Speciality insurance, such as that dealt with by Chaucer Group, is a traditional industry and is male dominated, but this has not phased Marion Shaw. Chaucer is evolving, and the team believes the key to this transformation is a diverse employee base. Data is an integral part of the business and data underpins the organisation’s aspirations, drives, innovation, and product development.
By having a data leader such as Marion Shaw, who is a role model for the insurance industry is important. Since joining Chaucer in 2022, Marion has increased the diversity of the data team from 10% female to 50% female. Furthermore, Marion obtained the largest investment the company has made in technology for many years to achieve wider aims.
Making a mark
Marion is the first Head of Data and Analytics in Chaucer group. When she started, she was the only female leader in IT and the data strategy that she presented to the board in December 2022 was unanimously approved. The new direction put in place was to develop a data culture and upskill data fluency to mitigate the risk of ineffective change which has plagued the IT function in the past.
Marion developed a data culture programme which supports an ambitious data strategy. The team completed a data fluency survey to benchmark itself and understand the starting points. Given the change resistance nature of the business, Marion created a different type of data fluency campaign, which is interactive and engaging.
There was also the creation of a data escape room based on the data value chain to help stakeholders understand the challenges involved in creating value from data, which was a strong success. Chaucer also held its first ever Data Day in September 2023 to continue this momentum.
Marion has increased the percentage of female FTEs to 50% and there is a diverse team ranging from 18-year-old apprentices to experienced veterans. The data leadership team is now 40% female, and 66% of apprentices are female.
In October 2023 Marion submitted a request for investment for the data strategy. This is the largest single investment that has been requested since 2020 and was unanimously approved by both the C-Level and the board of directors with no cuts or amendments.
The data team delivered over 30 dashboards to the business, with data improvements supporting the reduction of Aged Debt by $18.1 million and decreased the Capital charge by $10.7 million. In 2023, 6% of policies to had data quality issues identified and fixed which ultimately saved over $120,000 in operational savings for this activity alone. Under Marion’s leadership, the data team has supported operations on a regulatory requirement for ELTO with a pass mark of 99%, avoiding losing the business while saving 70% of the manual effort time.
To promote women in IT, Marion has been highly visible in the community, speaking at events, attend conferences, and became the first female chair for Data Collective. She is one of the founding members of Women in Tech in Chaucer, and Marion mentors two junior females in data outside of data.
Marion said: “One of the achievements I am most proud of is how my team have developed. One of the ladies in my team is now a founder of Women in Chaucer and has gained enough confidence to facilitate a panel discussion in front of the entire company – something she would not have thought about a year ago.”
The following are some of Marions achievements in the past 18 months:
- Marion is in the DataIQ 100 for 2024 and is shortlisted for ‘Data Leader of the Year’ for Women in IT, The British Data Awards and the Data Driven Leader Awards.
- Marion was Shortlisted as on the Tech-Exec Data Leader of the year in 2022.
- She took part in a campaign called Authentic Beauty. This campaign involves 40 women over 40 with no makeup to try and women understand that age is not a disadvantage.
- She contributed to an article written by the ODI “Why people across the world are getting certified as Data Ethics Professionals”
- She contributed to the book Analytics Interpreted curated by Women in Analytics
- As part of the CDO Hub Community the data literacy cohort, Marion wrote an article in the CDO Magazine.
- Marion sat on the DataIQ Advisory board for Literacy and Skills as Chairperson in 2023.
- In 2024 she is part of the DataIQ Advisory Board for Leadership and Vision and is a part of the Academy for Future Leaders faculty.
- As part of the STEAM Ambassador Programme with Camden Council, Marion devised a data literacy game around Bletchley Park and presented in a school in Camden.
Chaucer Group are part of the DataIQ membership programme – the trusted global collaboration and intelligence platform for data leaders. Find out more here: https://www.dataiq.global/membership
