Sheila E. Nicoll was a wee lass when her parents sent her off to boarding school in Scotland. Barely a teen at the time, she is now glad they did, although, she admitted it was at first, a bit of a culture shock.

"It was very different. And I think this was why my parents sent me. You go from an environment here, particularly as you get to be a teenager, where life is very free and easy, to an environment where we were very definitely made aware from the day we walked in, that parents put their children there to be educated. They will make sure that you do get a good education.

"I'm very grateful for that. I would not be here now had I not had that education, that grounding. The discipline to make sure that I got my O Levels (10) and A Levels (3).'' The Oxford University grad is vice president and manager of the reinsurance unit of Johnson & Higgins Intermediaries, Bermuda and has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Insurance, since 1981.

She handles all of the financial reinsurance transactions from the J&H system into the Bermuda market and the negotiation and placement of executive compensation indemnity insurance with ACE Ltd. The unit also handles all placements into the Bermuda catastrophe reinsurance market, excess marine liability placements and the direct property business underwritten by XL Insurance.

Ms Nicoll was on the front line this past December, during the race to sign ships up for financial guaranties under the US Oil Pollution Act.

"First Line was a Johnson & Higgins creation, if you like. It was our concept, originally and we put the programme together. So those of us here in Bermuda were very much on the front line, for a lot of those early days, promoting it and making sure that we got the applications out and back in again.

"Obviously, Stockton Re is the company running the programme itself. We weren't underwriting. We were acting as promoters, and now our role is just simply one of a broker. The programme is well established.

"That was very different from what we normally do. Most of what we do here is for Fortune 500 companies, the typical clients who come into the Bermuda market to buy coverage.

"We're used to dealing with ACE and XL buying $100 million or $200 million of limit. And then there were these ship owners, who were needing to have a guarantee for individual ships. It was a whole new world, a whole new way of doing things.

"The other thing was that we had this incredibly tight time frame to get everybody processed, because any oil tanker wanting to go into the United States had to have the Certificate (of Financial Responsibility) by December 28.

"The only day we didn't work during that period was Christmas Day.

We worked long days. It was tough to say to staff that we had to work the holidays, but it had to be done and we worked hard as a team and got the job done.'' A one time Lloyd's broker, Sheila was involved in the conception of a mentor programme, after discussing the matter with her colleague, Cathy Lord, also a J&H Intermediaries vice president.

"I guess it kind of came out of Cathy and I talking. I know through the Bermuda Insurance Institute a lot of young Bermudians got qualified, but they are not maybe progressing as well through the corporate ranks as you might expect.

"There is definitely a need, I think, for Bermudians to network better within the industry and reach out and help some of the younger ones.

"Cathy and I got together a group of people that included Oliver Heyliger, Madeline Joell, Cathy Duffy and Larry Lombardo and talked about it. Malcolm Butterfield (Registrar of Companies) feels very strongly about it, too.

"We invited a group of young Bermudians to get together and we formed a group and we have fairly regular meetings, where we discuss things among ourselves or invite speakers.

"We talk about things that will help the younger ones grow a bit and learn how to better deal with situations and move up the corporate ladder. We just started with young people in the industry who have the potential to grow, and try to reach out and help them.

"One concern deals with Bermuda men who come into the industry after college and then get frustrated and go off and do something else. There are numerous examples.

"Maybe women are sometimes happier with their lot and get into the raising of their family in a more contented way. Men, I think, are more naturally ambitious and probably a bit more impatient. When they hit a roadblock, instead of trying to find a way around it, they move in another direction altogether.

"We started it about 18 months ago and the networking side has really started to work. Some people have been able to change jobs and progress through some of the contacts they've made. We've been able to help some people do that and we have all been able to grow through some of the discussions we've had.'' Sheila sits on the Environmental Authority which oversees the Clean Air Act and has begun licensing plants.

"That's taking a lot of time. We've licensed the incinerator and we are still working on Belco.

"I feel that it is very important to my children's future and the future of Bermuda that we look after our environment.'' She is also vice president of the Bermuda Insurance Institute and has been on the BII's education committee since returning home. She chairs that committee, helping Bermudians to get qualified and career guidance.

"I think that is very important. I believe strongly in education.'' She is also a member of the Insurance Advisory Committee.

She said: "I'd like to feel that I could continue making a contribution to the community. I've been very lucky. I was born here in a lovely place to live. I would like to feel that I could contribute something back and raise my children to be good citizens.'' She read chemistry at Oxford, because of the influence of an inspiring high school teacher at Leonards in St. Andrews. She was in her early schooling at Bermuda High School.

But she said: "After four years at Oxford I knew that I didn't want to continue doing chemistry and the careers guidance people did some tests with me and said that I was numerate and liked people. They suggested a couple of things to me, one of which was insurance. People in Bermuda told me that insurance was starting to grow here, and it would be a really good profession to get into.'' She then cornered a job as a Lloyd's broker working for Hogg Robinson. After four years, though, it was time to move on.

"I left London because it was very much a man's world. In fact, it still is.

Then, I could see what was happening to some of my female colleagues and the way I was being treated. I talked to some other women in the market and decided to try to work in the United States.

"Getting a green card was tough and so I decided to exploit another of my assets, which is being Bermudian, and come home. That was the right move.'' She started with J&H, on the captive insurance side in 1982, handling the insurance programmes for some of the firm's major captives, including those who were writing non-parent, or third party business.

As assistant vice president, the job included special projects for J&H that allowed her to live back in London for a year.

"We had some clients who had run into a problem in London with a syndicate they got involved in and I was sent back to London to sort that out.

"It was quite interesting going back and being treated as a client. They have a different attitude to you. I mean it is still a man's world, but you are treated with more respect.

"Working for an American company, I don't find there are those same barriers as there are in London. So it was pretty interesting going back.'' Four years into J&H, in 1986, she became director in charge of the Bermuda office of BCS Management Ltd., a subsidiary of Merrett Holdings Plc, a firm that provides consulting and management services to insurers and reinsurers in run-off.

Ms Nicoll was involved in the various facets of BCS and was responsible for establishing their New York office, which put her in the city for a year. She is married (to architect Steve Lake) with two sons, four and five.

SHEILA NICOLL -- "I would not be here now had I not had that education, that grounding.''