“I’m every woman” – Ana Dores, AXA XL CUO, International Financial Lines, APAC & Europe

Authored by AXA XL

Ana Dores leads AXA XL’s financial lines teams in APAC & Europe. She has had a varied and exciting career to date – at just 40 years of age. A multilingual financial lines specialist and mother of four, Ana describes the importance of work-life balance, and how she hopes to inspire future generations of women in the insurance industry.

Insurance is an industry that offers great opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds and with many different skills and talents. Our industry is working hard to attract and retain talent and I hope to be a role model for people, particularly young women or people with young families, to show them that it is possible to have a really exciting career in this industry and achieve a good work-life balance.

I am lucky enough to have had some terrific mentors and role models throughout my career to date. They have shown me the importance of networks, of allyship and of building confidence through learning from those around you – at all levels of the organization.

“My Way”

After completing a degree in Economics, and a Master’s in Stock Exchanges and Financial Markets, I began my insurance career in my home country of Portugal before moving to Spain where I focused on professional indemnity underwriting.

After eight years at AIG, I joined Liberty Specialty Markets as professional indemnity senior underwriter for Spain and head of that segment for the Iberian market. I then joined AXA XL to launch our professional indemnity business in Spain, and in May 2017 became a member of the organisation’s Spanish Management Committee responsible for Financial Lines, including professional indemnity, management liability, financial institutions and cyber.

One of my proudest achievements in launching AXA XL’s cyber practice in the Iberia region and professional indemnity operations in Spain. To get these things done, I needed to establish alliances in the market and understand the local market dynamics and the needs of our clients. Building relationships was very important, and I believe that this is one of the most rewarding parts of an insurance career.

“What a wonderful world”

One of the great privileges of my career so far has been working with colleagues and stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, cultures and geographies. This helps to make our work rich and interesting and gives us great access to diversity of thought and the creativity that stems from that.

I have been lucky enough to work in several different countries, and that has given me great insights into the nuances of different cultures – as well as enormous benefits in broadening my own horizons.

I’ve seen first-hand how diverse teams can help us to work better together and to deliver better solutions for our clients. It’s a great honour to be leading a diverse team today, a Chief Underwriting Officer for Financial Lines in APAC & Europe, and I am working hard to continue to achieve our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion goals.

“Working 9 to 5” …or in a more agile way!

I believe that creating a good work/life balance is vital not only for people’s own mental and physical well-being, but also to enable them to be their best selves in the working environment.

I have four children – the youngest of whom we fostered just before the beginning of the pandemic. It was important to my husband and I to feel able to offer a loving home to a child that needed one. And it’s immensely rewarding.

It is, of course, quite a juggle sometimes to balance the joys and challenges of having four children with a busy job. I have, in fact, struggled to strike the right balance in the past, but I think

I am now managing it better and I aim to be a role model for my team to show them that a good balance is not only possible but necessary.

I applaud the efforts our company is making to ensure that we enable people to work in an agile way, to achieve a good work-life balance, to have access to training and development opportunities and the ability to network.

This will help us to attract and retain diverse talent now and in the future.

“This is the new year, a new beginning”

As we start to look ahead to a new year, I’m excited about what 2024 will bring, and also about the ways in which we can continue to set an example to, and create opportunities for, young women in our industry.

I want to show future generations – including my own children – that with ambition, hard work and creativity and, maybe most importantly, integrity and kindness towards others, you can forge an exciting, dynamic and fulfilling career in this industry.

Ana Dores was this year honoured as a Business Insurance EMEA Woman to Watch