Tom Lima will be the first to tell you he fell into insurance. After enduring the “kick in the teeth” of roughly 200 job applications and interviews, a cousin who worked in the industry suggested he apply for a support role with Willis' Pacific team.
It wasn't what young Tom had envisioned for his career; in fact, he barely knew the basics of insurance. "I knew there was a retention or excess. I knew you had to pay something, and at the time, I only knew about house and contents. I had no idea about this vast world that existed. I didn't even know there was such a thing as an insurance broker.”
With nothing to lose after months of rejections, Tom interviewed for the role that would change his whole career trajectory.
An unconventional start
Supporting Willis’ Pacific team proved transformative. Suddenly, he wasn't just learning about house and contents policies – he was helping insure resorts, airports, aviation risks, and telecommunications companies across the Cook Islands and Samoa. He was learning about complex programmes placed across Singapore, London, and China, and helping piece together coverage where local markets couldn't provide complete solutions.
"It was absolutely eye-opening. You see all the different risks – resorts, government agencies, power companies, telecommunications companies. I didn't even know you could insure these risks."
Tom learned that the Pacific is an incredibly challenging region. Limited local markets mean brokers are forced to find international solutions. "For most renewals, they go to places like Singapore and London and try to put together a programme. That was my exposure at the start." Tom was introduced to complex spreadsheets called "mud maps", piecing together 5% coverage here, 10% there, and perhaps 35% that would have to be self-insured.
"It was so formative," Tom reflects. "When I'm working in the New Zealand market now - of course we get the odd difficult one – but to have that exposure at the start was just so important to where I am now."
The road not taken
Tom stayed in that support role for nine months while completing his law degree, then moved to a criminal law firm, curious to see if that was his calling. He spent just under a year there before facing a crucial decision at age 27.
"No one at the top seemed particularly happy," he reflects candidly on his time in law. "I questioned whether I wanted to dedicate years of my life to reach their level. I was working 7am to 7pm most days and working Saturdays. I'd completely lost work-life balance."
The contrast with his nine months in insurance was stark. He'd enjoyed that first taste of the industry. He could see opportunities to progress. And the people at the top seemed to really like it.
Tom picked up the phone to his old manager at Willis, this time with an understanding of what the industry offered. "That was me actively choosing to come back to the industry. Like 99.9% of people, I fell into it. But coming back was deliberate and I knew I could do well here.”
Rising through the ranks
Now working in the liability space at ICIB, Tom's career trajectory has been steep. He joined as commercial support for the liability team, was promoted to broker, then found himself thrust into deep waters when the head of liability went on maternity leave just one month later.
It’s precisely this adaptability that helped Tom be recognised as one of Insurance Business Magazine's Rising Stars for 2025. The judges singled out adaptability, digital fluency, emotional intelligence, and client-centric thinking as key attributes.
When asked which quality matters most in his practice, Tom finds it hard to choose between adaptability and client-centric thinking. "The reason I come into work and the reason I got a job is because clients are trusting me, the team, and the company to manage their risk in case something goes wrong," he explains. "That's the fundamental to how we approach each day."
Adaptability, though, has been crucial. "With insurance, no two days are really the same. I remember one time I went to the Melbourne Cup and thought I’m on top of everything, and then got a call from a client about a really hairy D&O claim. I was off-site, on the phone, figuring things out and managing it."
A career-defining moment
One standout success story from early 2024 exemplifies Tom's problem-solving approach and willingness to go the extra mile. While still in a support role, he was given the opportunity to tackle a complex new business inquiry – a referral from an existing client.
"They said, Tom, there's about five businesses with four subset businesses clumped together in this liability policy. They want to see if we can separate them out. Here's the information. Can you give it a crack?"
These were complex businesses requiring careful analysis. Drawing on his Pacific experience of building patchwork programmes, Tom set about constructing solutions. Different insurers would say yes to one element but no to another, requiring him to piece together a canvas of coverage. This was on top of his current workload, meaning he spent time after hours putting the programme together.
When he finally presented the terms to the primary business owner, Tom's insurance programme came in about 30% more expensive than their existing coverage. But he could justify every dollar: "There were issues with the current coverage - split policy limits, split programmes that didn’t serve their needs. Understandably, there was going to be an increase." It came down to the zero hour, and his phone rang. "They said, Tom, we're gonna go with you. Send through whatever you need us to sign, and we'll get it done.
"That, without a shadow of a doubt, was the highlight of my career so far. Putting in the extra work on an inquiry where I was given a lot of freedom by my boss and by the company basically saying Tom, you run with it. Ask any questions, but this is yours."
The AI question
Ask Tom about emerging challenges facing the insurance industry, and he immediately points to the two letters everybody's talking about: AI.
