It’s time to get to know another member of the MAXIS team! This month, we sat down with our Regional Director – EMEA, Damian Allepuz. He shared more about his role and priorities for our EMEA Business Development (BD) team, some key trends he’s seeing in the region and some highlights from his time at MAXIS…
The first few months in my role as Regional Director – EMEA have been intense but very enjoyable! My previous role was Regional Manager – Western Europe. With this new role, my scope has grown as I took on the UK and NORCEE BD teams. My first few months have been spent having insightful discussions with my new team and gaining a deeper understanding of the British and NORCEE markets. It’s really important to me that our BD team and our clients feel stable following my appointment, so I’ve been having lots of fruitful discussions with clients, brokers and consultants, as well as my team, planning for future success together.
My top priorities for the team are cross-country cooperation and transformation. As a new team made up of colleagues from the UK, France and Switzerland, it’s important that we work as one EMEA team. Our strength comes from collaborating and sharing our unique skills and perspectives to make sure we’re servicing our clients and partners across the region to the highest standards.
During my time in the employee benefits (EB) industry, one of the key trends and drivers of growth has been the reduction in public funded healthcare. I’ve seen this across Europe where governments are progressively disengaging on health matters. As a result, our client’s needs are shifting and there is an increasing interest in EB captives to help with cost management, risk diversification and plan design. EB captives must be carefully structured and proactively managed by companies to be successful, but the potential for managing costs and being able to offer the benefits that employees really want and need is huge.
I’ve been at MAXIS since 2020 and I really love the balance between working hard and having fun! The culture here is very entrepreneurial and sales driven, but what truly makes it special is how we stay dedicated to working hard while genuinely enjoying what we do. That mix of energy, ambition and fun has been a real highlight for me over the years. This was evident at our recent EMEA kick off, where we came together as a regional team for training and team building.
I’ve also really enjoyed being part of a young and rapidly growing company. We’re a diverse group with different backgrounds, giving us the unique chance to come together with different perspectives and ways of thinking which creates a really positive environment. Even though the work can be challenging day-to-day, as a team we support each other, have fun and work hard to make it happen.
Outside of MAXIS I spend time with my family. On the weekends I usually end up being the equivalent of an Uber driver, taking my two kids from one place to another for various activities! Of course, I love to do it and seeing them grow and learn is amazing.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” This is one of my mottos for life, although I also love this one: “Virtue is acquired through practice; we become just by performing just acts”. They both have similar meanings and I try to apply them to both my personal and professional life to help me work towards being better every day.