Mentoring grounds jetsetter’s career

Queensland AILA president Chrissy Cheesman’s greatest joy in life is travel.

She names it as the thing she would never want to give up and is passionate about lots of places on the globe. This year alone, she has just flown back from Myanmar; jets off to Russia in June; and heads to a wedding in Las Vegas in July.

“The more you travel, the more you want to travel,” she says.

But in a career sense, Chrissy’s feet are firmly on the ground.

After graduating from the University of NSW with a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in industrial relations, she “fell into insurance”.

She landed a graduate trainee role with Marsh in Sydney where her academic background in research, law and policy formation, which had been a primary focus during her degree, was valuable.

Chrissy credits good mentors, particularly Marilyn Harris in claims and Gerard O’Kelly in broking, as a key to her success. “My career might have taken a different path, but for Marilyn’s mentoring.”

She also appreciates – in hindsight – aspects of the graduate program that taught her fundamental skills.

At the time, she hated mundane tasks like sorting mail and banking, but now appreciates that those activities gave her a very strong understanding of Marsh’s client base.

She spent 11 years with Marsh and was Sydney based until 2002, when she spent six months with Marsh in the United Kingdom. Apart from learning the ropes in an international office – and perhaps catching the travel bug – Chrissy also had fun. “I partied like a rock star,” she laughed.

Returning to Australia, she joined Marsh’s Brisbane office, helping to grow the team and the client base – both successfully.

In June 2010 she decided it was “time to move on” after more than a decade in broking and made a fundamental leap into the corporate sector, joining national retailer Woolworths Ltd, where she is now Public Liability Manager, Customer Claims Team, Corporate Legal.

The role entails plenty of interstate travel, given Chrissy has an experienced team of 11 people based in Brisbane and Sydney, and she is frequently on the road or in the air to oversee litigation.

Woolworths’ Qld corporate office is at Acacia Ridge, 15km south of Brisbane’s CBD, and that was a motivator for joining AILA.

“It’s isolating being out of the city and I wanted opportunities to network with industry peers and keep in touch,” she told Resolve.

No sooner was she a member than she joined the Qld committee and was catapulted into the presidency because the committee was keen to broaden representation from the corporate arena and Chrissy was ideally placed to do that.

She is seen as a drawcard for more industry people to participate in AILA events and helps balance the educational programs to ensure broad appeal beyond insurance lawyers and insurers, brokers and adjusters.

She is acutely conscious that AILA must foster young professionals, given they are the future leaders of the legal and insurance industries. She also says it is important AILA remains dynamic to deliver education programs and networking opportunities for all industry colleagues and peers.

Chrissy is keen for AILA to strengthen its mentoring activities. Given the benefits great mentors have brought to Chrissy’s career, she is testament to the value of the concept.