Every year, Gallagher Bassett (GB) hosts the GB Awards - a celebration of our people and a chance to stop and reflect on the amazing work they do every day.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to change the way we conduct these awards. Each day this week, we’ll be recognising the amazing work that our GB Award winners have done.

There were six award categories which applied to individuals across the business. They include:

  • Internal Customer Service Provider of the Year
  • External Customer Service Provider of the Year
  • Emerging Leader of the Year
  • Impact Leader of the Year
  • Claims Manager of the Year
  • Sales Person of the Year

We spoke with Heather Sippel, Operations Manager - Catastrophe Response, who was recognised with the Impact Leader of the Year award!

Heather joined GB’s EQC team back in 2010 and then rejoined GB in 2015 leading the property and motor General Insurance teams before taking on the Catastrophe teams in January 2017.

Damien Gilhooley, General Manager - Integrated Claims Solutions, nominated Heather:

“In high-pressure circumstances, Heather has been required to add additional complements of new starters within extremely tight timeframes. Significant operational challenges are evident in transitioning new starters with zero claims experience to operational effective consultants within a short time frame.”

“Heather’s ability to galvanise these resources and ensure the achievement of key contractual KPIs within short timeframes is a testament to her leadership qualities.”

When asked about what she enjoyed most about her role, Heather remarked:

“I enjoy the fast pace of the Catastrophe division, especially during event response and rapid deployment.  I enjoy the daily challenges that we have to overcome quickly and that we are in the perfect position to bring new people into this industry, they don’t always know it when they start but we’re introducing them to their new career in claims.”

“The Catastrophe claims environment is challenging, hard work and sometimes frustrating but it’s also exciting, innovative and very rewarding.”

There was a total of 44 nominations over the six categories.

John McNamara, GB Australia Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Congratulations again to all of our finalists, and thank you to those people who took the time to nominate their colleagues. It’s great to be able to recognise our people in this way, and to see the quality of the nominations and the effort put in by those of you who submitted nominations.”

“I’d also like to thank all of you in the GB family for the work that you do every day and the way that you’ve risen to the challenges presented over the past few months.  We really are seeing The Gallagher Way in action every day, and evidence that our people are our strength.”

Want to learn more about GB’s vision and values? Check out The Gallagher Way here.