Meet Kristina Pallas, who recently received the Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) Top Graduate Award for the new-track program.
Pallas became an auto claims representative at Intact Insurance in March 2008, right after graduating from university with a degree in Forensic Anthropology.
She became a casualty and bodily injury claims adjuster in 2010. Two years later, she became a unit manager for the assignment of all newly reported claims at Intact.
As a unit manager, she started taking one of her favourite courses in the FCIP program, F520 Leading in the Insurance World.
The leadership course “came at the right time,” Pallas said. “Moving from a claims adjuster to a manager was a huge adjustment for me. The FCIP course taught me what makes a leader. It helped me to learn about delegation, and how to help the team achieve what they needed to achieve.”
Pallas went on to excel in the FCIP program, receiving the top graduate award at The Insurance Institute of Ontario’s 117th annual Convocation in January. She researched many cutting-edge topics related to the p&c industry, including solar storm exposures and the ability to expand flexible work arrangements in customer care centres.
“I gained a lot of insight,” she said of the FCIP program. “I expanded my knowledge of the p&c industry, which has helped me get to where I am today.”
Pallas is now the unit manager of the Centralized Assignment Team and AB Claims Administrative Support at Intact Insurance in Mississauga, Ontario.
Pallas has a busy work schedule and the online FCIP program is designed to accommodate it. Within weekly timeframes, FCIP candidates complete assignments at their own pace. Most report spending a weekly average of anywhere up to 15 hours on their studies.
What kind of work is involved with the FCIP? Each week, candidates communicate with a course facilitator and fellow candidates, read course materials, complete individual and group assignments, write online posts and provide informed commentary on other candidates’ posts.
How did Pallas juggle her time between her studies and her work? Completing the FCIP work requires focus and dedication, she said.
“It’s like taking on any challenge, whether going to the gym or learning to cook something new in the kitchen, you have to make time for it,” she said. “Once you’ve made time for it, it just becomes part of what you do.”
Now Pallas says she’s glad she did it. “The feeling of satisfaction is great,” she said. “Knowledge is invaluable and it’s something no one can take away from you.”
For more information about the FCIP program – including video testimonials, brochures and a business case – please go to www.insuranceinstitute.ca/fcip
Are you ready to take the FCIP? Complete our short FCIP Self-Assessment Quiz at www.insuranceinstitute.ca/AreYouReady