From: Captive.com/IRMI

As part of our continuing “Person of Interest” series of profiles on captive insurance industry leaders, Captive.com recently sat down with Prabal Lakhanpal, vice president of Spring Consulting Group, to talk about his background, his experiences in the captive insurance industry, the state of the market, and where he sees captive insurance and the traditional insurance market going in the future.

Tell us a little bit about your background and your journey from the University of Delhi to the risk management business.

Prabal LakhanpalI grew up in Delhi, where I spent my childhood and early years as an adult. After graduating from the University of Delhi with a degree in business, I focused on developing a deeper knowledge of accounting and finance. After that, I worked at a consulting firm that advised on finance, tax, and legal advisory. This experience provided me much-needed insight into business operations and strategy. Most importantly, this experience taught me that I enjoyed client interaction and thrived in a setting where I was continually solving different problems. To add to my suite of skills and knowledge, I moved to the United States to pursue my M.B.A. at Babson College. I joined Spring after graduating in 2015.

Looking back, my education and work experiences offered the building blocks for success in the risk management space—which sits at the intersection of accounting, legal regulations, finance, and problem solving.

What attracted you to Spring Consulting?

After earning my M.B.A., as part of my outreach, I connected with Karin Landry, a fellow Babson alum, at Spring. In speaking to various stakeholders at Spring, I had an opportunity to learn about the breadth of services and projects the team worked on. The collaborative environment and the culture of encouragement stood out for me. The role and structure of the organization allowed me the opportunity to work closely with the firm’s leadership—subject matter experts in the industry.

Admittedly, alternative risk funding, captive insurance, employee benefits, and property and casualty were not familiar concepts to me at the time. However, my prior experience gave me insight into the relevance and pertinence of such business areas. I enjoy the challenge of the learning curve and found it exciting to be able to jump into a new industry and work with known leaders in the space.