On this episode we interview Jose Luis (Pepe) Velasquez and find out how he has used his experience working at blue chip companies like Heineken to drive a high-performance culture at Mapfre USA.

Connect with Pepe on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-luis-velasquez-906560/on LinkedIn or find out more about Mapfre USA https://www.linkedin.com/company/mapfre/

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

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Zimbabwe born and South Africa educated, Warrick Beaver started his working life as an HR professional in the fashion retail industry.

“If you're talking about journeys to insurance, fashion and retail is probably as far away as you can imagine. I was taught that you were a retailer first and an HR professional second”, says Warrick.

“The lesson learned was, 'Understand where the value creation happens and be as close to it as possible. Understand your business.' That commercial curiosity has always stayed with me. It has stood me in good stead, kept me engaged and helped me find impact, meaning, and alignment throughout my career.”

On this episode of the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, Warrick delves in to his career journey and what he’s learned along his professional journey.

Through retail and recruitment industry, FMCG manufacturing and information services, Warrick shares his experiences of M&A, business divestures and balancing his commercial and HR hats.

He discusses his role of Chief People Officer and Fidelis Insurance Group’s novel operating model.

“The hypothesis was that businesses should lend themselves to their core competencies. If that core competency is underwriting, then it should focus on underwriting and ensuring a relentless pursuit of execution and excellence.

Conversely, the core competence in terms of capital management, balance sheet management, capital allocation, reserving, would also be best served if there was the same level of excellent focus and time and attention.

Decisions can then be made with the clearest of intention, and there's no potential contradiction or conflict in terms of what you do from a capital management or from an underwriting point of view, because the two businesses are managed separately. So that's the hypothesis. We are in a long-term relationship with The Fidelis Partnership. They are focusing on what they do best, and we are focusing on what we do best.”

With its growing presence in London, Dublin and Bermuda, Warrick discusses the culture at the business and whether bifurcation is a true USP to attracting top insurance talent.  

“Culture is dynamic. It's ever changing. You can never put a pin in it and say, “We're done, victory is declared!” It is a constant evolution.

We also see that in terms of our demographic, our employee base and what they’re looking for from an employer and the working experience.

We've been able to assemble, very capable, experienced professionals from within the insurance market who have worked for much larger, more established organization

This model represents something novel, unique and an opportunity for them to become part of something interesting. Of course there is a lot of uncertainty with a scale operation, but we have a deep heritage. We have some fantastic experience. We're a building brand, and it's enough to attract people who are well regarded.”

Warrick emphasises what he looks for in insurance leaders coming for interview.

“It's just as much a conversation on how that technical capability, experiences and skills are translated into value added. Don't spend your time talking about your accomplishments. We're going to take those as read.”

As closing advice, Warrick says, “Understand your business. Be as close to the value-add inflection point as possible because you will feel relevant, get immediate feedback, and will be constantly evolving with the needs of the organization.”

Connect with Warrick Beaver on LinkedIn or find out more about Fidelis Insurance Group

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.

“Given the potential of AI, we should all be focused on ensuring it's part of our strategic roadmap. It is an excellent tool that is going to allow us to rethink, reimagine how we deliver products, services and experiences to our client base”, says Prashant.

“Is it machine learning? Is it deep learning? Is it unstructured data? Is it predictive models? What is it that you really want to achieve?

While it's powerful, it requires other catalysts to function. You can't start building a roof and then look at the foundation. 

Building the right data foundation, having a robust change management plan and then ensuring there are business use cases that are aligned with the outcome.”

On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Prashant discusses:

• starting his career for a business outsourcing processing company over 20 years ago in India
• transitioning in to managing processes and people mostly in P&C specialty lines and understanding the insurance lifecycle, from acquisition to claims
• being part of the mission to make MSIG USA a data-driven insurer
• change management and its impact on people, infrastructure and day-to-day operations
• AI requiring other catalysts to function properly
• adding skills and embracing the AI implementation journey
• what he looks for in an insurance executive search partner
• being entrepreneurial and keeping a smile on your face
• and the one lesson his job has taught him, he wants everyone to learn

“Change is hard. We use different terminologies in an organization to express our goals, objectives and why we are doing it. But it all boils down to one thing and that is change.

Think about what you're doing as change and keep that in mind, because if you lead with that, it helps you understand how to increase adoption and how to make change stick.”

Connect with Prashant Hinge on LinkedIn or find out more about MSIG USA

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO of Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved. 

“Executives who’ve been in this business for 30-40 years and have a lot to offer, go for a role where they can really impact younger people coming into the business”, says John.

Sharing his journey from joining Chubb Underwriting direct from school, John maintains that one of his greatest advantages early on, was learning how to underwrite, before moving back to his Californian roots, where he joined Heffernan Insurance Brokers as employee no. 19 in 1991.  

John charts the organic growth of the business before moving in to M&A 6 years ago, with Heffernan having a current team of 540 and being one of the few independent retail brokers in the U.S. over $100m.

“My background has been bringing young people on, mentoring them in a very collaborative environment.  It's impossible to have organic growth as a company without a very strong collaborative culture.”

John discusses moving in to a leadership role at Heffernan, biggest career achievements, pushing peers out of their comfort zone and draws similarities between the early days at Heffernan and launching London-based Costero Brokers.  

“I'm in kind of a similar situation here but I'm further along and more mature in my career. But it's a challenge when you're pushing your peers out of their comfort zone and pushing them to trust you. Not that they don't, but you're kind of getting to the limits of that trust. It's challenging, but I also find it somewhat invigorating.”

John explains how he’s dealt with setbacks along the way, “It's really important that I'm surrounded by people that I trust and I care about. A lot of the setbacks I've had would have been impossible alone. I don't know how people do this stuff when they operate in a bit of a vacuum.”

Clarifying Heffernan’s approach to embracing tech and digital change, John talks through his outlook on the industry, challenges for executives and the opportunities for high-performing talent.

“We let people create the careers they want. I've always thought that my job is to keep really good people and facilitate their growth. It's not to manage them.”

