Thu 26 Jul. 2018
July President's Message
The Story of July…..
28th June - Not quite in July but the CII Network conference took place since I last wrote. This was in Belfast and attended by Sarah Deacon (our Deputy President) and Jess Addison (Treasurer & head of our Young Professionals) and over 150 delegates in total. The theme was “engagement” and included presentations, breakout sessions and talks, with both Sian Fisher and Jonathan Clarke making key speeches. Feedback was positive and it is great to see the aims of central CII aligned to what we are trying to achieve locally.
4th July - First meeting of the month for our Young Professionals Group. You will have seen that the proposed Summer BBQ has now been arranged and the group are looking at a number of other (very varied) activities over the coming weeks and months.
9th July 2018 - Council Meeting held at the WTW offices in Ipswich. Fantastic attendance with 18 people in attendance and some lively discussions and debate. Lewis Spooner from the NFU in Colchester attended to understand more about our activities and has subsequently joined Council.
12th July 2018 - Stephen King, a partner and Insurance Group lead at national law firm Mills & Reeve, led a Legal Update lunchtime session. This event helped attendees gain an understanding of changes in legislation and case law which impact risk assessments and the wider insurance industry. There was also a look how data protection / data sharing laws and emerging trends will impact businesses.
16th July 2018 – Comms and Social Media meeting held, led by Laura Blyth, focusing on how we could improve our Website and make better use of the different comms mediums. Details of the CPD events held in July and forthcoming education and social events can all now be found on our website.
17th July 2018 - Jon Neal (CEO of Suffolk Mind – my chosen charity) led a Mental Health Wellbeing breakfast briefing. We had 50 people in place for an 8am start and Jon explained that Suffolk Mind aims to make this area the best place to talk about and take care of mental wellbeing. His talk focused on recognising and meeting emotional needs. Ian White (MD at Beckett Investment Management) also spoke about what his company have been doing to improve employee’s mental health.
19th July 2018 – 10th anniversary of the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce “roof garden event” held on the roof of the Ipswich WTW office. I attended this event as a WTW employee, a Suffolk Chamber Business Ambassador and President of CII - it was great to connect or re-connect with so many other local business people and promote the CII with around 200 people in attendance.
23rd July 2018 - First meeting of our new Education Committee held. Meeting between Jo Mulley (Education Secretary) and I to discuss future education and learning events also held. Options around future venues for events are being investigated and good progress has been made in terms of arranging future CPD sessions, focusing on what has been “most requested” from recent feedback.
25th July 2018 – Young Professionals meeting held to discuss progress with BBQ plans and future events. Members of this group are also leading work around engaging with other local companies.
….And Future Events…..
Our Summer BBQ has been arranged for Friday 24th August, at Gresham’s This should be a great night with a whole bunch of summer games planned, a rounder’s match and a DJ, all on top of a high quality BBQ menu! The event will run from 6pm until midnight and is open to CII members and non-members so please invite family, friends and colleagues. Tickets are priced at £30 but if you buy 10 tickets you can get tickets at £20 per head; (by invoice only - invoice 1 for £200 or 10 different people with a £20 invoice each). Please contact Jess Addison to find out more. (jess.addison@willistowerswatson.com).
Looking further ahead we have CPD sessions scheduled around Study Skills and Exam Techniques (4th October) and How to Market yourself (16th October) – details are included on our website. On the social side, details of a cheese and wine evening and the annual YPG curry night will shared shortly.
Looking even further ahead we are making plans for an all-day symposium early next year – block out 5th February 2019 in your diaries; and we are making excellent progress in planning for our annual dinner next April (early-bird invitation offers are not far away).
I am also really keen to develop our partnership between our CII and Suffolk Mind. The breakfast briefing this month went really well but I would love to hear from anyone with ideas about other events that we could arrange or ideas on fund raising for this great charity.
A Day in the life of….Laura Blyth
Our local Council is growing with 6 new members since the AGM in April. I am keen to add to coverage if we can. Each month we will learn a little more about one of our Council members. This month we feature Laura Blyth, a member of our Young Professionals Group and our Communication Officer:
When I was at University I avoided the optional finance modules as I had no interest in that area whatsoever, ironically, I am now an Independent Financial Adviser for Woodward Markwell. I am extremely proud to be with the minority of women in this role, helping individuals plan for their retirement, making their money work harder and helping them protect what they already have.
I studied Business Management with HR at University. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in life but I knew I was a people person and HR seemed the right option. I joined Suffolk Life shortly after graduating and that was my first insight into the world of pensions.
Let’s be honest, no one wakes up at the age of 14 and thinks I want to be a Financial Adviser - I fell into the industry but now I wouldn’t look back. I decided to make the move to Woodward Markwell to learn more about Financial Planning. I started as an Administrator in 2014 and fast forward to 2018 and I am now an Independent Adviser.
I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity, guidance and support to make the transition. Young advisers help with succession planning and clients benefit from the longevity of the relationship.
The great thing about being a Financial Adviser is that every day is different. A typical day may include checking the financial news whilst sipping my morning coffee or checking my emails before preparing for my first meeting of the day. As a young adviser networking is important so I may have a networking lunch in the afternoon, a chance to write up my meeting notes and then my next 5pm appointment on a Friday as that’s the only time my client can see me.
I joined the local CII Council 18 months ago whilst I was still a Trainee Adviser, as I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and expand my professional network. I quickly became a member of the YPG and also took on the membership secretary role. This meant that I produced reports before each council meeting stating how many CII/PFS members we have in our area.
Most recently I have become head of Social Media & Communication - I am one of the faces behind the computer screen! I can honestly say that being a member of the YPG in particular has become important to me. I have made some amazing friends and we thoroughly enjoy ourselves when we get together.
We only have a few members on our CII Council that are PFS members. I feel strongly that we continue to be represented as part of the local council and urge anyone in this area who may be interested in joining council to come forward. The more of us, the more CPD events we will be able to provide.
When I’m not studying in my spare time, or helping out with the local CII Council, I like to try and keep my fitness up by attending classes and the gym a few times a week. I subsequently ruin this by over indulging at the weekend but you can’t knock a girl for trying. I am also an Age UK Befriender as I feel passionately that ‘no one should have no one’.
And Back to the Summer…..
Do enjoy the great weather and the summer holiday season. Have a great time with family and friends but please don’t forget our summer BBQ - it would be great to see as many people there as possible. And, as ever, if you would like to ask me something or are interested in finding out more about Council, please make contact.
Very best wishes, Richard