Hawk Lands Selective Position at Global Insurance Company

London, New York, Bermuda. For SJU graduating senior Morgan Bui, these locations aren’t just travel destinations, they are global markets that she will have the opportunity to work in through her new position at international insurance company Validus, beginning this summer.

The finance and risk management & insurance double major was offered a job at Validus after executives witnessed a presentation she gave during her Property and Casualty course, taught by Michael Angelina, executive director of the risk management & insurance program. Validus selected Bui and eight other students from the class to fly to Bermuda last fall to present their research to the executive board. The company then invited Bui and fellow SJU student Andrew Grieco ’18 to London during spring break for the VEMG 2017 Conference, an annual two-day event attended by the highest ranking Validus employees. The pair, who were the first students invited to attend VEMG since its inception, presented the products they created during their fall semester course and led break-out sessions with CIO Mary Kotch, focusing on how the company can attract, maintain and develop millennial talent.

According to Bui, Validus generally only hires highly experienced professionals due to the firm’s specialized industry. However, company executives were so impressed with the senior’s two presentations that they offered her a position in March.

“To be surrounded by the top 10 percent of a firm and be actively recruited is humbling,” says Bui. “It was overwhelming in some ways. I feel very thankful that the firm is willing to invest their time and energy to mentor and train me.”

Bui will take a position at the New York Office of Validus in the World Trade Center where she will spend the next one and a half to two years as an underwriter trainee developing various types of insurance policies including cyber, energy, terrorism and political unrest. She will have the opportunity to rotate throughout the global company’s numerous international locations such as London, England; Pembroke, Bermuda; Sydney, Australia; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This will not be her first opportunity to work abroad, however. Bui received the 2015 St. Andrew’s Society of Philadelphia Scholarship to study abroad at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland during her junior year.

“Morgan has a special balance of intelligence, a solid work ethic and a strong yet soothing presence,” says Angelina. “Her in-class and industry presentations were well-delivered, leaving many industry executives wanting to hire her on the spot. In addition to her academic achievements, she is a caring person and is always there to help her classmates and cheer them on to success.”

As one of four members of the Spencer team, an SJU risk management & insurance group sponsored by the Spencer Foundation that competes in national case competitions, Bui will present at the Spencer RIMS Risk Management Challenge. The competition will take place at the end of April at RIMS, the annual risk management and insurance professional conference. The team received the opportunity to present after their proposal for PayPal was selected as one of the top eight out of 24 projects.

“I believe our proposal represents the future standard of the risk management approach in the industry, and I am incredibly excited to present it to the judges,” says Bui.

In addition to participation on the Spencer team, the Fairfax, Virginia, native has immersed herself in her four years at SJU with many activities and leadership positions, including being an orientation leader for two years and being one of only four leaders out of 60 to be selected as a captain. She is the executive vice president of SJU’s risk management & insurance fraternity Gamma Iota Sigma, a member of SJU’s co-ed business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi and a Summer Scholar. One of seven cousins in her family to attend SJU, Bui also received the Dean’s Scholarship, a prestigious four-year full-tuition scholarship.

Despite all of the hard work Bui has done in her past four years of college, she credits SJU for a great deal of her success.

“[This job offer] was a culmination of the past four years at St. Joe’s where I’ve built so many friendships and relationships that have really fostered my growth as a student, as a friend, as an aspiring professional,” says Bui. “It’s a testament to St. Joe’s because we are a community that thrives off of uplifting each other. I wouldn’t have received this job offer without the support of the people around me.”