John concludes by sharing his concerns about the impact remote-working is having on mentoring and developing the next generation and his advice for insurance professionals considering their next steps.

“It’s a good business. If you’re not enjoying it, find something else.”

Connect with John on LinkedIn, email jt@heffgroup.com or find out more about Heffernan Insurance Brokers.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“The platform has really grown up around the needs of the wholesale broker”, says Kingsley.

A highly experienced industry leader, Kingsley charts his 4 decade insurance career with brand names including Johnson & Higgins (acquired by Marsh) and Beazley Group and explains what attracted him to join cyber insurtech Sayata in 2020.

“The vision for building the company.  We have a combination of ultra-bright tech minds and seasoned insurance professionals is the best way I can describe it.”

With Sayata having raised $60m across 3 rounds of funding, Kingsley goes to on to explain the development of the multi-carrier comparative cyber platform in early 2020, a place where wholesale brokers can access multiple quotes from multiple markets. 

“Our distribution is 100% wholesale brokers.  Wholesalers are most efficient in distribution of the small to midsize cyber product. They bring some value added consulting to the retail agent, helping them navigate through some of the issues around cyber.”

Kingsley outlines the benefits on offer to wholesale brokers and retail agents as well as the challenges to scaling the business in a changing market.

With 10 well-known carriers participating on the platform, over 100 Wholesale Brokerage firms appointed and 1200 active users, Kingsley highlights the recruitment opportunities across the Operations and Business Development teams, together with the cultural values that Sayata is developing as it grows apace.  

Discussing the value high-performing insurance talent brings to the business, Kingsley says, “The key is identifying people that are willing to learn something new. I use myself as an example, it’s identifying people that bring experience but are willing to look at things very differently.”  

On the topic of remote-working, Kingsley maintains, “With travel opening up, the team is going to spend more time on the road. I still believe there's no substitute for face to face meetings.”

In conclusion, Kingsley gives advice to those considering a move from an incumbent insurance business to the world of insurtech.

“I think the key is developing your primary major. Have a strong, technical grasp on an insurance product and build that out.”

Connect with Kingsley on LinkedIn or find out more about Sayata

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“Covid was the first time I was home every single day. I had time to think about what I wanted to do and what made me happy”, says Justin.

Justin shares his career journey from Kemper Scholar to starting off his insurance career with General Electric, through the likes of KPMG, CNA Insurance, XL Catlin and AXA and what attracted him to joining the Vantage team in 2021.

“I thought what really would appeal to me is maybe a start-up, something a little different than a legacy carrier. Vantage came about and it was just at the perfect time.”

Talking through his transition in to senior leadership positions and the C-suite, Justin explains how it was his time at XL where doors opened and his confidence grew.    

“I was regularly working on operational planning and there was a desire with senior leadership, to expose other business units, other countries to that to that form of strategic planning.

It really gave me an opportunity to spread my wings and develop a reputation.  I found that doors started to open.”

Charting his biggest achievement as his time at Vantage to date, Justin explains how the last 18 months at Vantage is what he’s most proud of.

“It's all because of our team. We're building something unique and special. It’s set us off on a journey as a team, an even more important accomplishment versus something I could name as an individual.”

Justin shares his reaction to being overlooked and how Vantage is adopting technology and digital to exceed its clients’ expectations.  

"We've invested heavily in data analytics. All of our data is flowing into one spot and we're able to access it and use it.

When it comes to to working with customers and brokers that's really powerful because we're able to get to very accurate timely information.”  

Vantage is also building out their own IT systems, which is impacting talent attraction, allowing underwriters and those working in claims to contribute to how they're going to work in the future.

Justin shares his views on the challenges ahead for the business and sector and highlights the opportunities for high performers as well as the skills Vantage demands from aspiring leaders and their approach to talent attraction.

“There's a lot of competition for talent. We have to be out there all the time with our name in the marketplace. It's just super important that our people are out there, whether it be from a market or a talent perspective sharing who Vantage is and what we're all about.”

Justin concludes with advice to any executives considering a career move.

"Take some time and look around and figure out what you want to do. Really think about what makes you happy, what you want to do long term."

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn or find out more about Vantage Risk Companies.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“We believe in trust. We’re handling a very sensitive transaction”, says Omri.

Headquartered in New York City and with the Development and Product teams based in Tel Aviv, Jones automates the full life cycle of insurance operations from extraction and collection to approvals and resolution across any transaction in real estate.

“We've built Jones to give one network where you can find all the vendors, subcontractors and tenants who are leasing space and simply look up their insurance profile and get instant verification.”

With close to 8,000 buildings and hundreds of thousands of stakeholders using the system across the U.S, Omri talks through the benefits on offer to clients and the flexibility of integrating with existing core property management or construction management systems.  As well as time savings, he describes how Jones is helping users increase compliance rates and decrease liability.

Omri, who started his career journey in the Israeli military, discusses the challenges encountered in scaling the business including the slower rate of tech adoption in commercial real estate, economic downturns and the impact on the sales cycle.

With a group of talented tenacious people, diverse in their perspectives and backgrounds, Omri defines the importance trust, generosity and ownership play in forming Jones’ culture and values. He goes on to emphasise the importance of physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing.  

“Life is not Jones. Jones is part of your life. Take care of yourself and bring that to the company rather than bring the company to your life.”

Omri highlights the significance of insurance knowledge for the business as it continues its rapid expansion. “Insurance knowledge drives the algorithms that drives the product.”

He concludes by advising fellow founders to have someone alongside them, a great co-founder relationship.      

“It’s like what motivates you to complete the Navy Seals experience, it's actually the person next to you who's doing the course with you and being there to be supportive of them and then gaining their support in return.”

Reach out to Omri at omri@getjones.com, connect on LinkedIn or find out more about Jones

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“No insurer in the U.S. has any digital infrastructure for the native Spanish-speaking population”, says Nestor, “despite the U.S. being the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico.”

Born and raised in New Jersey, the son of Uruguayan immigrants shares his journey of stumbling in to insurance after helping his aunt with monthly budgeting.

