, and social skills are essential tools and proper hard skills now as opposed to soft skills and I am not sure I would like to be a manager one or two generations on.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
We were so lucky back then to be amongst the early insurance graduates. UL was progressive and swept us along in that tide. I have such happy memories of UL and I do often wish I had a greater appreciation of the opportunities at that time.
Visionaries like Ed Walsh were rare and what with the philanthropic efforts of Chuck Feeney we were all beneficiaries and, in many respects, laid the cornerstones of what UL is today.
I often visit watching my daughter playing soccer and am endlessly surprised at the development of the infrastructure in UL. The facilities are astonishing and I am in many ways envious.
UL felt like a community and our class size was small enough to feel like something. I want my own kids to have that same sense of belonging and pride in their university.
UL helped shape my thinking and approach (though maybe I didn’t realise it at the time) and I consider myself privileged to have been able to call it home for four years. The world, geopolitically, is on fire at the moment and UL always had a very strong sense of identity and we left with a very strong sense of self….it is imperative that UL continues to push hard on same as it is needed now more than ever.