Music is always better live. An important moment everyone, especially a music lover, should experience in their lifetime is seeing their favourite band or artist perform live. A connoisseur of music, Peter Levy has seen the late Prince perform Purple Rain, and watched Billy Joel artfully attack his piano when performing Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. Levy easily declares the ’80s the best time for music. “I think I was the lucky one, coming into my own and becoming a man in an era when Elton John, Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind and Fire were putting out original hits after hits,” he said.

Levy is not a record producer, though he probably has the technical know-how to be. He is the general manager of British Caribbean Insurance Company (BCIC) and has been part of Jamaica’s general insurance industry for more than 30 years. But this Insurance man is like no other. A fan of some of Vybz Kartel’s music, he plays Texas hold’em poker on the weekends with his wife, reads psychology books – for fun – and makes a killer coleslaw. Today, we take a look at what contributes to making this chartered insurance professional such a beloved leader in his field.

An astute writer, with a love for reading, he has the ability to distil complex things into very few words without losing the meaning. A self-described synthesiser of ideas, Levy is careful with his words, because he knows the power they hold. A reserved, curious and deeply analytical man who has learnt many life lessons on the cricket field, around the poker table and from watching his children evolve.

The middle child of three boys, born to Charles and Catherine Levy in Kingston, Jamaica, he told Outlook that the best life lessons he has ever learnt came from watching his parents live – how they conducted themselves day-to-day in an ethical way, not taking advantage of people and not being mean to anyone. His mother, Catherine, worked as the librarian at the high school he attended, Campion College. He jokingly admits that he doesn’t recommend this for any high schooler, because anytime he got in trouble (which he did) she would instantly know about it. Certainly, his mother being a librarian influenced his passion for reading and like many high-school boys, Levy poured over The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift and Louis L’amour. When asked what he enjoys reading today, he said, “I rarely read fiction anymore, I read a lot of business, management and psychology books.”

“Campion unequivocally contributed to who I am as a man today, but what I took away the most from there was the internal code of conduct they teach; a code of behaviour, which were principles expected of us as students and this code gave me a solid foundation as how to live as a man.”

Levy was the wicket keeper on the cricket team at Campion, an activity through which he learnt some important lessons. “Playing cricket taught me the fundamentals of being part of a team and the correlation of effort and reward. It taught me that people who were from different backgrounds brought their own input to the team and the importance of valuing everyone’s effort.” Today, he watches 20/20 cricket, but prefers the strategy which five-day test cricket matches bring. “There is a lot more going on below the surface,” he said.

His father, Charles was in the insurance business. At 19 years old, after law school, Peter decided that law was not for him, so he relinquished law to pursue a career in the insurance industry like his dad. He began his career in the claims department, which, he said is a good part of the business to begin as getting people’s lives back together was gratifying and gave him a sense of fulfilment. “Whatever my job has been since those early years, I have always kept the desire to solve problems for people paramount. Ultimately that is what we are here for.”

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/outlook/20171105/peter-levy-beloved-leader-his-field