“I had no idea how hard it was for some immigrants and working class people in the U.S. to access auto insurance”, explains Nestor, as he highlights the challenges of credit score, education, employment and postcode as well as the dearth of digital infrastructure.

With minimum liability limits, Sigo Seguros launched its own auto insurance product in August 2021 with a focus on providing affordable, accessible insurance.

“We’re working towards starting to remove some of that bias that a lot of the legacy products have.”  

Nestor talks loss ratios, customer-centricity and the benefits on offer to policyholders.

“Ultimately, there's the opportunity here to provide a fully digital experience for a market that's a little different.

When we talk about our target customer, we're fully bilingual and end customers can onboard digitally, pay, receive proof of insurance in their native language.”

Nestor goes on to highlight the impact of technology, future growth plans, the biggest challenges to scaling and the evolving culture.   

“We're willing to talk about the tough topics. Culture changes, culture shifts, it evolves.  I think it's driven by the team and who you hire.”

Nestor shares his thoughts on business sustainability, remote-working and the value insurance knowledge brings to the Sigo team as well as moving from growth to managing a book and harnessing potential demand.

“Many states have billions of dollars of premiums of auto insurance, when you look at the immigrant and working class population  The demand for the products is there. We're looking how to build and reach the massive market not only in Texas but beyond.”

Nestor concludes by encouraging entrepreneurs to learn from other founders and underlining the importance of clear communication and story-telling.

"Grow as a communicator and storyteller. Find the right talent, motivate the team and learn from other founders. It’s unlocked a lot for me.”

Reach out to Nestor on LinkedIn, email nestor@sigoseguros.com or find out more about Sigo Seguros

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“Don’t underestimate the need for people to support your digital business”, says Bill as he shares his journey from not-for-profit and workers comp to affinity distribution and tech-enabled businesses.

Bill discusses co-founding Gradguard that works with 450 colleges across the US to provide embedded insurance at the point of enrolment, enabling students to protect their investment in education.

Co-Founding Boston-based Bindable in 2016, Bill gives an overview of how the business started and current growth plans.

Bill explains how the business has evolved from its early focus on auto insurance in Massachusetts to providing insurance as a service, enabling carriers, brokers or brands to expand through alternative channels, launch new products or enter the insurance market.

“We like to think of the business as a B2B2C distribution platform.  If a brand wants to get into the insurance business, whether it's a bank or a retail brand, whoever it is, we can support them doing it themselves or we can do it for them.”

Bill highlights how products have evolved from auto and home to digital products like travel insurance, pet insurance, home warranty insurance and legal plans as well as the benefits Bindable offers carriers, brokers and brands. 

“Our value proposition is straightforward. Would you like to access preferred channels and get to those customers in a moment that's important to them in?”

On top of engagement, there’s the data, they learn about their customers and their buying habits as well as the reduction in customer acquisition costs.

Bill discusses challenges to scaling the business and the culture & values of the team, emphasising the importance of ‘being nice.’  “It is our primary core value. Be nice to customers, be nice to partners, be nice to competitors, be nice to each other. It goes a long way.”

He shares Bindable’s approach to hybrid-working. “Like everyone else, we're trying to figure out the right cadence. People need flexibility. I also think it's important to have collaboration to be in the office and spend time together.”

In conclusion Bill stresses how important those with insurance expertise are to the business and advises anyone looking to join a growing business to do their research.

“Know that you're going to work hard, but find people that you feel have the same values as you, because you're getting into the trenches.”   

Connect with Bill on LinkedIn, email bsuneson@bindable.com or find out more about Bindable

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“We’re looking at skillset rather than location. Skillset and culture matters much more”, says Damien as he shares how Zelros is maintaining its culture and values alongside ambitious growth plans.

With offices in Paris, Montreal and New York, Damien - who is spearheading the company’s move in to the North American market - describes his journey from engineer to entrepreneur and the rationale behind co-founding Zelros with his two business partners.  

“We are a recommendation engine specialised for the insurance industry, leveraging data and AI”, says Damien as he details how Zelros is preparing for their Series B next year, following their initial $16m fundraise.  Responding to new and emerging risks, Zelros provides benefits for policyholders as well as brokers and carriers.

“For policyholders, we provide comprehensive and personalised advice on how they’re covered. For brokers and carriers, we drive more growth and increase loyalty,” maintains Damien, describing how the business is making relevant recommendations to 250 million policyholders across Europe (60% P&C, 30% Life and 10% Health).

Damien shares the challenges to going international, operating across different markets and timezones as well as how the business is aiming to grow by 30-50 people upon closing its Series B. He talks about how the culture - ambition, humbleness and trust - has been defined over time and the challenge of maintaining those values as they grow their presence in Montreal.

Highlighting the value insurance product knowledge and understanding new markets brings to the team, Damien explains how Zelros is looking for people who love insurance and technology.  

“Your mindset should be rollercoaster proof. You’re never prepared enough for the ups and downs”, concludes Damien as he shares his advice for fellow founders and emphasises how experienced strategic advisors and marketing positioning & messaging will fuel success and educate the market.

Contact Damien via damien@zelros.com, connect on LinkedIn or find out more about Zelros

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“I realised that big company culture just wasn’t for me. I operate best in the start-up space”, says Jon.

The lifelong entrepreneur and insurtech pioneer talks about launching his second business Overalls, after selling Life.io in 2021.

An early stage business with a current team of 10, Overalls is reinventing workplace protection and changing our psychology and attitude towards insurance. Through its three-pronged product offer – Hassle Helpers, Mighty Moments and Pocketbook Protector – Overalls is helping employers and their people reclaim the time, money and joy that are often lost to life’s hassles.

“It allows us to engage people at the moments that matter most and help position the right insurance products for them at that time”, says Jon.

Jon shares how access to capital and a team of culturally aligned, experienced entrepreneurs is providing a solid platform from which to scale, but highlights how cracking the code of remote-working keeps him up at night.

“We’re trying to figure out how we allow people the freedom to be independent, while maintaining that culture and connective tissue on the team.”