Tom uses AI tools in his daily work, though thoughtfully and with clear boundaries. "Its biggest value is if there's an account that comes up that I haven't looked at in a while. I'll ask AI to give me a summary of the correspondence in the past 12 months. That helps get me up to speed quickly."
He also uses it for drafting meeting agendas when under time pressure, overcoming writer's block when he knows what he wants to say but the words escape him, and getting quick comparisons of policy wordings. "It gives me a starting point to then look more closely," he says. AI also helps him research new business prospects, providing company profiles to point him in the right direction.
But Tom is clear-eyed about the limitations and risks. "We're providing financial advice to clients. We're giving recommendations.” He also notes privacy concerns. His bottom line: "As an industry, I think we just need to be careful as to how we utilise AI."
A generational divide
Tom has noticed a generational gap in the industry, and it doesn’t relate to AI. It’s the reluctance of younger colleagues to pick up the phone. "I think Covid has had a really interesting impact on those who've gone through the education system at that time. They've lost that opportunity to build communication skills face to face."
He recounts a story about a support staff member who came to him with a motor vehicle question that he’d spent the last hour researching, but couldn’t find an answer. Tom asked who the underwriter was, recognised the name, and picked up the phone. He clarified there was no cover, got a premium quote to provide cover, tried (unsuccessfully) to match renewal dates and negotiated a brokerage fee all in a five-minute call. Tom was clear to land the point with the support staff member, "If you just picked up the phone in the first instance, you could have saved yourself an hour."
His concern runs deeper than mere efficiency. "Insurance is a relationship game, and communication is a huge part of it. I get frustrated when I phone people and they don't pick up. You can just cover so much ground in a simple phone call."
The talent pipeline problem
Tom's accidental entry into insurance isn't unique. And that, he argues, is a significant problem the industry must address.
His prescription for change starts at the grassroots level. Secondary schools need career day presentations from broking houses or insurers that go beyond "your car and contents" to showcase the breadth and excitement of insurance careers.
"Paint the picture that it's not just boring, dusty old men with computers - there's a lot of diversity and really interesting things happening. It's great to see a lot of women in high positions. I think it's almost like the legal profession where people think there's a real old boys' club, but it's not the case."
He sees a need to increase engagement with universities as well. Tom has stayed in contact with career services staff at Auckland University and offered to make himself available to interested students. He believes some insurers are doing well at attracting graduates and running structured programmes, but the broking side is not well represented.
The brain drain challenge
Of the roughly 20 peers Tom came through university with, only three remain in New Zealand. Tom himself has experienced the pull of overseas opportunities. With ICIB’s support, he attended the Tysers Summer Academy professional development programme in London. For two weeks, he networked with Lloyd's syndicates, toured Lloyd's of London, attended high-level presentations and seminars, and shadowed brokers.
It's the kind of opportunity that could easily lead to someone staying overseas. Tom is committed to building his career in New Zealand but acknowledges the challenge. "There are excellent opportunities out there, and I think that's really putting a lot of constraints on attracting and retaining young talent."
Of course, as Tom notes, there's not a lot the industry can do about the global market. "Talented young people who want to go overseas and gain experience are always going to do that. You have to hope they’ll eventually bring that experience back home."
Tom believes the solution requires leadership from the top of the industry. "I think if you had somebody at the top who said they’re going to lead this over the next five years, they would get a lot of support.
Looking ahead
Does Tom see himself staying in insurance for the long haul? "Certainly, I love the industry."
What draws him in? "Coming in each day, new challenges, that puzzle-solving, that critical thinking. How do you do this? What's the best solution? I love the relationships that you build. I'm certainly a big fan of the networking component as well.
"I think there are not too many industries where if you're ambitious, if you're willing to work, if you come in with the right attitude, if you really want to get up there, you've got a good chance of doing it. I'm quite competitive by nature. I come in, and I want to be at the top of my field."
Tom sees his future in liability, specifically cyber insurance. But he maintains a wish list of experiences he wants to collect along the way. The other day, he was chatting with a colleague who'd been supporting a regional client to insure a bull.
Tom's eyes lit up. It's a perfect encapsulation of Tom's attitude toward the industry. "I never would have thought that there's this much detail in insuring a bull," he marvels. "I'm happy in my space. I'm happy looking at directors' and officers’ liability, professional indemnity, cyber and everything. But let me just insure one bull before my career is over."
Tom sums up the industry with a blend of ambition and humour: "This is truly an industry where if you're willing to grab the bull by the horns, you can really go far."
Tom Lima is an insurance broker specialising in liability and cyber insurance at ICIB. He was recently named one of Insurance Business Magazine's Rising Stars of 2025 for Australia, New Zealand and Asia. When not solving complex insurance puzzles, Tom enjoys socialising with industry colleagues and watching Premier League football while recovering from an ACL injury that has left him "perpetually limping" around the Auckland office for the past two years.
