Meet Mikiko Hayashi, Head of Business Promotion, Global Business Group, Commercial Business Strategy and Underwriting Department, Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.
Please tell us about your career journey and your path to Sompo Holdings/Sompo Japan.
I joined Sompo Japan in 2001 and worked in marine cargo insurance for six years. The non-life insurance industry interested me because it provides a way to stay close to seasonal businesses as the times change. After my maternity leave, I worked as a sales representative within a corporate sales department. As their main market was trading companies, the experience broadened my horizons. I have been working in my current department for just over four years. In this role, I support the sales department that handles global sales, and have many opportunities to connect with Sompo Group members abroad. Sompo offers such a wide range of opportunities, and I am sure that even if my interests change, there will always be a suitable opportunity within the company.
Why do you work? What is the purpose in your work?
I love the feeling of expanding my world by learning things I didn’t know through my work. I am inspired by my colleagues and business partners, and I believe this helps me to grow as an individual. I aim for my work to contribute in any way to creating a society in which our children can live happily.
Tell us about an initiative at Sompo Holdings/Sompo Japan that you are most excited for this year.
I am very excited about the Multinational business initiative. While we have been working toward this for some time, I feel the Multinational business initiative will help us realize our collective goals. Sompo Group is unique and, through the initiative, has united itself by taking advantage of the strengths of each Sompo company. I am excited to contribute to the creation of a system where many Sompo Group companies around the world can work together toward common goals across oceans.
What is your idea of a perfect day outside of the office?
My idea of a perfect day is getting up early in the morning, going running at dawn, and making a breakfast that takes a little more time and effort than usual. I enjoy watching my son’s football games, and drinking a cup of coffee while listening to my daughter play guitar. It would be great to end the day with time to get together with friends and chat over drinks and food together.
About Sompo
Sompo Holdings Ltd. is a global specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, headquartered in Bermuda. Through its operating subsidiaries, Sompo writes agriculture, professional lines, property, marine, energy, casualty and other specialty lines of insurance and catastrophe, property, casualty, professional lines, weather risk and specialty lines of reinsurance. Sompo companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Sompo Holdings, Inc., whose core business encompasses one of the largest property and casualty insurance groups in the Japanese domestic market. We maintain excellent financial strength as evidenced by the ratings of A+ (Superior) from A.M. Best (XV size category) and A+ (Strong) from Standard and Poor’s on our principal operating subsidiaries. Sompo’s headquarters are located at Waterloo House, 100 Pitts Bay Road, Pembroke HM 08, Bermuda and its mailing address is Sompo, Suite No. 784, No. 48 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda.
For more information about Sompo, please visit www.sompo-intl.com.