Jon discusses future growth plans, T-shape leadership and maintaining values as the business scales, highlighting the transparent culture from top to bottom and the weekly ‘show & tells’.  

“It gives you a window in to what everyone else is doing and how it fits together.”

Jon talks about access to talent, the value insurance knowledge brings to the team and work-life balance, as well as how infrastructure is allowing insurtechs to launch and build quickly.

In conclusion, Jon gives his thoughts on the common misperceptions of being part of a large business versus a start-up.

“People underestimate how risky it is being with a larger company. There’s a randomness to things outside of your control.”

Connect with Jon Cooper on LinkedIn, email jon@overalls.ai or find out more at www.overalls.ai  

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“You can’t find an industry as a whole that does more to secure people’s lives and livelihoods than the insurance sector”, says Kenneth Saldanha.

Lifelong consultant Kenneth, who has spent over 20 years consulting in the insurance sector, stepped in to the global leadership role of Accenture’s Insurance business in 2020 is joined on the podcast by Guidewire’s Chief Innovation Officer, Paul Mang.

Kenneth and Paul speak about their journeys to the c-suite and the functions of their respective organisations. They discuss behavioural data, new and emerging risks, as well as usage and behaviour-based offerings.

“Insurance increasingly becomes about risk mitigation, not about risk indemnification”, says Kenneth. “It’s not about being there when something goes wrong, it’s about preventing something going wrong.”

Paul gives his thoughts on the insurtech space and the need to build something great that stays great. He highlights the importance of culture and management, saying “Everything can’t rely on the passion of one person.”

Discussing talent attraction in to the industry, Kenneth believes, “there’s a brand and storytelling problem”, when it comes to selling the array of opportunities on offer across the sector.

Paul highlights the skills Guidewire seek when recruiting talent, stressing the importance of domain expertise together with comfort with ambiguity and the changing dynamics of the industry.

Kenneth and Paul discuss what makes the insurance sector such an incredible career option. Whether it’s sales, underwriting, claims, technology, “there’s so many roads to the top of the hill”, says Kenneth. “Find your passion.”   

Paul concludes by encouraging us to, “Be the manager or leader, you want yourself”.

Connect with Kenneth Saldanha or Paul Mang on LinkedIn, email kenneth.i.saldanha@accenture.com or pmang@guidewire.com or find out more about Accenture or Guidewire

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“You have to be able to flit between the strategic, operational and tactical”, says Caroline as she shares her journey of being involved in an insurtech start-up.

“There’s been days when I’ve been operating as a Claims Handler as well as Chief Insurance Officer, thinking about underwriting strategy.”

With an insurance career spanning 25 years, Caroline talks about joining Flock in the midst of the pandemic and how the business pivoted from drone insurance policies to entering a new vertical of commercial motor fleet insurance at the end of 2020.

After a $17m Series A fundraise in June 2021 allowed the business to grow from 20 to a headcount of 60, Flock now use data to analyse road risk and incentivise good driving behaviour for connected motor fleets.   

Caroline outlines the challenges to scaling the business and gives insight in to Flock’s values, including ownership, growth, curiosity, transparency and creativity. 

Whilst the lead time to recruiting new talent is a source of frustration, Caroline shares Flock’s multi-faceted approach to recruitment, saying, “If you want a breadth of opinions and ideas, you have to take people from all walks of life. We try not to fish in the same pond.”

Caroline explains Flock’s approach to hybrid working as well as the value an insurance career can bring to the business and her advice to anyone looking to start or scale an insurtech, emphasising the importance of mapping out your hiring strategy.  

“Your first hires are hugely important. You can easily burn through cash at the start with the wrong people.”

Connect with Caroline on LinkedIn, email caroline.garrow@flockcover.com or find out more about Flock.  

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“Flexibility has been key. We've worked really hard to figure out, how do we meet the commitments to our customers, but also empower our employees to have the work experiences that they're looking for and that are a good fit for their families”, says Angie, as she discusses how Safety National are breaking down the barriers to inclusivity.  

“We offer four weeks of paid caregiver leave to our employees. We’ve also enhanced our benefit offerings for adoption and now have some financial reimbursement that apply to the costs associated with adoption and we also added financial benefits for fertility.

However employees might be trying to start their families, our goal is to help support them on that journey.”

On the podcast this week, Angie shares her career journey from law into insurance.

Her role overseeing all HR operations and leading a team of 26 HR professionals at Safety National.

Founded in 1942, Safety National has 700+ employees in 27 States and is part of the Tokio Marine family.

Angie discusses the impact of flexible working patterns on talent retention and reducing staff turnover.  

She highlights how the business is supporting employees in the key life moments of adoption, fertility, menopause and care-giving.

Angie emphasizes the importance of being your authentic self when coming in for interview, her advice to her industry HR peers and why relationships matter.

When selecting an insurance executive search partner, Angie says:

“It's understanding our business and our customers, what we're trying to accomplish and then also making sure that they are bringing diverse candidates to us. Diverse in all aspects, their experiences, background and education.”

Angie talks about the company’s two-year strategic technology transformation to support recruitment and launching an intern program to attract early career insurance talent.

And concludes by sharing one lesson her career has taught her, she wants everyone to learn.

“Empathy. We're all just human. Most of us have to work to support our families and there isn't anything that can't be figured out if we all treat each other with respect and professionalism.”

Connect with Angie Schaefer on LinkedIn or find out more about Safety National

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO of Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

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“As you progress up the corporate ladder, your focus becomes less about your technical skills and more your people management and communication skills”, says John.

Having previously held leadership positions with Marsh and Willis Towers Watson, the industry veteran, who joined Risk Strategies in 2017 and became CEO in 2019, reflects on his career progression and transition in to the C-suite.

“Effective self-reflection and awareness have helped me understand my skill set and continue to grow it”, explains John as he emphasises the need for effective delegation skills, time and calendar management in his position as CEO.

John shares his biggest career achievements - highlighting how he’s preserved the culture and values of Risk Strategies founder, as the business has grown to revenues of $1bn and over 125 offices – as well as how’s he dealt with being overlooked along the way.

