Calling time on a career of virtue and value

For many people, there is no higher ambition in life than that of a life of service. These people put their shoulders to the wheel every day in the execution of their duties so that the financial services industry is run like a well-oiled machine, and that insurers and brokers alike receive unwavering support from industry bodies.

This sums up the professional career of David Harpur. After serving as the CEO of the Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) since 2009, Harpur retains his CEO role until the end of the year with Thokozile as the CEO designate.

FAnews spoke with Harpur about his time at the IISA and what the future holds.

How do you feel about leaving the IISA?

My eminent departure from the IISA sometime later this year creates many mixed emotions in my mind. I am very pleased that I have been able to contribute to the IISA, its members, and the industry at large since taking up the CEO role in January 2009.

I hope to be able to contribute to the industry in the future in whatever role becomes available for me to do so whilst I have the energy, drive and passion to continue contributing in some meaningful ways.

How has the industry changed over the years?

While the insurance industry has undergone and will undergo many changes over the years, the key requirement of the professionalization of the industry remains an ongoing challenge.

Insurance knowledge is still a vital basic tool that needs to be studied and understood as we evolve into the new digital world driven by many impacts that the Internet of Things (IoT) is having on our industry.

Some of the technological innovations happening at the moment will lead to the loss of many traditional jobs in the financial services and insurance industries, and new entrants will come with a different and varied skill base as current employees battle to grasp the new way of doing things.

The challenge for the IISA is to ensure that we are at the leading edge of delivering traditional insurance knowledge in a format that aligns with new technology and student interests as well as embracing new relevant courses to aid in the drive for professionalism.

The handover is an important part of the process. How long will it take?

We have planned a three to six-month hand over period in an endeavour to ensure continuity of some of our key projects, the identification of new challenges and the delivery of our core competencies.

Throughout my career my belief has always been that growth should not be an objective but will be the reward for excellence of service, and doing the right things for your business as judged by your members and the market as a whole.

What is your greatest memory of your time at the IISA?

In terms of great memories created during my tenure at the IISA , the support of the market for many of our new initiatives has been immense. This includes our conferences and forums and more recently the launch of our IISA training centre.

I have enjoyed the support of many friends and colleagues in the insurance market and amongst the greater circle of support services as well as the insurance media. We have followed an inclusive philosophy of working together, with and alongside many other industry bodies to ensure that ultimately we are contributing to the delivery of “World class skills for a world class industry”.

If we have delivered a little of that, it makes me very happy but I am not sure that we have achieved the full delivery as yet. There is so much more to do and I wish Thokozile good luck going forward as the new CEO of the IISA.