Multifaceted Sharon Donaldson's interesting ride
Published:Monday | August 15, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
From an accounts teacher at The Queen's School to managing director of General Accident Insurance Company, it's been an interesting ride so far for Sharon Donaldson.
Hailing from Lucea, Hanover, the Rusea's High School alumnus was a science student then, but also had a passion for sports. She aspired to do track and field and play netball for Jamaica, so after high school, she chose the University of Technology (UTech) (then the College of Arts Science and Technology) because it matched her 'athletic ambitions'.
"I actually went to the Technical Education department and I did a diploma in business studies," she explained. That meant doing subjects like accounts and economics for the first time. But Donaldson, as Flair realised, loves challenges.
"I think science subjects are a little more challenging, so it was not that difficult to switch. You just have to apply yourself," she said. So to the classroom she went. But one day she saw the school bursar perusing an Association of Chartered Certified Accountants book. She asked Donaldson if she would be interested. ''Why not?'' she said, and signed up. It would be her next career.
"It was another challenging transition because the private sector likes to employ persons with practical experience. I had none, I was merely teaching," she recalled. She got a job at the now-defunct Investment and Finance Merchant Bank, and though she would be getting paid less than when she was teaching, she was determined to attain her ACCA certification, which she did.
It was then on to Caribbean Home Insurance company, where a friend suggested she apply for the financial controller position.
"That I was pretty apprehensive about," she laughed. "Now I would be heading up a department and I knew zilch about insurance accounting." Her next stop was General Accident in a similar position. She refers to former chairman, the late Desmond Blades, as a real mentor.
Zero tolerance
"He had very high standards and he pushed the management team to perform. He had zero tolerance for management not meeting the standards he set," she said. Donaldson, managing director since 2008, has striven to maintain those high standards through good leadership. She acknowledges her shortcomings, but is a strong character who asserts, "Nobody has power over how I behave other than me and God." She constantly pursues perfection.
"You will get the best out of me because my value system will not allow me to be anything less than the best. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it well." One popular phrase from Blades was, "The success of the company is to be measured by its increase in cash." And increase General Accident has.
"After I took over, the highest premium income we had was J$260 million. I set about not to become the largest insurance company but to become a significant player. So what stands out for me was when we wrote the first J$1billion dollars of premiums," she remembered, smiling. Last year, they got to J$2 billion.
"And each time we increased our profitability. So we did not sacrifice that for market share." She has also actively helped to increase the company's underwriting capacity. A no-nonsense boss, Donaldson has zero tolerance for bad practices like lateness and rudeness to customers.
"As far as we are concerned, the customer is always right. You may not give the customer what they want, depending on their expectations, but your job is to get them to understand, so they can leave here without feeling cheated," she explained.
But even while enhancing the company, Donaldson has been improving herself. She did her MBA and became an attorney. She revealed a love for the legal system and that she could have chosen that field. Now, she even gets to use her law skills in her day job. But she won't be switching any time soon.
Great obligation
"I have too great an obligation to General Accident. I have to make sure I carry out the role and function as the CEO," she assured.
Though her netball endeavours didn't get her to the national level as a player, she was team manager. She served on the Jamaica Netball Association's (JNA) council for years, and was JNA president from 2003 to 2005.
At General Accident, one of the latest projects is a Scholarship Guide, enabling staff to get the necessary skills to do the job effectively. This is essential, as insurance is such a critical and yet misunderstood product. Members of staff understand that training is a must and something they must take seriously.
After all, like the woman in charge says: "Being second is not good enough!"