Part Two – Getting to Know the Environmental Team – Cassandra Phillips

In part two of our two-part series, “Getting to Know the Environmental Team,” we spoke with Cassandra Phillips, International Environmental Underwriter who joined Aspen in April 2025, to find out what a typical day in her role looks like:

Could you first please tell us a little about yourself and your current role at Aspen?
My personal background is very international, having grown up in the U.K., Europe and Middle East with a French/English/Colombian heritage. Because of my multinational upbringing and being able to speak multiple languages, I’ve always been interested in opportunities that expose me to new experiences, places and cultures, so travelling is one of my favorite things to do.

During my free time I also enjoy a mix of cultural and sporting activities including: reading fiction, attending ballets at the Royal Opera House and musicals in the West End, trail running with my dog (Alba, the vizsla) and participating in winter sports.

My career in insurance started one summer in Germany just before beginning my final year at the University of Manchester studying for a language degree in German and Mandarin Chinese. It was there that I secured an internship at Munich RE and joined their LATAM & Caribbean underwriting team.

Following the completion of my bachelor’s degree, I joined the HR department at SCOR in London. At that point I knew I had wanted to pursue underwriting, so I completed my CII insurance exams and, subsequently, transferred to SCOR’s Treaty underwriting team. Over the next couple of years, I worked for several companies on the Reinsurance P&C underwriting side. After receiving an offer at AIG in 2021, I moved to the Insurance side of the business as an Environmental Underwriter. Four years later, I joined the International Environmental team at Aspen Insurance in London.

Please walk us through how the Aspen team sells U.S. environmental insurance and which products you offer.
Working with Lloyd’s of London is a thrilling experience because you never know what will cross your desk. There are two reasons why our team manages risks coming through our Lloyd’s Syndicate 4711: 1) the risk is either too complex or unusual to be insured using a standard policy; and 2) larger capacity is required due to the size of the risk that is being covered.

The advantage of writing via the Lloyd’s market is that we benefit not only from having a physical space for Underwriters and Brokers to meet in person, but it affords territory licensing and market access on a global scale. This means that our team can write risk in almost any territory, for instance: chemical plants in Israel; gold mines in Peru; oil and gas exploration in Mexico; waste recycling plants in Australia; contractors in Canada, etc.

Our underwriting process is similar to Aspen’s U.S. underwriters and requests come in on a primary basis, although we sometimes receive requests for excess layers or facultative reinsurance. When a risk is presented, we assess it, understand its nuances and develop a solution that is best suited to our client’s needs and exposures. Our solutions include Environmental Legal Liability (ELL), Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) or Contractors Professional, Protective and Pollution Policy (CP3).

What I like most about my role is that no two clients are the same. This gives me the flexibility to design custom solutions that address a client’s particular business, territory and market conditions.

How do the U.S. and International Environmental teams work together?
The International and U.S. teams interact weekly, enjoying a collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship. Our conversations range from coordinating ownership of LATAM submissions that come through our Lloyd’s brokers to sharing thoughts on some of the more complex risks come in during the week. Our ways of working together also benefit our clients because we’ll discuss projects, share feedback and seek expertise when it’s needed to ensure the best possible solution is written.

What are some of the skills needed to have a successful career as an environmental executive in insurance?
The wonderful thing about insurance and underwriting is that you can learn many of the skills needed for success on the job and there are great mentors and managers who are happy to impart their knowledge.

It’s important to have intellectual curiosity and not to be afraid to ask questions about risks and regulations that are ever evolving. Identify what you don’t know and make it a point to proactively acquire the knowledge and skills you need to be successful. I’ve also found that putting myself outside of my comfort zone has given me the confidence to work on the more complex and unusual risks.

Effective communication skills are also key in an industry that relies heavily on establishing relationships both externally and internally. When I first began in insurance, a senior underwriter told me that even if you’re not writing a lot of business with one broker today, that doesn’t mean they won’t be your key producer years from now, so never burn any bridges. I’ve carried this advice with me ever since and it’s never been truer!

What are some of the major challenges facing the environmental insurance industry today?
The main challenges for us are increased competition in a soft market. More players are entering the environmental space, so we need to remain flexible yet disciplined in our underwriting practices and look at ways to differentiate ourselves from our peers.

Where do you see the environmental underwriting field heading in the next five to ten years?
From an international standpoint a soft market forces us to innovate. We are already seeing new products being developed in the sector and certain territories are tightening their environmental regulations since environmental insurance is now becoming a requirement for many higher polluting trades. This is great news for the growing Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) market and might encourage more clients to purchase this coverage as part of their ESG strategy.

Read Part One of “Getting to Know the Environmental Team” featuring Erin Brown, VP, U.S. Environmental, here.