by Brendan Ahern

The day before I met Stacey Purcell for a Q&A about her time in the insurance industry, her daughter had had all four wisdom teeth removed. Needless to say, things were a bit hectic at the Purcell household.

But Stacey is a master at managing a full schedule. She’s a senior account executive at AVIVA in Atlantic Canada, a board member for Camp Triumph, and a virtual instructor for the Insurance Institute of Canada. It was a pleasure to get to know her.

Every industry, even those like insurance that can sometimes seem dominated by abstract products and large companies, is ultimately made up of people. Stacey shared some of her professional journey with me, touching on her different roles in over thirty years of experience in the industry.

INTERVIEWER

How did you first start working in insurance?

PURCELL

One of the things that I wanted to do all through high school was to get into social work. All I wanted to do was work with troubled youth. The more messed up the kid was, the more I was up for the challenge. That was really what I wanted to do. Then my parents got divorced and I became one of those messed up kids, and the last thing I wanted to do was deal with them.

I ended up landing a job with an insurance company in downtown Toronto as a data-processor. I was really scared because I was like “I’m too young to grow up, I should not be here.” So I left that job. I almost joined the Navy, but then I found another insurance job, this time as a broker. From there I moved into working as a claims adjuster and I loved it.

INTERVIEWER

Why did you like claims so much?

PURCELL

I connected more with people and that was one of the things that I always wanted to do from the beginning. Claims is very challenging because you’re dealing with very unhappy people. It was great though. Very rewarding. Then I went into management. I got to a point in my career where I needed a change and AVIVA was hiring. I decided to do something completely different so I went into business development. It was probably the one discipline within the industry that I had not yet done.

INTERVIEWER

What does that position look like?

PURCELL

My role acts as a strategic consultant working with brokers to help them grow their business. I connect with the principals or the owners of the brokerages. My partner, Andy Decoste, consults with the more front-line people. He is also AA Munro’s digital consultant so he helps them build marketing strategies to help them in the digital space.

INTERVIEWER

What has been AVIVA’s approach to the digital space?

PURCELL

We really focus on approaching people however they want to interact. And one of the biggest keys is to be very authentic. Marketing messages are often very refined, polished, and scripted. When you go into the digital and social media space it’s a bit scary because it’s not like that. It’s more genuine.

INTERVIEWER

How about your own professional development? You’re an instructor for the Charted Insurance Professional (CIP) program. Is the CIP designation well-known?

PURCELL

It is certainly well respected within the industry, but outside of the industry most people would probably not know what a CIP is. I think there’s still a lot of work to be done by the the Insurance Institute of Canada in bringing a level of awareness to it. They have tried with newspapers ads and online campaigns but I think there’s still some work to be done. There’s great potential to boost our professionalism.

INTERVIEWER

Why is it important that the industry increase that level of awareness?

PURCELL

I think the industry is still misunderstood in general. The brokers I work with, and get to work with every day, are just phenomenal people—and they’re local people. I think that it’s too bad that insurance is misunderstood. If young people knew more about how we work with each other and the value we bring to the economy and to our communities, I believe more people would want to work in our industry. You should see the relationships we build!