Insurance is a knowledge-based business.

Thanks to your Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation, you have a solid technical know-how of Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry. But should your knowledge stop there?

Expanding your network of professional relationships is bound to give you a broader appreciation of the strategic intricacies of p&c insurance business. Talking to people knowledgeable in their fields is also an important part of developing yourself personally and professionally.

That’s why insurance professionals like Kelly O’Keefe and Jacob Wagner have taken the plunge to become FCIPs.

The Insurance Institute’s Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) designation program offers a comprehensive p&c business education. The six-course program culminates in a ‘Capstone’ project, in which you apply everything you learn and lead a highly relevant research or business project at your workplace. 

O’Keefe, a section manager of accident benefits at Desjardins General Insurance Group, was initially nervous about the online structure of the FCIP program. She had been out of school for 15 years, and was used to doing independent study as a means of professional development.

With the support of her company’s leadership, she signed up for the FCIP. Having completed the first four courses of the program, she has learned a great deal from the online group work and communication with colleagues from across the country.

“I had to reach out to executives, to people on the Desjardins banking side,” said O’Keefe, whose expertise lies mainly in the claims side of the business. “I’ve learned from conversations I’ve had with other class participants who represent a wide range of areas, experiences, and tenure. There are people from all different aspects of the industry in the FCIP program. It’s been really fascinating to talk to them and learn from them.”

Jacob Wagner, an aviation underwriter at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Americas, just finished the FCIP course work. He came up with a successful growth strategy for his company’s aviation line based on online discussions with his fellow FCIP candidates, as well as the concepts he learned in the course materials.

“The strategy course was tremendously applicable to the [Capstone] project I was doing, because I was able to take those theories, the data we have in the marketplace and those discussions with other FCIP candidates and combine all of those things to come up with a strategy,” said Wagner. “And so far I feel that strategy has been successful. That was the coolest thing to see, applying what you’ve learned.”

Are you interested in learning from the national conversation of FCIP candidates across the country? Want to know what’s involved?

Join our national FCIP webinar on Tuesday, May 16 at 1.30 pm EST. 

Kelly O’Keefe and Jacob Wagner will be on hand as webinar panelists to answer your questions about how the FCIP can help you develop yourself personally and professionally.

Plus, Bob Tisdale, president and chief operating officer of Pembridge Insurance Company, offers his insights as a leading insurance executive on the benefits of an education beyond your CIP.

Please see the Institute’s website for more information about the FCIP program