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Benjamin Zook
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Ben worked for ACE this summer in Philadelphia. He shadowed seven underwriters; each one was from a different field of underwriting. Other employees would send him work to do such as underwriting an account for an international company (with supervision but without direct client or broker contact). He got to know a lot of employees in the company and developed meaningful relationships with them. He did have mentor, although he was not formally assigned to him. He also attended several meetings and conference calls, which provided him with a deeper understanding of the field. Ben also attended weekly intern functions such as “lunch & learn” and other networking activities. The RMI classes helped Ben make better connections with the underwriters around him because he could understand and reflect on what they told him about the industry and their specific line of work.
The biggest project he had was to enter target accounts into ACE’s system, Tracker. It familiarized him with the products offered and who bought these products. It was a process to enter the targets and it took a substantial amount of time, but he received many thanks from other employees who used the targets to get new business. Some supplemental benefits included lunches, intern functions which were sometimes catered, happy hours, and the chance to meet some brokers. Ben said he liked everything about his internship. He had a lot of work to do, but everyone made a strong effort to have him do other beneficial activities outside his daily work. Everyone was extremely helpful and kind. He also developed a lot of very good relationships with other employees at ACE. The only thing he wished was different was more interaction with brokers. He was on several conference calls with brokers and clients, but it would have been more beneficial to see how the underwriters communicated with brokers. He would definitely recommend ACE to other students.