Age: 27Company: Smith Brothers InsuranceTitle: Large Commercial Risk AdvisorTown where I live: HartfordTown where I work: GlastonburyFun FactBoth of my parents were immigrants. My mother is from Ireland, which I am a citizen of, and my father is from the island of Trinidad & Tobago — where I got to spend my summers growing up […]
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Age: 27
Company: Smith Brothers Insurance
Title: Large Commercial Risk Advisor
Town where I live: Hartford
Town where I work: Glastonbury
Fun Fact
Both of my parents were immigrants. My mother is from Ireland, which I am a citizen of, and my father is from the island of Trinidad & Tobago — where I got to spend my summers growing up as a kid!
Q&A:
What do you do in your current job? As a risk advisor and insurance professional, I help C-suite executives and business owners protect their assets and balance sheets, implement strategies that create a safer work environment, mitigate risk and ultimately help drive their cost of doing business down.
What are your goals in your current job? Recently, my focus has been to continually develop and increase my book of business, developing strategic partnerships amongst myself, agency and centers of influence and to continue to provide my current clients with a great customer experience.
What's your biggest passion? Cultivating genuine relationships by helping others protect their family and business assets. A very successful businessman told me before he passed away that “the greatest natural resource on this planet is people.” Simply put, people are my passion. We all have a story and experiences we can share with others — I seem to enjoy taking the time learning and listening to others journey and see where I can help along the way.
What are your future professional aspirations? To continue creating new business relationships and to also sharpen and develop my leadership abilities to contribute more to our agency growth. Eventually, reaching an executive position within the insurance industry.
How are you involved in the community? I regularly serve at a homeless shelter in Hartford. I attend just about every MetroHartford Alliance event. Our agency is very involved with Hartford Boys & Girls Club in which I've been able to attend certain events. Lastly, I've been a panelist at the Hartford Jobs Corps to encourage young people who are looking to get into the insurance industry.
If you were governor of Connecticut for a day what is one policy you'd push to improve the state's future? I think it's hard to talk politics and not address the harsh business climate that seems to have rooted itself here in Connecticut. Needless to say, we need to find ways to help our small businesses thrive and also give reason for why people would want to start or keep and grow their business here. This is an overhaul initiative that must start from the top down within our government.
List four reasons why you deserve to be a 40 Under Forty: I advise business owners to better protect their assets and balance sheets by implementing total enterprise risk management solutions. At the age of 18, I established a nutritional smoothie franchise, which is still open. Board member of Immacare Inc., which strives to end homelessness in the Hartford region and also on the advisory board of Love146 Inc., which works to end child trafficking and exploitation. Traveled on nearly 15 short-term mission trips, bringing supplies and performing construction work on rundown orphanages and schools in Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico, importing food and clothes among underprivileged communities in Ecuador and Argentina, and coaching young Costa Rican entrepreneurs.
