RGA's Natalie Ho has adapted to a range of insurance roles: Women in Insurance Leadership 2022
Natalie Ho’s career in insurance includes launching a reinsurance startup, undergoing a company acquisition, and implementing fresh marketing strategies for RGA.
Ho’s current role, VP of global marketing, strategy and insights at RGA is an extension of her previous position as VP of global marketing and brand experience for RGAX, a division of RGA devoted to innovation. Her previous responsibilities included integrating numerous brands under RGAX – a challenge that entailed developing strategies to understand and meld company cultures, transform employee mindsets, and deliver a fresh, cohesive brand to the insurance market. Ho ensured to emphasize the “humanized” or personalized element in her marketing strategies, and her skills and abilities evolved, along with that of her team’s, to build a strong brand in the market.
“We were very new in the market as a brand… We were able to push a bit more of the envelope in the traditional space, in terms of how we talk about what we do and the area of innovation.…to bring to life that humanizing of the brand,” Ho explains. “Content marketing strategy, use of social media, this idea of brand building – but with this very humanized touch – are all elements that I’d say that I’m very proud of in terms of implementing. Hopefully, in my new role at RGA, I’m able to evolve that approach into the larger corporate enterprise organization as well.”
After graduating from university with a degree in actuarial science, Ho applied to a reinsurance software solutions company in Toronto as an actuarial analyst. After working at the organization for about a year, she and two of her team members went on to found a new startup, LOGiQ³ – an outsourcing and consulting reinsurance services company. During that time, Ho underwent great professional transformation as she experienced many new aspects of the business beyond actuarial work, including consulting with clients and heading the marketing division.
As a naturally artistic person, Ho enjoyed the creative and branding aspects of the startup. Though she was self-taught in the profession, Ho successfully led the marketing division of the organization, and her role ultimately transitioned to providing B2B marketing and overseeing other marketing-related responsibilities. In 2018, RGAX acquired LOGiQ³.
“When I started joining the larger RGA family, connecting the dots of what kind of impact you can make and what actions you’re willing to take – that took a little bit of time,” Says Ho. “Now, I’m able to marry the two components up quite well, where I can potentially evolve the culture that we have right now into one that is maybe more agile, so that we can be more innovative. And I think that there’s something exciting about that. Being able to infuse this component of the startup energy into the larger mix of what we do.”
Ho’s creative passions extend beyond her work responsibilities. She enjoys engaging in different creative endeavors in her spare time; blogging, crafting, and photography are just a few of her passions, and she finds influencer marketing, social media culture, and digital content creation fascinating.
“That natural interest in that area just ended up evolving as well with me on this marketing journey,” says Ho. “It’s a professional and personal interest. It fuels me on a creative element, but then it also teaches me a lot about what B2B businesses and insurance can learn from retail and all the other things that are more B2C-oriented.”
Ho encourages those that are early in their careers, or those looking to facilitate a more opportunistic environment for others to grow, to seek and learn to appreciate different points of view. She also emphasizes the importance of creating and learning from professional relationships, especially for young professionals that are new to the industry.
“Getting different perspectives, whether it’s people from different levels of experience or people that have different cultural backgrounds – that diversity component is critical in terms of what we do,” advises Ho. “Being proactive in learning and continuing to expand your network outside of your current workplace is very critical. Going to conferences, being part of different communities within the ecosystem where you play professionally, and building your own contacts is going to be very beneficial. Fill your network up with a pipeline of people that you can build trust with that you can share ideas with. I think that is one of the biggest positive benefits that you can do for your own career.”
