Two Bermudian women who earned promotion to senior posts at Ace Bermuda say hard work, networking, passion for the job and supportive family members are the keys to climbing the career ladder in the international insurance industry.

On Friday global insurance giant Ace Ltd. announced the promotions of both Allison Towlson and Judy Gonsalves.

Ms Towlson becomes regional executive and chief operations officer of Ace Bermuda, while Ms Gonsalves, who heads the company's Excess Liability department, was named an executive vice-president.

Both will report to Ace Bermuda CEO Rees Fletcher, also a Bermudian.

The two women have much in common — both have more than two decades of industry experience, husbands in uniformed public services and admit they got into insurance by accident rather than design.

In an interview, Ms Towlson said she had originally left the Island to study to become a teacher, but did not feel the passion she wanted to for a career and so changed her mind and decided to come home. She took a job at Alexander Howden doing basic processing in the claims department.

"When I was reading through what I was doing, I found it was fascinating," Ms Towlson said. "I thought maybe I should do it more seriously and I applied for the ACII (Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute) professional designation."

Obtaining the ACII took evening classes and a lot of diligent study, but it opened up her career possibilities.

She joined Sedgwick Global Brokers (Bermuda), where she worked for seven years, handling casualty and directors' and officers' insurance accounts for Fortune 1000 companies.

There she met a fellow Bermudian who became a mentor to her, Kim Outerbridge, who now works at XL Capital.

"She was someone who took me under her wing, took me out there and gave me opportunities," Ms Towlson said. "She was very supportive and to this day, I think of her as a mentor."

When Sedgwick looked as if it might be taken over, Ms Towlson decided to move on. Going to Ace in 1998 was an easy decision.

"I admired the company and always enjoyed doing business with them when I was on the broking side," Ms Towlson said. "So we talked, one thing led to another and I was hired as an underwriter."

One thing she always stresses to young people in the industry is the importance of personal contacts.

"You never know who's going to be the next person to assist you in your career," Ms Towlson said. "Just a handshake or saying 'hello' could make a big difference."

Ms Gonsalves said that after graduating with BA in economics from Emory University in 1989, she gave her resume to an agency, which led to 10 interview offers — all from the insurance industry, an indication to her that insurance was the way to go.

She ended up accepting a job with American International Group, working in their captive fronting operations. "The three years with AIG was a great training in insurance 101," Ms Gonsalves said. There, she acquired her ACII designation.

In 1992, she went to Ace to work in the Excess Liability department and five years later became vice-president of the Underwriting Services department. In 2001, she returned to Excess Casualty, which she now heads.

"I have to be doing something I love and that I'm passionate about — and for me, it's insurance," she said. "Your skills are constantly being put to the test — whether it's research, analysis or number crunching.

"Also, it's 100 percent a people industry. We meet clients from many different fields and it's fascinating, being able to work with these people and spend some time in their world."

Ms Towlson said insurance was an industry where you could "keep your mind sharp", especially at Ace, which had a culture of learning and development.

One example of this was a recent leadership forum when junior employees were given an opportunity to present their ideas to assembled senior executives. Junior employees will also get the opportunity to shadow one of the company presidents for a day.

As for her advice to young Bermudians starting out in the business, Ms Towlson said: "The work ethic is important. If you take on unpopular tasks, you will get recognised."

Ms Gonsalves agreed. "At the end of the day, if you want to climb the ranks, you have to work hard and that means working long hours and making sacrifices in your home and personal life."

The "sense of entitlement" sometimes apparent in Bermuda was not helpful and was no substitute for hard work, she added. "Grab every opportunity you have," Ms Gonsalves said. "You never know what skill sets you might pick up."

Both women said they could not have achieved their success without the support from their spouses. Paul Towlson is a Police officer, while Brian Gonsalves is Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment.

Last month, Ms Towlson was also appointed chair of the Insurance Development Council (IDC), with responsibility for enhancing Bermuda's market presence.