“What I realised was that I had an imperfect view of my skill set. I turned that view in to a plan of action.” John stresses the importance of sharing our career ambitions and aspirations with management and the importance of constructive feedback, maintaining that too often there’s an emphasis on technical expertise and not enough focus on the soft skills of personal brand, public speaking and human capital management.

John imparts how the business is investing in tech & digital for the benefit of both clients and associates and gives his thoughts on the biggest challenges for executives and the industry, as well as the characteristics that make Risk Strategies such a great place to work.

Sharing the three skills and behaviours of change agility, self-reflectivity and a focus on growth, that he demands in new talent, John also emphasises his frustrations when recruiting.

“There’s a lot of people out there who want to move but lack the confidence to pull the trigger. They believe their value proposition is the company they’ve worked for, not the skill set they’ve developed.”

He concludes by encouraging us to challenge ourselves. “I tell our associates they’re capable of doing so much more than they know. It requires us to get a little uncomfortable at times, but that’s where the real growth occurs.”

Connect with John on LinkedIn or find out more about Risk Strategies.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“Changing how commercial insurance is done has a lot of risk to it”, says David.

The former Chief Actuary and Director of Insurance Product & Pricing at Clearcover, talks through his journey and vision to founding Coterie, who currently offer BOP, General and Professional Liability Insurance.

“We’re here to empower our distribution partners, helping them unlock a massive market”, as David explains how Coterie has built for non-traditional distribution partners, allowing them to pivot and bring speed, simplicity and service to commercial insurance.

David shares how’s he dealt with doubt and adversity along the way, including how investors backed out the week before he moved his family from Chicago to Cincinnati.   

“Even if I started it and failed, that cost of education would be worth it. Every day it’s tons of little failures that we learn from and iterate on.”

David highlights Coterie’s values - integrity, intelligence, humility and passion - that drive the vision and the supportive culture that is helping people develop skills and reach personal goals as well as the value high performing insurance talent can bring to the team.

“Insurance people have amazing knowledge of the space, but sometimes we need seamstresses, not supermodels. A seamstress is going to create something new that hasn’t been worn before”.

David concludes by giving advice to anyone looking to start or grow an insurtech. “Know how you want to work with your team, give people the vision and spend a lot of time on the data model.”

Connect with David on LinkedIn or find out more about Coterie Insurance.   

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“The insurance experts in the company define the technology requirements”, says Cory.

With a career background of building technology for strategic advantage, Cory shares his journey to co-founding reThought Insurance, a US-based insurtech focussed on flood protection for commercial buildings and HNW homes.

“Flood is the most challenging peril to underwrite. It’s difficult to price flood risk adequately,” says Cory, explaining how 90% of buildings in the US aren’t covered for flood, despite 99% of US Counties having suffered from flood since 1996.

Licensed in all 50 States and with risk spread across 40 States, Cory outlines the benefits to policyholders and brokers and the biggest challenge he’s faced in building the business. “Insurance is a complex multi-party transaction. It took us 2.5 years before we could write one policy.”

With a current headcount of 31 and fundraising for Series B, Cory gives insight in to growth plans, maintaining a collaborative, fast-paced start-up culture as the business moves forward and reThought’s approach to hiring new talent.

A completely distributed, remote company, even before the pandemic, Cory highlights the value of insurance knowledge to the business and the foundations needed to build a successful insurtech.

“Pick the right market, have the right insurance expertise and back it with technology. In that order.”

Connect with Cory Isaacson on LinkedIn, email cory.isaacson@rethoughtinsurance.com or find out more about reThought

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

“Customers are coming to expect that when they purchase a product or interact with a brand online, protection is a given”, says Darcy.

Joining Cover Genius in 2018, the former lawyer shares her pivot in to the insurance sector and transition to insurtech, following varied roles with AIG, Liberty Mutual and The Hartford.

Darcy explains the journey to the launch of Cover Genius and the benefit on offer from its core technology product, XCover – a global distribution platform for all lines of insurance. 

“The core feature is that it’s product agnostic. We can be a central integration point for a business to be able to offer any types of insurance products in any of the markets where they’re doing business.”

Working across a broad spectrum of sectors and with some of the world’s best known brands – including Booking.com, Ryanair, Intuit, eBay, Wayfair and Amazon, Darcy outlines the advantages Cover Genius offers to customers, clients and capacity providers, as well as their approach to using anonymised data from partners. 

Darcy shares her thoughts on the future of the insurance sector and discusses the value those with insurance knowledge can bring to the team, emphasising the importance of a growth mindset at all stages of a career journey. 

For those looking to transition in to the insurtech space, Darcy highlights the importance of research, understanding the different value propositions on offer and building a network.

“Once you know people, they’ll want to help you out. If opportunity doesn’t exist today, it might in a year or two.”

Connect with Darcy Shapiro on LinkedIn, email darcy@covergenius.com or find out more about Cover Genius.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

“We’re not the type of company to put lipstick on the pig”, says Sasha. “We want to fix the pig first, then make it pretty.”

Sasha shares his journey in to travel insurance in an emergency medical assistance role with Travel Guard to the launch of battleface, a full-stack global travel insurance company.

“A lot of policies were created decades ago. The travel industry has changed so much, but travel insurance hasn’t kept up”, as Sasha explains how battleface works direct with consumers or through affinity partners to enable customers and partners to easily select custom-built products and services that perfectly fit their needs.

Having grown from a team of 10 to 120 over the past year, Sasha talks about the challenges to business growth and maintaining the culture and values as the company continues to grow across the US, UK, Europe, Canada and Australia.

“We’re dealing with a lot of cultures and nationalities, you have to be extremely flexible.”

Highlighting the importance of uncomfortable conversations, Sasha says, “Every person in the company can challenge my opinion or each other’s opinion. It doesn’t matter what level of the company you’re at.”

Sasha talks about the value an insurance background can bring to the business, managing a team spread across multiple time zones and the foundations needed for growth.

