Meet the Team: Ben Pailthorpe
Here at Pulse we are lucky to have a growing, vibrant team made up of individuals from different backgrounds and with different life experiences. All of these experiences feed into what makes the team so good at what they do.
Our second team member to be profiled is Ben Pailthorpe.
- What is your name and where do you come from? Ben Pailthorpe, Head of Entertainment and Special risks. I am south London born and bred, a proud Peckham boy!
- How did you get into insurance? Having grown up around pubs, on leaving college I took a job at the Crosse Keys pub in the City of London. Whilst working there I got to know a couple of Lloyd’s brokers who took a shine to me, and helped me get my first job in insurance at Oval Insurance Broking Limited. It’s been a wild ride since then! (I am sure Joe and Wiggy can attest to that!)
- How do you find life at Pulse? I know it’s what you are meant to say in these things, but I love working for Pulse. I have been lucky enough, for most of my career, to work for good companies who gave me the opportunity to grow as an underwriter and as a person. Pulse gave myself and my colleagues Joe Balsom and Richard Wigmore the opportunity to start our own team and we haven’t looked back!
- What are your interests outside of work? I love writing songs and performing live music, although it’s been quite some time since I was able to do that. I play in a band called Best Behaviour with some friends I have known since I was 16/17 and love nothing more than spending a few hours jamming. I also go to as many Arsenal games as I can.
- What advice would you give to your younger self? I went through a period in my mid twenties when I was not the best colleague/employee, and only by the grace of having good colleagues and mentors who saw something in me was I given the opportunity to grow and change rather than being scrapped! I now try and remember that when advising younger colleagues!
- What skill have you developed most since joining Pulse? Learning to effectively delegate tasks, when we started I was so used to knowing every risk we had and having an involvement in almost every file, that it was difficult to adapt as we expanded and there were suddenly risks being bound that I had never seen or heard of! I had to change how I worked to effectively utilise our growing team and it is something I am still learning to do.
- What advice would you give to young insurance professionals? Listen to the old heads in the office, they are almost always delighted to share their experience and it is a fantastic way to learn. Also, in general, never be afraid of saying ‘I don’t know’ or asking a question, it is the only way to further your knowledge and you won’t be judged for it.
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time? I’d like to still be doing what I am doing, but with a larger team gunning to be the biggest UK A&H coverholder in Lloyd’s!
If you would like to discuss our Entertainment offerings, you can contact Ben on:
Ben Pailthorpe
Head of Entertainment & Special Risks
[email protected]
07572 397849
