2024 Underwriters of the Year | Melissa Reid, Senior Commercial Underwriter, Intact Insurance

Melissa Reid has honed expert analytical thinking and relationship-building skills since she started as a junior underwriter 13 years ago.

Over the years, she has remained passionate about underwriting, steadily advancing to her current position as a Senior Commercial Underwriter. She holds a BA from Memorial University and a CIP designation from the Insurance Institute. When she’s not working, Reid and her husband enjoy travelling and love the vibrant lifestyle of the Okanagan region, where they’ve lived for the past eight years.

Reid says she feels honoured to be recognized by Acera Insurance, a broker member of the Canadian Broker Network, Canada’s largest network of independent brokers.

Q: What makes a great underwriter-broker working relationship?

“Trust and empathy. I’m lucky to work with some amazing brokers, and I trust they know their risks. Much of my work is in the Okanagan, where my broker partners live, work, and volunteer in their communities and know them well. Their professionalism, expertise, and care really showed during last year’s devastating fire season. I’m privileged that many of my brokers have known me since I started and we’ve had the opportunity to grow together.”

Q: Why did you become an underwriter, and what do you love most about your role?
“I had a family member in the industry who encouraged me to join. I love that no day is the same — you never know what you will see coming across your desk. I also love the collaboration with my team. In my experience, my company has always been exceptionally good at picking great people and fostering an incredibly positive work environment.”

Q: What’s the biggest challenge for underwriters in P&C currently, and one thing they can do to overcome it?

“I’m in B.C., and with the devastating fire seasons we’ve been seeing, I’d say climate change and our response to it. I realize this isn’t just a P&C or underwriting challenge, but it challenges our entire perspective and knowledge. Now we need to move quicker to think about building sustainable communities and evolving building construction and environments that are much more weather resistant and resilient than in the past.”

Q: Given the current talent shortage, what would you say to encourage people to join the industry?

“I would tell them to seriously consider it. There are so many paths you can follow, and there’s never a dull moment.”

Q: What’s one opportunity you think underwriters should focus more on in today’s marketplace?

“It has been amazing to see technology evolve over the past decade. I still remember manually calculating capacity on a spreadsheet. Today I can see a screen of risks, including the topography of the areas. Learning new technologies and staying on top of tech advancements are opportunities we can focus more on to help assist our underwriting.”

Q: How do you see technology, including AI, impacting the role of underwriters in the coming years?

“Controlled appropriately, I would hope it will rid us of the more mundane non-value-added tasks, freeing us up to focus on complex decision-making.”

The Canadian Broker Network Underwriter of the Year awards is a flagship program that CBN has been running on behalf of its members since 2017. The program is exclusive to CBN in partnership with Canadian Underwriter magazine. The categories allow for each of our member firms, at their option, to select one commercial lines underwriter winner as well as one personal lines underwriter winner from a primary market. The program evolved in 2021 to also allow for one commercial lines underwriter from an MGA in addition to the other two categories. The criteria includes underwriting excellence and risk knowledge; prompt and effective responsiveness back to CBN members; writing business that satisfies clients’ needs while creating a win-win for the broker and the insurer; a positive, helpful attitude; and investing time to develop trusting relationships with brokers.