Peter Lee sits on the DEI Committee at the IBAO, he’s a Director for the Canadian Chinese Insurance Professional Association (CCIPA) and the Branch Manager of Chat Insurance Services, Steeles Branch in Markham
Can you tell us a little bit about your brokerage?
Chat Insurance was established since 2015 and we do both personal lines business and commercial lines. At Chat Insurance, brokers and staff are mainly from the Asian Community and I would say most of our brokerage’s clientele are from the Asian Community as well.
Why is inclusion important to you?
Inclusion has always played an important role in my life and career—the feeling of inclusion or knowing there’s a group or someone to go to for help has helped build my confidence and self-esteem. My experience growing up in the GTA as an Asian person has been a positive one and I’m trying to mirror that experience now in my role as Branch Manager as well, placing a big focus on inclusion and ensuring the team feels supported.
What are some polices your brokerage introduced to put DEI principles into action?
A few things that my brokerage has been doing over the past years from a DEI perspective are:
Team Buddies: We’ll buddy up new hires or brokers with someone else from the team who is from similar background
We also have a committee that promotes health and wellness for all staff, the committee also looks for various events and activities to create more bonding not just within our brokerage, but also in the community as well, like participating in various charity fundraising events.
Tell us about CCIPA and your work with them—what are the associations’ priorities for this year?
With CCIPA, my current role focuses on membership and event planning. We recently hosted the Chinese New Year Gala which was a great success and we also have our Annual Golf Tournament. The priority at CCIPA this year will be finding more ways to promote ourselves within the insurance industry and trying to expand our reach beyond the brokerages and companies which we are already in contact with along with other related industries and agency companies.
What is your advice on a first step for brokerages looking to make DEI a priority for the year ahead?
My advice for the first step for brokerages looking to make a DEI a priority is to put people first, and not business.