“Flexibility, we’re changing all the time. We’re seeing what works and what doesn’t work. And even though we’re custom-building the insurance product, building systems that can be easily replicated is key.”

About Sasha Gainullin

With over 25 years of experience in the travel insurance industry, Sasha Gainullin is an innovative leader and industry disruptor. Launched in 2018, battleface unbundles travel insurance, being first to market in connecting travellers with customised insurance policies. Under his leadership as co-founder and CEO, battleface has grown to more than 120 employees spanning 11 countries across the globe.

Connect with Sasha on LinkedIn

About battleface

Backed by global partners and a commitment to delivering superior experiences, battleface face uses cutting-edge tech to make buying and using travel insurance a seamless process. battleface is on a mission to deliver peace of mind and relevant products to today’s travellers. Find out more

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

"We’ve been around the insurance industry a long time, but we didn’t want to compete head to head”, says Tim.

The Toronto-based CEO talks through his journey from CGI Inc and working on core systems for carriers to co-founding Slice, a full digital insurer.

Driven by the three factors of removing as much expense as possible, algorithms outperforming people in terms of underwriting and claims and delivering a better user experience, Slice focussed on gig workers – offering commercial speciality insurance to the new world of AirBnB hosts and Uber drivers.  

Tim talks about the importance of starting with the customer and journeying backwards. “Starting with a minimal viable product, we stayed with all the superhosts, and said ‘what else are we missing?’”

Outlining the benefits on offer from Slice and growth plans for the year ahead, Tim gives an insight in to the team’s cultural values. “The whole company is built very distributed. Our decision-making is distributed. We have a big culture of experimentation, what does the end user think, it’s not what do we think.”

Tim concludes by emphasising the importance of removing silos and layers, explaining “our tech people know insurance and our insurance people know tech. The product is a combination of technology and insurance. There’s no separation.”

Connect with Tim on LinkedIn or email tim@slice.is or find out more about Slice

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

“You can’t let one part of the business get too far ahead of others”, says Ty as he shares his journey to co-founding Openly after a 12 year spell with Liberty Mutual.

A full-stack home insurance company - founded in 2017 and launched in 2019 – Openly sells through independent agents in 17 US States.

Outlining the benefits to customers and agents, Openly offers better coverage, more accurate pricing and is drastically faster and easier to use. When it comes to home insurance, Ty maintains, “A lot of people, their data is stale. On average people are 10-20% under-insured.”

With a current headcount of 170, the business is looking to add 100 people over the next 12 months.

“We wait for the great”, says Marcella, who emphasises the higher cost a poor hire can have against waiting for the right cultural fit.

Maintaining culture is a key part of scaling. “It starts from the top”, explains Marcella. “Culture is going to happen, you need to be intentional about it.”

Ty and Marcella discuss remote-working, the value of an insurance career to an insurtech and the advice they would give to founders and leaders looking to scale.

“Make sure you are balanced as insurance and tech. You need both types of expertise. And build with long-term relationships in mind”, concludes Ty.

Connect with Ty Harris or Marcella Butler on LinkedIn or find out more about Openly.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

“We allow the data to tell the story”, says Jeff, who charts his journey from joining the insurance industry in 2011, co-founding Quantum Assurance to leading the growth of Quotehound, an aggregated lead generation exchange.

“Our biggest enemy is time”, explains Jeff as he outlines the rationale behind Quotehound and the benefits on offer to both carriers and agencies. “We’re very transparent, we sell leads from other vendors. Through the portal, you can buy what you need.”

With a current team of 11, Jeff shares the business’ ambitious growth plans as well as the challenge of finding the right people to scale quickly.

“If you’re a talented person, the world is fine right now. Our goal is to grow by 200 people in the next 12 months, 60% sales and 40% tech.”

Jeff emphasises the importance of trusting people to do their job in the midst of such growth. “Hiring the right character and reminding people of the mission. You win or lose in the hire.”

He concludes with sharing why he believes the best founders of insurtechs come from the insurance industry.

“They understand what’s broken. At the end of the day you have to make an insurance product that solves insurance problems.”

Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, email jeff@quotehound.com or find out more about opportunities at Quotehound.

Find out more about Jeff's coffee of choice, Golden Ratio

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

“I have a human first philosophy. Ultimately maths is the easier part of the equation, humans are hard”, says Amy.

Amy shares her background as a management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and joining Principal almost 21 years ago. 

“I had a leader and a mentor, people around me had belief in me”, as Amy shares her rise to the c-suite and her biggest achievement.

Amy talks about her reaction to being overlooked and how she reacts to negativity.

“I don’t block all of it out. I say ‘wait a minute, there’s a market need. Someone, some day is going to fill it. Why on earth could it not be us.’ My motivation is more externally focussed.”

Sharing how Principal are using tech and digital, Amy comments, “Innovation often looks at the beginning or the end of processes, at customer acquisition or claims. We’ve been focussing on those middle processes – administration and servicing.”

Amy talks about future challenges for insurance executives and the industry, urging us not to go back to pre-pandemic normal. She explains the characteristics Principal seek when looking for high-performing talent as well as her recruitment frustrations. 

“We’ve been mathematicians more than story-tellers. We have plenty of technicians in the industry, we’re light on people who understand the human experience.”

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn or find out more about Principal Financial Group.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

“70% of employees in the US say they have no clue what they’re covered for”, says Guy. 

The Israel-born entrepreneur shares his journey from 12 years in the Israeli Air Force to co-founding New York-based Healthee and how the business is helping customers and users understand their health benefits.

“Healthy employees are a strategic asset for a company. If employees are healthy, the company will be healthier, society will be healthier”, as Guy explains how Healthee’s platform, Zoe, can take any 600 page healthcare plan, convert it from unstructured to structured data and provide employees with health recommendations specifically for what they need.

“It takes a lot of the aggravation and anxiety out of the process of using our healthcare. Zoe learns about the user to find preventative care benefits”. 

Guy shares how the business raised $22m seed funding and has grown from a team of 5 to 40 in 6 months, with the aim of doubling or trebling in size within the next 12 months.    

