Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:32 — )
Subscribe: RSS
In this episode of CHATTINN CYBER, Marc Schein interviews Shiraz Saeed, Vice President and Cyber Risk Product Leader at Arch Insurance Group Inc. His role involves the strategic direction of Cyber Risk products or services at the company. Today, he talks about his exciting journey, playing multiple roles as a businessman, real estate broker, underwriter, and risk manager, and the people and situations that led him to build that.
Shiraz spent the majority of his life working with his dad, who was a watch dealer. At that time, watch dealerships had a business model very similar to insurance, and hence, growing up, Shiraz was always around credit cards, retail sales and instances of fraud. He pursued his under-graduation in Finance and was interested in finding a career in either banking or Computer Science, which were a hot topic then. But realizing the challenges in the professions, he decided to work with his dad on his business full time.
At a later time in his career, Shiraz also started a CTE course campaign across the country to get brokers, clients, and risk managers to understand risk management. By doing this, he could improve his ability to gain traction and deliver solutions, find policies that work at reasonable terms, and efficiently manage risks. Over the years, he received an opportunity to work with Starr, serving as the cyber product leader. He used the opportunity to learn about cutting edge technologies in the industry and further enhance his skills. He moved from there to work with Arch Insurance, where he serves as the Vice President and cyber risk product leader.
During his conversation with Marc, Shiraz also shares his observations from the cybersecurity industry over the last ten years and what challenges the industry might face in the upcoming year or two. He shares that the frequency of cybersecurity incidents has increased massively over the past ten years and that we need to invest more in cybersecurity practices for more organizational and individual security in the future.
Tune in to the episode today to learn more about cyber risk management from Shiraz!
Highlights:
“If you’re gonna sell something, you have to make sure you know more about that product, that space, that industry than anybody you’re selling it to.”
“He [Shiraz’s father] would always say [that success] it’s 70% hard work and doing all the right things, and 30% luck, or forecasting or opportunity, whatever you want to call it.”
“What has really happened over the past 10 years or so is the level of frequency of the incidents that we’re seeing, has surpassed the amount of expectancy that any of us ever had.”
“People want to maintain a level of sustainability in the marketplace.”
“You got to be the educator, whether they buy it from you or not, whether they do business with you or not, you need to demonstrate or teach them about what it is all about, and why it benefits them and why it doesn’t benefit them. And then, by doing that you automatically improve your ability to get traction, because you help them for real, whether you’ve made the money on it or not.”
Time-Stamps:
[03:49] – Shiraz shares his life’s story with us
[22:12] – Shiraz talks about the person who’s helped the most in his career and life
[23:57] – What Shiraz learns from his dad’s journey in life
[27:23] – Shiraz’s thoughts on cybersecurity in the upcoming one or two years
Connect with Shiraz:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirazsaeed/