Inga Beale
Inga Kristine Beale (born May 1963)[1] is a British businesswoman, the CEO of Lloyd's of London.
Early life and education
Beale is the second child of an English father and a Norwegian mother. She studied economics and accounting at Newbury College.[2]
Career
Beale started her career in 1982 at Prudential Assurance Company in London. She trained as an underwriter, specialising in international treaty reinsurance. The industry was composed predominantly of men at the time; she once took issue with posters in the office depicting half-naked women, only to have her colleagues plaster them across her computer and chair.[2]
She took a year off in 1989, cycling in Australia and backpacking in Asia.[2][3]
She left Prudential in 1992 to work as an underwriter in the General Electric's insurance division. She joined GE's management in Kansas in 2001. She continued on with GE Insurance Solutions until 2006, taking leadership roles in Paris and Munich. Beale then headed Swiss reinsurer Converium, turning the company around. In 2008 she joined Zurich Insurance Group as a member of their Group Management Board. The following year she was named the group's Global Chief Underwriting Officer. From 2012 to 2013, she was the Group CEO at the privately held Lloyd's insurer Canopius.[2]
Beale was announced as the new CEO of Lloyd's of London in December 2013, replacing Richard Ward. She is Lloyd's first female CEO in the insurance market's 328-year history.[4]
Beale who is bisexual has been instrumental in the launch of Pride@Lloyds, an internal LGBT employee resource group, and has supported LGBT insurance employee network LINK.[5] She helped start the international Insurance Supper Club for leading female executives.[2] In 2015 Beale became the first woman and the first openly bisexual person to be named number one in the OUTstanding & FT Leading LGBT executive power list.[6]
Personal life
Beale played competitive rugby for London's Wasps into her thirties, nearly making it to the international level.[2] In 2013 she married Philippe Pfeiffer, a Swiss jewellery designer, and the couple live in Spitalfields.[7]
References
- ^ https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/El02DcTuDMYIvb7mOvJup19QteI/appointments
- ^ a b c d e f Gray, Alistair (December 20, 2013). "Inga Beale, the steely trailblazer shaking up a masculine bastion". Financial Times.
- ^ Kolesnikov-Jessop, Sonia (June 21, 2015). "Developing the Confidence to Move Up". The New York Times.
- ^ Armitstead, Louise (16 December 2013). "Lloyd's of London appoints Inga Beale as first female chief executive in 325 years". The Telegraph.
- ^ "2015 Leading 100 LGBT Executives". www.out-standing.org. 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
- ^ Julia Kollewe (2015). "Lloyd's of London boss is first woman to top LGBT power list | Business". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
- ^ Susannah Butter (2016). "Lloyd's CEO Inga Beale on coming out as bisexual in a job interview". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
External links
- Inga Beale at Lloyd's