“We’re super-fast paced, we’re in the trenches. We need people that are excited about the vision.”

Guy talks about the benefits Zoe offers employees, employers and insurance carriers, how the pandemic has impacted the scaling of the business, the value of insurance knowledge and flexibility within the growing team.

“I want the marketing person to tap the sales person on the shoulder and ask the question, but I don’t need that every day”, says Guy.

For those looking to launch in to the insurtech space, Guy emphasises the importance of having investors and partners that really understand the vision.

“I speak to our funders once a week, even once a day because I value their opinion.”

Connect with Guy on LinkedIn or find out more about Healthee 

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.

To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn

Copyright Insurance Search 2022 – All Rights Reserved.    

“The blend between work and life is really blurred. It's important for employees to step back and have a good sense of purpose, belonging and balance”, says Jennifer.

“We're sharing our expertise and our innovation. It's our employees who are doing that. No matter what position somebody is in, every day they're making something possible, whether it’s external or internal clients they're supporting.

Every single one of our employees has their own life. They're working hard and smart for Arch, but they have to find that balance.”

On the podcast this week, Arch Capital Group’s Chief Human Resources Officer talks about:

• joining Arch 5 years ago, following leadership roles Accenture, The Hartford and Voya Financial
• leading Arch’s Global HR function with 6,500 employees, spread across Bermuda, US, UK, Europe, Australia and the Philippines  
• enabling possibility and managing the blend of work and personal
• post-pandemic wellness, managing stress and burnout
• changing priorities in the career lifecycle
• her advice for leaders coming to interview what she looks for in an insurance executive search partner
• the tech and talent attraction tools Arch uses to create a talent community
• helping people adapt to change and succeed
• and one lesson her career has taught her, she wants everyone to know

“You cannot make everyone happy. You’re often not going to be the most popular person in the room if you’re driving change.

But if you lead with your own leadership values and the company’s values, you’re going to be fine.”

Connect with Jennifer Centrone on LinkedIn or find out more about Arch Capital Group

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO of Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

“There are a lot headwinds to innovation in insurance but we’re missing a lot of the reasons you can do things”, says Stuart.

The Irish-educated, English major talks through his experience of launching and building Better.com’s insurance practice and founding Marble, the first application that combines all policy types and lines with a shopping experience, overlaid with a rewards programme.

Stuart shares how he leads and benefits from a team of talent spread across the globe, “It’s raised our velocity. As we hire in 2022, we have a global view.”  

While insurance is global, technology in insurance is very localised both in terms of regulation and consumers’ expectations.

“It’s really interesting having team members, who themselves – culturally or nationally – have different views on insurance”, says Stuart.

Stuart explains his vision for responding to the dearth of rewards programmes in insurance and shares his predictions for the future of the industry, focussing on differentiation, parametric and embedded insurance.

When recruiting, Stuart leans towards those with general fintech knowledge but emphasises his desire for strong communicators and positivity.

“Positioning yourself publicly as a knowing bridge between where insurance is going and the thousands of years of history, immediately warms a hiring manager to you. It tells me you get it!”

Reach out to Stuart on LinkedIn or find out more about Marble.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“The only reason we’re here is to support our carriers”, says Bob as he shares his journey of setting up shared services operations and his transition from media in to insurance.

“There’s a sense of stability of being in an industry that’s required by law to sit on giant pools of assets.”

Bob gives an overview of Tokio Marine and the setting up of Tokio Marine NAS to provide pooled professional services - accounting & finance, actuarial, legal, internal audit and technology - primarily supporting Tokio Marine America, First Insurance Company of Hawaii and Philadelphia Insurance.

“Each of our group companies has different needs. They’re at different moments in their system lifecycle, operational change and transformation.”

Bob shares his thoughts on the future of insurance both through a technology lens and on the sector holistically, emphasising that, “Any insurtechs we adopt, we have to stitch in to an already complex environment. Sometimes you can plug it in, often it’s not that simple.” 

He talks about the personality traits that fit Tokio Marine and the diversity of opportunity for those with an insurance background and those from outside of the sector.

“The more we speak insurance, the more it draws our business colleagues in to speaking tech. If everyone’s speaking a little insurance and a little tech, we’re all speaking the same language.”

Connect with Bob on LinkedIn or find out more about TMNA Services

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“Person-centricity and customer-centricity are not the same”, says Hedi.

With a background in banking and I.T, Hedi talks about her passion for data and her journey to co-founding Cachet and building an ecosystem of services to enable the platform economy.

“Gig workers work very differently. None of them have 100% the same work pattern. It’s important to write the right risks.”  

Cachet, who currently offer professional liability insurance, car insurance and micro-mobility insurance, work as a third-party distribution channel but play a big role in determining pricing.

“For our underwriting partners, we provide deeper insights in to the risk.”

With digital experience already the norm, Hedi shares her thoughts on the future of the industry and distinguishes between person-centricity and customer-centricity.

When it comes to recruiting, Hedi says that the business is looking for professional rebels.

“We’re very rebellious. We need professional, driven people that have kept themselves informed with changes in technology and innovation, people that can be strategic but that get things done.”

Connect with Hedi on LinkedIn or find out more about Cachet.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“It’s a watershed moment for the industry. If we don’t respond, we’ll lose relevancy”, says Madhu.

The philosophy major and former management consultant and venture capitalist talks about his rise through the ranks at AIG and his journey to joining Corvus, a cyber insurance insurtech protecting policyholders’ digital operations and digital assets.

“I like the feel of a small group of people going after a big problem”, as Madhu explains how Corvus assesses the network topography and weak points of a client’s business, offering direct and continuous engagement with policyholders.

“We look at the company the way an attacker, malware or ransomware actor would.”

Madhu shares his thoughts on the future of insurance, emerging risk threats and the personalities he looks for when recruiting.

“When talking to candidates, I ask what are the things they’ve tried that didn’t work”, as he explains the importance of being comfortable with ambiguity and having an experimentation mindset.

