Enabling efficiency at the heart of the organisation

Dominic, let’s go back to the days when you were first introduced to this role at Sompo, what led you to join the Company?   

I was approached while Sompo was building its leadership team in London, at a time when there was a clear mandate to establish strong in-house operational resilience, governance and controls. The brief from our new UK COO was clear: build something meaningful, create a structure where it didn’t yet exist, and help bring together several regulatory and operational strands into one coherent framework.   

What immediately resonated with me was the growth story. So often in financial services, the conversation is about cost reduction and limitation. Here, the conversation was about ambition – where the business wanted to be in two, three, five years, and how to build responsibly toward that vision.   

What made you confident this was the right environment for you?   

Sompo has history, but it also has momentum. That combination is rare. I was impressed by the genuine emphasis on doing the right thing, something people at Sompo embody in day-to-day conversations. We’re quite a diverse team and there’s a genuine desire across the business to grow in the right way, not just grow fast. This ‘feel-good factor’ matters a lot to me.    

To those outside the industry, your role might be a challenge to comprehend. How do you explain what your daily job is?   

I usually say: I make sure everything keeps functioning, and if something breaks, we know exactly what to do and how quickly we can be back up and running in a safe manner. 

Operational resilience is about understanding what really matters to the business, and setting those as priorities from a recoverability perspective. I often use the analogy of a house. If there’s an emergency and you have to leave, what are the three things you absolutely need to take with you? You can’t save everything - so you decide what’s critical, protect it properly, and make sure it’s always accessible.   

At a company level, those “critical items” are what we look after: data, people, technology and systems, physical sites, suppliers and critical third parties. My job is to ensure those pillars are protected, maintained, tested, and aligned with both regulation and growth.  

You’ve described your function as being “at the heart of the organisation.” Can you expand on that? 

Operational resilience underpins everything else. We want to make sure underwriters are focusing on underwriting, legal on advising, HR on supporting people...You want the engine to run smoothly so the driver can focus on the road.   

We plan for the worst so the business can perform at its best. Controls and governance are often seen as restrictive, but I see them as seatbelts. They don’t stop you driving fast, they allow you to do it safely. From a regulatory perspective, we don’t want to react after something goes wrong. We want to be prepared, consistent, and credible, especially given Sompo’s brand and ambitions. 

And what do you personally enjoy the most about being at the centre of it?  

People. I’ve been fortunate to build a team from scratch and evolve it over time. I’m a big believer in hiring people who are better than me and then giving them the space to grow. Seeing people step into new responsibilities, thrive in moments of change, and develop confidence is incredibly rewarding.   

I also enjoy the challenge. Sompo is not a finished product, and that’s a good thing. There’s a healthy level of “chaos with a small c”, which means there’s always something to improve, build upon, or rethink.    

What do you think keeps talented people at Sompo?   

Three things from my personal point of view and my experience.  

First, leadership. Having a manager who trusts you, challenges you, supports you and allows you to learn, including through mistakes, makes an enormous difference.   

Second, opportunity. Because the organisation is still evolving, the barriers to getting involved are low. If you’re curious and proactive, there’s always something you can contribute to.   

Third, flexibility and trust. Whether it’s hybrid working, investing in development, or different working patterns, including my own example as I am on a four‑day week. There's a strong sense of empowerment.   

If you want a steady career with an adventurous path, Sompo is the place to be, which sets us apart as a workplace.   

You’re passionate about attracting talented people to insurance. What could we do better as an industry to fulfil this goal?   

We’re not brave enough. Insurance touches every industry - technology, engineering, energy, design, data, you name it. But we still recruit from a very narrow pool. If people with a tech degree, or a marketing degree, have something to offer and want to work in insurance, why wouldn’t we look at them? We should also invest more in apprenticeships, career switchers, and people with unconventional backgrounds.   

And finally, we need to empower younger voices. Reverse mentoring, involving them in decision‑making, and modernising how we present ourselves as an industry, that’s how we stay relevant.   

And finally, when you step outside of the Sompo world, what keeps you going?  

I love travel. I’m passionate about wine, food, long walks with my sausage dog ‘Polo’, live music, and festivals. I recently went to Argentina and really got captivated by ‘milongas’ – they challenge a different part of my brain, so I had to discover that learning tango is far harder than it looks, for example.  

I’m also deeply invested in diversity, inclusion and supporting young people. Changing the status quo isn’t just part of my job, it’s something I care about personally.   

Thank you, Dominic for taking us through your career journey.