SHARON Sutton has officially taken over the presidency of the Isle of Man's Chartered Insurance Institute (CII).
She succeeds Nick Boon from Gough and Co and will take up the position for a year.
Sharon said: "I am excited about taking on this new role for the year ahead.
"As a chartered financial planner, being president gives me an opportunity to pass on my experience and knowledge in the sector.
"The CII local council is made up of a motivated group of industry professionals and we will continue to drive up awareness of the relevance of the CII and its extended family (financial service, general, captive insurers, life companies etc), supporting our members to increase and maintain their professional standards.
"We very much embrace the challenges ahead to lead the financial services community towards higher levels of professionalism through a wide programme of activities.
"We believe professionalism means ethical and behavioural standards, interpersonal and business skills and technical knowledge. This will lead to the ultimate benefit of the profession and consumer alike."
Sharon, of Thornton Associates, was awarded the presidency at the institute's general meeting which followed a talk on space by Tim Wakeman to members.
Tim, the executive vice president of Aon International Space Brokers, gave an introduction to the space insurance industry and talked about its capacity and future trends.
He said: "Space is an area that has appeal to most people. However many don't realise the lengthy assessment of risk that goes on behind each satellite launch and space mission.
"The Isle of Man has shown focused attention on its space industry and promoted itself as a centre of excellence. A great deal of the work that is done here contributes to space development on a global scale."
Sharon continued: "It is a pleasure to have someone of Tim's calibre speaking on a subject that many of us know little about.
"However space has been a relevant topic in the Isle of Man recently and we can all gain from some more in depth knowledge on the subject. His presentation highlighted the importance of the UK insurance markets being, globally, the largest player in insuring space."
For more information on the Isle of Man CII visit: www.cii.co.uk/localandglobal.aspx.
