Shashi Shama

Accomplished and strategic Senior Insurance Operations Executive with over 16 years of leadership experience driving underwriting excellence, portfolio risk management, and regulatory compliance across major life insurance organizations. Proven track record of leading high-performing technical teams, optimizing organizational structures, and implementing process automation (STP) to scale business operations. Adept at managing large-scale risk portfolios (medical, financial, HNI, and entity portfolios), cultivating high-value stakeholder relationships, and translating statistical and data-driven insights into actionable executive strategies that accelerate profitability and continuous operational improvement.

Chief Manager- Underwriting - HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd. - Mumbai

(2023-06)

• Lead the corporate underwriting team towards aggressive business targets, fostering accountability and aligning execution with long-term organizational goals.
• Spearhead initiatives to maximize Straight-Through Processing (STP) ratios, successfully driving higher automation and reducing time-to-value across protection portfolios.
• Work closely with Executive Business Leaders, Actuarial, Reinsurance, and Operations divisions to scale protection business and capture market opportunities.
• Review market trends and execute regular portfolio-wide technical underwriting and claims audits to mitigate risk, close process gaps, and optimize underwriting authorities.
• Lead technical negotiations with reinsurers to systematically relax or tighten underwriting guidelines based on competitive landscapes and risk trends.
• Serve as a core technical advisor to the business development team, providing critical strategic inputs to successfully launch and deliver new products.

Manager- Medical and Financial Underwriting - India First Life Insurance Company Ltd. - Mumbai

(2021-08 - 2023-05)

• Oversee risk assessment and portfolio performance for digital, web aggregator, and High Net Worth Individual (HNI) segments.
• Direct a high-performing team of twelve professionals, establishing performance cadences and metrics that sustained elite delivery standards.
• Design and execute targeted operational action plans for underperforming team members to restore productivity and safeguard organizational standard operating procedures.
• Manage underwriting decisions across complex, diverse distribution channels, including Strategic Distribution, Brokers, Agencies, and Bancassurance channels.
• Audit complex financial records (balance sheets, corporate tax returns, profit & loss statements) to securely clear medical, non-medical, and commercial risks.

Assistant Manager- Medical and Financial Underwriting - Aviva Life Insurance Co. Ltd. - Gurugram

(2019-03 - 2021-07)

• Partner directly with the Head of Department (H.O.D.) to engineer operational efficiencies and build a robust, scalable quality checking framework.
• Personally manage and approve highly complex risk portfolios, including specialized Entity business (Employee-Employer, Trusts, Keyman, HUF) and Group health policies.
• Serve as the core underwriting expert to claims and legal departments, rendering definitive retrospective underwriting decisions on high-risk, non-disclosure files.
• Direct the operational testing and underwriting product review phase prior to market launch, ensuring all terms and conditions minimized downstream risk exposure.

Team Leader Medical and Financial Underwriting - Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance Co. Ltd. - Gurugram

(2017-03 - 2019-03)

• Mentor, develop, and coach junior medical underwriters to elevate the department's technical capabilities.
• Hold accountability for end-to-end team productivity metrics, ensuring high-accuracy processing of high-profile entity risks.
• Oversee comprehensive claims underwriting and analysis workflows to insulate the company from incorrect claim settlements.

Senior Executive Underwriting Operations - Birla Sun Life Insurance Co. Ltd. - New Delhi

(2015-01 - 2017-02)

• Collaborate with senior management to formulate localized marketing and deployment strategies, supporting data-driven expansion initiatives.
• Design optimized quality workflows alongside senior leadership to streamline operational cycle times.

Executive Operations - Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. - New Delhi

(2009-09 - 2014-12)

• Handle end-to-end branch operations, processing applications, managing client grievances, and providing pivotal support across Bancassurance and brokerage sales channels.
• Exceed assigned KPI objectives by over 100% across multiple consecutive financial years (2010–2013).
• Recognized with the Outstanding Performance Award by the HOD of Operations; additionally awarded by the State Operations Head for delivering peak operational excellence across Himachal Pradesh and Haryana regions.

M.Sc. - Statistics - H.N.B Garhwal University, Srinagar Uttarakhand (2004)

B.Sc. - Statistics - H.N.B Garhwal University, Srinagar Uttarakhand (2002)