Meet Ben Hansen, the Risk and Financial Services leader at Antea Group based in our Detroit, Michigan office.
Name:
Office:
Practice Area:
Risk and Financial Services (Insurance, Legal, Financial)
Areas of Expertise:
Pollution legal liability/claim management, remediation management, international projects
About Me in 140 Characters:
Cooking, traveling, listening to music and sharing it all with my wife, my friends, and my colleagues are what gives me joy. Meeting people, helping people and learning from people is what keeps me going in work and life.
Favorite Thing about Being a Risk and Financial Services Practitioner:
I enjoy that every challenge I assist a client with is always unique and has its own characteristics to not just problem solve but to find that added value element that really makes the job satisfying.
What is a key ingredient for success as a Risk and Financial Services practitioner?
Responsiveness more times than not is what differentiates you as a consultant. Every consultancy has smart people, but long-lasting trust with a client is completed through your timely response and value-adding deliverables, along with being a friendly person. This seems like common sense, right? I’m still amazed at how doing these basic things sets you apart from the pack.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I love helping others be successful, whether it is a client I am working for or an internal team member. I take great pride in knowing that clients and our employees feel comfortable and want to come to me with ideas, challenges, questions, and opportunities because of the relationship I have built with them. That is very fulfilling to me personally.
What do you consider your biggest professional achievement so far?
My biggest achievement can be viewed by the success of those around me, those who I have helped recruit into the organization and have had a part in developing into successful professionals, whether they are still with Antea Group or not.
What was your first job?
I was a dishwasher at a nice restaurant when I was 14. I loved being in the professional kitchen and working with the older cooks and waitstaff. It only lasted a summer, but I can still remember a lot from that experience. The hard work it required and the camaraderie you gained through proving yourself as a reliable person with the rest of the restaurant staff was influential to me at a very young age. Supporting the chefs was usually rewarded with a nice dish of free food, which was very motivating to an always famished teenager (still is I suppose).
If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Sole Meunière…if I could live off of that every day, I would be a very happy geologist! Though, hot dogs are pretty good too…
What historical or fictional character would you most like to work with?
Benjamin Franklin! I dig his name, but also admire how he could successfully get along with almost every type of person and nationality and was always problem-solving for the betterment of others. I keep his autobiography next to my desk for daily inspiration.
