Celebrating International Women’s Day

Inez Cooper started William Russell in 1992 as an Insurance and Reinsurance Intermediary, specialising in health and protection insurance for expats and international employee benefits. William Russell works closely with some of the largest financial services companies in the world, including Allianz, Al Futtaim, and Lippo. At William Russell we know that having a gender balanced workplace contributes to the diversity of thought we need to best service our members.

Celebrated every year on 8 March, International Women’s Day (IWD) is an opportunity to reflect on the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, as well as a global call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

William Russell remains a family-owned business. Despite its male-sounding name the business is still powered by women; with females making up 65% of the total headcount and 47% of the senior management team. Crucially, women occupy senior positions such as head of transformation and regional sales manager that—at William Russell’s competitors—are almost exclusively held by men.

Inez has always been committed to strong female leaders in the business, and she’s proud of the open, tolerant, and inclusive culture that’s become William Russell’s trademark in the industry.

Alongside healthy female representation in senior positions, William Russell also has a good mix of nationalities and backgrounds amongst its employees. All this helps create a great working environment, which explains why over 14% of employees have been with the business for more than 10 years.