Principal
As the head of Acme Insurance Brokers, located in regional Queensland, Karen Hardy admits her duties range from big responsibilities such as compliance and finance to the more mundane tasks such as cleaning. Hardy entered the insurance industry in 1996 after a failed attempt at banana labouring, where her “morbid fear of spiders” put an end to her field career. But she never looked back and says she loves the fact that insurance gives her the opportunity to learn something new every day. Today, Hardy’s main goal is to ensure the continued prosperity of Acme Insurance Brokers for the benefit of her community, clients and staff .
Unlike most in the insurance industry, Hardy says her business hasn’t been too harshly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to her rural location. “At this time, our region remains COVID-19 free, although our communities continue to adhere to all government advice,” she says. “So, maybe our unique challenge has been no challenge at all.”
Despite this good luck, Hardy has had to grapple with restrictions on face-to-face contact, although they’re slowly easing. As a kinetic type, she says she found the formality of social distancing “disturbing”.
As the global health crisis eases its grip and life slowly returns to normal, Hardy says her next career goal is “world domination ... after I find a new facilities manager”.
