New Hamilton Re chief financial officer Vanessa Hardy Pickering aims to help spearhead the Hamilton Insurance Group’s expand into the insurance market.

And Ms Hardy Pickering, who has just stepped up from group controller to her new role.

The Bermudian was one of the founding employees of Hamilton Re, moving to the firm in 2013 when her former employer SAC Re was bought up by the start-up created by industry guru Brian Duperreault.

Ms Hardy Pickering said: “I transferred from SAC Re — for me, it was a hugely beneficial career move.

“Working with Brian Duperreault and chairman Sandy Weill has been a great privilege for all of us working at the company.”

She added: “Brian Duperreault is truly a visionary and he has very big hopes and plans for this company.”

Ms Hardy Pickering said that Hamilton Re planned to create an industry “revolution” through the use of technology and innovation to better manage risk.

And she added: “As we grow, our platforms in Bermuda, the US and Lloyd’s of London will grow.”

Ms Hardy Pickering said the firm’s longer term plan was to enter insurance as well as reinsurance — but the focus at the moment remained on building the reinsurance side.

But she added: “We will certainly diversify in the future.”

Ms Hardy Pickering, 39, a mother-of-two from Paget, was educated at Warwick Academy and Saltus Grammar before gaining a bachelor of business administration degree from Acadia University in Canada.

She is a accredited as a certified public accountant, a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda and holds the Associate in Reinsurance designation from the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.

When she was appointed last month, Hamilton Group chief financial officer Jonathan Reiss paid tribute to her “pivotal role” in the firm’s rapid expansion into the US and UK and her work in recruiting a top notch finance team.

Ms Hardy Pickering said: “My dad was in the industry and I was very intrigued by what he did and the career he was in.

“When I graduated, I followed in similar footsteps and joined Ernst & Young to get my accountancy qualification and that established a solid footing for a career in the industry.”

Ms Hardy Pickering will report to Hamilton Re CEO Kathleen Reardon, regarded as one of the most influential women in the sector and who was named as one of the most influential women in Bermuda by trade magazine Bermuda:Re+ILS.

Mr Duperreault challenged male executives to promote more women to senior positions in a keynote address to an industry conference last year.

Ms Hardy Pickering said: “We have a lot of women in very senior positions at Hamilton, but I am a strong believer we’re not in these positions because we are women.

“We are here because we’re very skilled in our areas of expertise and we have worked hard to achieve the levels we are currently at.”

And she added: “We’re very fortunate to have hired a lot of very strong Bermudians as well.

“The finance team is 80 per cent Bermudian and that’s something we should be very proud of.”

Ms Hardy Pickering said: “One thing we have managed to do very well here is build a team which is very passionate about what we’re doing.

“It takes a certain type of person to work at a start-up and we’ve been very careful and thoughtful about who we have on board and we’ve got a very talented group of people we can be very proud of.”