Contributed
Pat Austin educates the Reggae Boyz on the importance of getting insurance at a financial seminar hosted for the team by JNBS last year.

Make no mistake about it, sports and athletic ability are important to Pat Austin, whether it is running, in which she excelled at high school, swimming, which she still does regularly today, or field hockey.

It was hockey, in fact, that was partially responsible for taking her to Canada as part of the national team. Later, as an undergraduate at Montreal's McGill University, she also played hockey. She recalls one match in particular against rival York University, and an incident which simultaneously reinforced and deflected her isolation as a black Caribbean woman in what was then still a white Canada.

"I hit the ball upfield, very hard, and this opposing player, she blocked improperly, so instead of deflecting away from her, the ball went straight up her stick and socked her in the eye - blood everywhere!" Austin recounts. "Her teammates came at me to attack me, but at the same time, my teammates surrounded me and I was spared injury or worse, because they were out for vengeance."

After completing her higher education, Austin remained in Canada and made a living as a teacher. Altogether, she stayed abroad for close to 18 years. She met her husband there, got married in Jamaica, before returning to Canada, where she had her children, Julian and Tawna, both now adults.

"I also divorced there," she says with a laugh, but adds that despite the unsuccessful first attempt, she enjoyed being married and would like to get married again.

Sseparatist movement

In the mid-1980s, the tensions arising out of the separatist movement in the province of Quebec led to the closure of several English-language schools. With somewhat of a sense of the inevitable, Austin eventually gave up her job and returned home.

The year was 1988, and she landed a mere two weeks before the onslaught of Hurricane Gilbert. Like everyone else, she was faced with the challenge of rebuilding, and before long, the opportunity arose to manage the Montego Bay office of NEM Insurance, which she did for five years before forming her own insurance agency.

"Before the NEM post, I knew nothing about insurance," she recalls, "so I had to get myself up to speed in a pretty short time, but it was great."

Once again, external forces beyond her control intervened. In this case, it was the Government's fiscal and economic policies of the day, Austin moved decisively, selling her insurance agency, but continued in the financial-services sector.

A call from Jamaica National Building Society's (JNBS) General Manager Earl Jarrett brought her into the JN fold, completing the circle, as NEM Insurance had by then become a member of the JN Group.

These days, as senior manager for insurance services at JN, she is charged with integrating the insurance business (with a health portfolio more recently added) into the Jamaica National financial network, a responsibility that takes her from one end of the island to the next.

With a rich history dating back to 1934, NEM is the longest-established general-insurance company operating in Jamaica. It joined the JN Group in 1980 and is now one of the most profitable organisations of its kind, boasting the largest capital base in the industry. NEM recorded gross revenues of more than $2.5 billion at the end of the last financial year.

Significant expansion

"NEM has undergone significant expansion over the past few years, giving it wider reach and increasing its presence in all 14 parishes," Austin discloses. "In addition to our offices, NEM representatives are positioned in 10 JNBS branches across the island, including Brown's Town and the recently relocated Christiana branch, as well as the JN Financial Services Centre in Barbican. It is hard and challenging work, but someone has to do it," she says.

It is a challenge that Austin relishes, almost as if it were a call to a competitive sporting event. Austin is committed to her work, but maintains her twin regimens of regular physical activity and a healthy diet. The health-food junkie also recently added karate to her portfolio of sports and is currently a brown belt.

"I work a lot," she states, "and I don't subscribe to this notion that you get old and retire and go home and sit down. But a successful life is about balance. I enjoy my work, I enjoy swimming and scuba diving and karate; I enjoy art and great music and theatre, and all the rest, and I enjoy my church, Universal Centre of Truth. It's all about balance."

Spoken like a true athlete.