We recently had the privilege of interviewing Scott Boug, Chairman and Co-Founder of Secura International. With a commitment towards crafting the right financial strategies, Scott’s company, Secura assists high net-worth families in securing financial futures through diversified wealth solutions.
Scott Boug has extensive insurance and reinsurance experience in various jurisdictions, and with his organization, Secura International, offers investment solutions that provide international investors with the advantages of a Jersey trust structure for efficient wealth transfer and estate planning. In this insightful interview, Scott Boug shares his career trajectory, fostering innovative approaches, and offers a glimpse of his company.
The Beginning
We started the session by asking, “Could you start by telling us about your professional career path?”
Scott Boug shared, “After graduating from the University of Western Ontario I joined Prudential UK’s Canada branch and completed studies to become an Actuary. I then joined the Aegon Insurance Group US in Louisville, KY, and later took an expat assignment at the head office in the Hague (where I also became a CFA Charterholder) returning to the US with the then Aegon subsidiary Transamerica Reinsurance in Charlotte, NC.
All these roles were variations of pricing, asset liability management, and risk management. I joined Munich Re in Atlanta (commuted while two daughters were completing high school) to start a Financial Reinsurance Solutions division. I then joined Genworth Financial as Chief Risk Officer in Richmond, VA (still commuting). Then joined SCOR back in Charlotte again establishing a Financial Reinsurance Solutions division. Then I worked in Bermuda heading up the Bermuda office of a private equity-backed reinsurance and insurance operation. All these positions were held by me before co-founding Secura International and positioning as its Chairman.”
Adaptability Amidst Adversities
Every business has certain inevitable challenging phases. To learn how Scott Boug overcame all these tough phases, we asked, “What have been the most significant barriers you’ve overcome, and how have these challenges influenced your leadership philosophy?”
Scott Boug shared, “International relocation is challenging but the growth through the experience is very valuable. It teaches you the importance of careful communication which makes you more efficient at communicating. I also had the good fortune of working under leadership in Louisville that I try to model my leadership after to this day.
I’ve had some very adverse situations occur such as the 2008 financial crisis, a capital deterioration, and a run on the bank situation. The people panicking around you are simply not helping. Diligent thought and measured actions are the best path to success. Insurance and reinsurance play out relatively slowly, we’re not operating on a patient that has suddenly flatlined.”
Promoting Innovative Culture
Eager to learn about the approaches adopted by Scott Boug to foster creativity and innovative culture in his business, we asked, “How do you foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within your organization?”
He shared, “I think you need to look for this in the people you hire. If people aren’t motivated to do this already in their own lives I don’t think there’s a lot you can do to get them to do something they’re not naturally inclined to do.”
Staying Ahead Of The Curve
We further asked, “In the context of global competition, how has your company adapted its strategies to maintain a competitive edge?”
Scott Boug responded, “Our platform has proven to have a much broader applicability than we originally anticipated. We were very careful to build a robust platform with redundancy. As we cater to international investors seeking privacy and security in their international holdings, it turns out there are a lot more groups of people around the world looking for the same than we originally thought.
The fact that Sanjeev Chowdhury and I, as founders, have also lived as expats we know firsthand the challenges faced and designed the platform from that experience. But the other real strength is cost efficiency. We also benefit from cost efficiencies as we only do one thing: connect international investors to a selection of mutual funds securely and privately. Others that try to offer something similar are part of conglomerates layering bureaucracy and costs that we don’t have.”
Incorporating Client Insights
Customer insights play a significant role in uplifting the services of a business. To understand how Scott Boug includes customer insights into their approaches, we inquired, “What role has customer feedback played in shaping the direction of your products or services?”
“Customer feedback has been critical in shaping our products and services. For us, it is both the distribution partner and the end client, the international investor that has shaped our platform into what it is today.” He replied.
Benefitting As A Community
We were intrigued to learn how Scott Boug adopts ethical responsibilities in his business operations. So, we asked, “How do you approach corporate responsibility and ethical business practices in your operations?”
Scott Boug shared, “Partnering with firms that only have a local presence leads to all of us having a collective benefit in best practices of corporate responsibility as we benefit together from being part of the same community. Ethical business practices are a given in financial services as at the end of the day we’re asking people to trust us with our recommendation of their savings.”
Current Offerings, we asked Scott Boug
To get a glimpse of services offered by Scott Boug’s business, we asked, “Could you tell us more about your services/products and if you have any upcoming plans regarding them?”
Scott Boug shared, “As mentioned in the simplest description, we connect the international investor privately and securely to a selection of mutual funds to grow their savings for their future or their family members. This does come in 12 different flavors – Individual vs. corporate, three different commission or pricing structures, and then Islamic compliant vs. conventional.
Our current focus is growing our local presence while we expand internationally. We will inevitably add more flavors as part of international expansion but we will only add products that naturally leverage the platform.”
Words Of Wisdom For Beginners
We ended the interview by asking, “Would you like to give beginners in the same industry some advice?”
Scott concluded, “I would say it is continuing to educate yourself. In financial services, your work experience will not be enough to advance your career; you need to seek out training and further education opportunities.”
Follow Scott Boug on LinkedIn.
Find Secura International on LinkedIn and visit their website www.securainternational.com
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