Cristina Nestares (UK CEO) joined Admiral fifteen years ago after completing her MBA at INSEAD. We caught up with her to hear about her journey at Admiral and her advice to any MBAs considering a career with us.
You’ve been with the Admiral Group for over 15 years. What do you love so much about working here?
The culture, the success, and the people.
We have the right culture, putting our customers, our staff, and the community first. Doing the right thing is very important to us and it something that impacts every area of the business. This culture has definitely helped make Admiral so successful. Seeing how we have gone from strength to strength has really kept me going.
And the people I work with are incredible, they are driven and smart and genuinely fun to spend time with.
Have you got any favourite moments from the past 15 years?
Seeing Admiral truly succeed, year after year has been amazing. We’ve had record profits almost every year. Our customers are happier and more satisfied with our service, every single year. That means everything. I want to work for a company that is doing the right thing, in the right way. And I think I have found that.
What was a highlight from when you were on the Future Leaders Programme?
What was a highlight from when you were on the Future Leaders Programme?
One of the best things I did on the programme was spending one month talking to customers directly in our Customer Loyalty department, I will never forget it. It was a fantastic opportunity to understand our customers and their needs, and it was also great to get closer to our frontline colleagues and see what it’s really like doing the role that sits right at the heart of our business. Having the chance to use the technology and really get to grips with it was very insightful.
My other highlights from being on the programme were having the exposure to all the different areas of the business, getting to know the senior leaders across Admiral Group, and generally having access to the all the various roles that exist here, it was so interesting!
Before joining the UK business, you led Admiral Seguros in Spain. What advice would you give to anyone leading a business?
My biggest advice to anyone is to make sure you have the best team you can get. Make sure that every one of them is better than you.
What advice would you give to MBAs considering a career at Admiral?
Admiral is a really exciting place to be for an MBA, if you're looking for a place where you can develop a long-term career, in a successful company surrounded by smart people.
We have fewer layers and fewer MBAs, which means that people can make an impact. I wanted to join an organisation where there is not an army of people like me. Where I have a clear role to play. And in that Admiral is unique.
At Admiral we take work-life balance seriously, so if this is important to you then my advice would be to just apply!
What do you look for in an MBA?
We're looking for people who are incredibly smart and hardworking, and who are willing to go the extra mile. We want to see people willing to push themselves and take feedback and input from those around them. The fact that we have very few layers means that we are open to feedback from everybody in the company. It requires someone quite special to sit in a room and really listen to everyone around them, from frontline staff, to customers, to the CEO. You need to be open and willing to learn all the time, and every single day. And that is a very special combination.
Henry said at a recent company presentation, “for those of you who say we do insurance, I'd say that's what we mostly do now, but in the future, who knows”. What excites you about Admiral’s future?
First, I would stress that insurance is a fantastic sector, full of opportunities. It's a combination of data analytics at its heart, with strong operations and customer service.
I think this focus on data analytics positions us very well for the future. We’ve already seen how this foundation allowed us to start a successful loans business and I am excited to see how else we can leverage our core strengths. As long as it requires data, technology and a passion for delivering good service to our customers, the opportunities for our future are endless!
You can find out more about the journeys our MBAs have taken or alternatively, follow our MBA Leadership page on LinkedIn.
