Pat Gilding is a 38-year veteran in life insurance sales in the Caribbean, earning the Industry’s most prestigious awards, while giving pioneering service to the industry and her country. She became a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) in 1982, Fellow of the Life Management Institute (FLMI) in 1988, with a specialty in Pension Planning, and a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) in 1999.
She is the only Life member of the Prestigious Million Dollar Round Table in her country, and is a 15 year Life and Qualifying Member of this association, (MDRT) which represents the top 6% of insurance advisors across the globe, with membership of more than 28,000 persons worldwide.
This senior Sagicor advisor came into the Industry in April 1974 as a sales representative. She joined Confederation Life Insurance Co in April 1975 and remained there until 1986, and she has been at Sagicor since 1986 when Life of Barbados, now Sagicor, took over Confederation Life.
A native of Barbados, she completed the certificate course at the Barbados Community College in Mutual Funds in 2002 and the Certificate of Proficiency in General Insurance from the Insurance Institute of Barbados in 2003. As one of the few Corporate Agents employed by Sagicor Life Inc, she continues to be a top producer. Her consistency earned her numerous awards, including the President’s Trophy in 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007 and 2010.
While at Confederation Life, she was part of a team that negotiated with the Inland Revenue Department to allow small businesses (fewer than 10 employees) to have their own Company Pension Plans. Pat’s insight on how she could help in this area was gleaned while studying for her Chartered Life Underwriter designation.
These plans were to be set up by using individual policies thereby negating the need for a trust deed as was required for large pension plans.
Putting her continuing education to good use, she is credited with being responsible for putting several small businesses on the “Revenue Map”.
Our Hall of Fame inductee has served on the Board of Directors and the Educational Council of the Barbados Association of Financial Advisors (BARAIFA) – formerly known as the Life Underwriters Association of Barbados (LUAB). Here she has consistently won the Knight and Production Table and Star awards. To date, this feat has been repeated for 36 consecutive years.
She is an ardent supporter of CARAIFA congresses, attending 16 out of a possible 27. She served as the Magazine Committee Chair for CARAIFA’S 20th Annual Sales Congress held in Barbados and more recently as a mentor at CARAIFA’S 2013 Congress.
This Caribbean insurance industry stalwart loves orchids and includes the likes of Chalkdust, Black Stallin, Bob Marley and Byron Lee among her favourite artistes. She is a die-hard fan of West Indies Cricket and a Life Member of the Barbados Cricket Association.
Our 2014 CARAIFA Hall of Fame Inductee could justifiably claim as her own, a version of the proverbial “Golden Rule” that says: “He who has the gold makes the rules” but has chosen instead to live and be guided by the divinely inspired version that is fundamental, and even more precious than gold. It says: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
This mother of three and grandmother of ten is living a life that has been dedicated to family and clients, she has also sought to be “honest and true to self”, sharing as she does, the philosophy of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who said: “To thine own self be true. And it must follow as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man”.
As a result of her remarkable contribution to the enhancement of the professional image of life insurance practitioners throughout the Caribbean region and her role in strengthening the aims and objectives of CARAIFA, it is CARAIFA’s distinct pleasure to induct into its HALL OF FAME, Patricia M. Gilding CLU, ChFC, FLMI.
