Around the time old classmates from Raimondi were joining him in celebrating his 70th birthday, Lawrence Lee was talking about coming out of retirement to start a brand-new job.
He was going to be a university professor.
With his four decades of experience in the insurance industry, Lawrence Yim Hong Lee ( 李彦鴻,F5B in 1969) joined The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong in 2019 as Professor (Practice) and Associate Director, EMSC-INS Programme, Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Insurance.
It is an area of study that is in great demand in the industry, and Lawrence fills the need superbly. During his career, he served in senior management positions in insurance and was a member of the Insurance Training Board, The Vocational Training Council, and was elected President of the Insurance Institute of Hong Kong.
“There are only around 200 university graduates from insurance-related programs every year in Hong Kong,” he told the university’s in-house publication, HSUHK People.
“The number of newcomers can hardly supplement the workforce loss from retirement and natural attrition.”
“Besides, there is a lack of suitable programs to upgrade the managerial know-how of the current practitioners, resulting in a lack of suitable successors in the middle and senior management level in many insurance companies.”
One of the main reasons he came out of retirement to join the faculty at HSUHK was to support the development and growth of the insurance sector through education. He is working on an Executive Master of Science in Insurance degree program which is expected to be launched soon to train future leaders and alleviate the shortage of management staff in the field.
“I hope to contribute by sharing my experience and knowledge with the younger generation,” Lawrence said.
“It takes years to train an insurance professional, like a lawyer, a medical doctor or an accountant. They have to sit for various qualification examinations before they are fully qualified and licensed. They are professionals and deserve to be rated as such.”
This professionalism is what society demands nowadays, he said. With better education and awareness of their legal rights, people are looking for better insurance service and improved protection for their well-being, families and properties.
“It will be ideal if my contribution can help strengthen the professional image and the professionalism of the industry and to enhance the public recognition to it.”
In his spare time, Lawrence is still our “Big Brother” 「大哥鴻」who loves to travel and enjoy life. Here is one of the more casual photos he provided:
Raimondi '69 