Julie-Ann MacCormick, Rehabilitation Manager at CommInsure
This is an inspiring and wonderful side story to the interview with Jen. Jen Jackson’s Manager was the first to win the ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship back in 2007 and now her team member, Jen won it a decade later in 2017. In Jen’s own words about Julie “She is amazing and has achieved so much over the last decade since her win. I would be so proud to have her photo in this article alongside mine.” In this interview with Jen Jackson you will see how Julie has played a key role in inspiring and supporting Jen – and really highlights the importance of finding a great mentor and leader. We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate Jen who has also just been elected as the Chair of ALUCA’s Rehabilitation group.
Jennifer Jackson is a psychologist and her experience includes private and public health services, community-based mental health, military psychology and occupational rehabilitation. Jen currently works as a Rehabilitation Consultant at CommInsure.
A day in the life of Jen Jackson…….
As Rehabilitation Consultants, we are constantly multi-tasking as we support and communicate directly with customers, their employers, their treating practitioners, their financial advisers, claims teams, funds and external rehabilitation providers. It is a strategic and refined juggling act as we work to ensure we know individual customers so we can provide tailored support to meet each of their unique needs which are dynamic and changing as they progress through their recovery journey.
How and why did you get into a career in Life Insurance
I’m a psychologist by background and I was first introduced to life insurance through clients I worked with in clinical and occupational rehabilitation roles who were on claim. I moved into internal rehabilitation roles with life insurers to broaden my exposure and understanding of insurance operations and to work strategically with claims staff and clients to maximise customer experience and outcomes.
What most excites you about Australian Life insurance…
2017 has been a pivotal year for life insurance in Australia and this provides exciting opportunities and challenges in transforming and redefining aspects of the industry to better meet community expectations and make an even greater contribution to the lives of customers.
How & why did you become a volunteer at ALUCA?
I became a committee member of the ALUCA Rehabilitation Subgroup and ALUCA Victoria by responding to an email that was distributed to the broader ALUCA membership for expression of interests. Being involved in ALUCA committees has provided me an opportunity to broaden my professional networks and work alongside and learn from various rehabilitation and other insurance professionals from a range of insurers and reinsurers across the industry.
What excites you the most about ALUCA…
ALUCA provides insurance professionals ongoing education to improve knowledge and expertise while also promoting the importance of connectedness across the industry.
Four words to describe ALUCA….
Committed, Connected, Excellence, Opportunity
Four words to describe you…
Persistent, efficient, determined, methodical.
What are you most passionate about…
Being a proud Queenslander!
What most annoys you…
People that don’t use lists and don’t like waterslides.
A little known fact about you that not many people know…
My first full time job was a Truck Driver, this job allowed me to pay my way through university.
What makes your job at Comminsure interesting…
The opportunity to interact with and develop relationships with a broad range of people with varying backgrounds and life experiences, the most interesting usually being the customers themselves.
Your role’s greatest challenge…
Balancing and meeting the varying needs of all key stakeholders and keeping everybody happy!
Who has been the biggest influence on your career and why…
As a Rehabilitation Consultant, I’m very lucky be in a profession that has a lot of strong, experienced and inspiring leaders that have pioneered and championed rehabilitation services in the Australian Life Insurance industry. I’m currently privileged enough to have one of these pioneering rehabilitation leaders as my own manager, Julie-Ann MacCormick. Julie is CommInsure’s Rehabilitation Manager and she has developed and progressed CommInsure’s rehabilitation service for more than a decade. She has also played an integral role in promoting rehabilitation services and best practice claims management for mental illness at an industry level. For her work in this area, she was the inaugural winner of the ALUCA TurksLegal scholarship, winning in 2007, and the inaugural winner of the Swiss Re-ALUCA Excellence and Innovation in Rehabilitation Award, winning in 2014. Julie has enjoyed a long, successful career and has a strong reputation as one of the best in the industry. In her pursuit of excellence, she has inspired me to do the same.
Your proudest career achievement to date is…
Supporting and working alongside vulnerable people and witnessing them recover, return to their lives, their families, their health and their work.
5 years from now, you will be…
still in my 30s, loving life (insurance)!
Why did you enter the ALUCA Turks Legal Scholarship award…
Well, when you have a manager who is the inaugural winner of the scholarship, the pressure is absolutely on to stay on her heels and keep up! I want to be like Julie when I grow up, so I thought I’d better have a go! Also, one of the topics addressed an issue that has concerned me for some time and I wanted a platform to bring this to the industry’s attention.
Your best advice for other people who would like to enter an ALUCA scholarship…
Choose a topic that you are passionate about and don’t feel you need to be an expert in the area. Also, maximize every single day of the 2 months you get to write the submission, you’ll need it!
If you were Chair of ALUCA, one thing I would improve is…
Jim does an amazing job in his role of Chair of ALUCA, I’d probably just follow in his footsteps – very big shoes to fill!
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be and why…
Cuba – for the architecture, music and beaches.
A parting word of advice to ALUCA members…
Be passionate and keep the customer experience as the focus of everything you do.
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