“The risks, the approaches and the way policyholders are engaging is all changing. Imagination and new thinking will drive different outcomes.”

Connect with Madhu on LinkedIn or find out more about career opportunities at Corvus. 

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“At a start-up, you can’t afford delays, you have to pivot faster”, says Ruth as she shares the journey from her 10-year corporate insurance career to launching a bakery business with a friend, before starting-up Anapi, a tech-enabled insurance intermediary for start-ups, small businesses and entrepreneurs. 

Frustrated with not being on the frontline at Zurich, Ruth put her MBA in to practice by diving in to the world of cookies in Hong Kong. Relocating to Singapore, she joined the Anapi team as a co-founder and took over as CEO in September 2021.

“The bakery business was a good transition to Anapi,” says Ruth, explaining the transition from an internally focussed corporate role to wearing multiple hats at a start-up.

Ruth talks about the work Anapi is doing to help smaller businesses access insurance faster and manage it in a much more digital manner, as well as how the business has pivoted from its early days of trying to use big data to help companies manage their risks themselves.

Discussing the key benefits for insurers, end clients and multiple policy holders, Ruth gives her views on the future of the insurance market, the personalities best suited to Anapi and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“Don’t do it alone. Find someone who can complement your skills.”

Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn or find out more about Anapi. 

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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"Smaller businesses are under the same regulatory and compliance pressures as the big players”, says Aurora, who initially came to Zemble as an investor.

With team members spread across 6 countries, the Sydney-based insurtech works with smaller to mid-market TPAs, MGAs, smaller carriers, re-insurers and satellite businesses around the insurance claims stakeholder network, helping them manage complex post-sales processes like claims, complaints and disputes.

“Any post-sales business unit in insurance is a cost centre. For larger businesses, the big goal is to get efficiencies. For smaller organisations it’s about establishing basic digital foundations. We give them that basic foundational digital capability.”      

Aurora shares how processes like claims and complaints touch many different, very vulnerable stakeholder groups. “There’s a real fear around delivering digital experience because it’s so new. Digital transformation is a muscle you have to build.”

When it comes to the value a high-performer with an insurance background can bring to Zemble, Aurora highlights the importance of customer empathy and the ability to help navigate a complex, old, highly regulated industry. 

She also emphasises the significance of curiosity, patience and discipline when being part of an early-stage venture. For those wishing to transition their career in to an insurtech, Aurora encourages us to arm ourselves with knowledge. 

“Reach out. Build trusting relationships. You’ll have a clear understanding of how you can contribute.”

Connect with Aurora on LinkedIn or find out more about Zemble

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“If you choose to go the franchise route, you own it”, says Megan.

Goosehead Insurance’s, Director of Franchises shares her journey from being brought in to the business to lead on franchise development and corporate recruitment.

With almost 2,000 franchises from coast to coast, Megan talks through her progression in to leadership. “I’ve had the benefit of growing up with the organisation as we’ve transitioned in to a larger company.”

She explains the cultural importance of servant leadership within Goosehead as well as her biggest achievements and her reaction to being overlooked.

“When I look back, it was always the right call. I’ve been passed up for a lot of things because I raise my hand a lot.”

Megan shares how Goosehead is empowering both consumers and agents through digital investment and the key to accomplishing business growth.

“It’s not going to happen without top talent to lead that charge. If you want to attract people with a track record of success, you yourself have to have a track-record of success”

Connect with Megan on LinkedIn or find out more about the skills, benefits and opportunities within franchise & corporate at Goosehead Insurance

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“If you’re going to bring two businesses together, you’ll want to bring out the efficiencies on day one”

On the show this week, Natalie Ord and Peter Vanderwelde from our insurtech series sponsors, RSM, give insight in to current M&A activity within the insurance sector, resilience within the market as well as key tips for buyers and sellers both before and during the transaction.

“Acquisitions are not without risk. It can be an expensive way to grow a business”, says Natalie. “Unless the integration is done well, a lot of the value can be lost, rather than built.”

They discuss the importance of a genuine meeting of minds for all parties, cultural fit and the key infrastructure that needs to be in place.

“There’s no point in doing a transaction unless 1+1 is something more than 2”, says Peter.

Natalie discusses common pitfalls for sellers, urging them to have early conversations with advisors, someone who really knows the numbers and to resist the urge of overhyping the business.

“You can always release good news further in to the process, you don’t want to be rowing back from your numbers the second a buyer is interested.”

As well as sharing steps to enhance a business’s valuation and the perception of value, Natalie and Peter talk about the best time to start the process, building profile and not being frightened to say no. 

“Getting on the radar of your competitors or potential buyers is a great way to initiate interest.”

Connect with Natalie Ord or Peter Vandervelde on LinkedIn or find out more about M&A activity and RSM’s 2022 Outlook here

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“Insurance is about caring and protecting. We really think about insurance inclusion”, says Quentin, as the former Allianz executive talks through his entrepreneurial journey to co-founding Qover in 2016. 

The Brussels-based company is all about insurance for disruptive businesses. Having raised $42m and grown to a team of 150, Qover has a key focus on verticals including new mobility, gig economy, fintech, proptech and neobanks.

Working alongside businesses that want to upsell or cross-sell insurance to protect the goods they are selling or use insurance as part of their strategy for customer acquisition or retention, Qover provides a single API integration that offers simplicity and efficiency to partners.

Embedded insurance provides benefits to end users too. 

“Insurance is extremely complex and sophisticated. By embedding insurance, you remove the obligation of the user to understand.”

Quentin shares his thoughts on the future of the market and discusses parametric insurance and new distribution models as well as the value those with insurance knowledge can bring to the business.

“We need people who are ready to do things. As a leader we tell them where we want to go, but how we go there and what to do to get there, we leave it to our people.”

Connect with Quentin on LinkedIn or find out more about Qover

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“It’s not just your IQ. It’s also about your EQ (emotional quotient) and RQ (relationship quotient)”, says Rohit, as he encourages us to build our networks in the market place.

The former computer engineer talks about his journey in to the insurance industry, breaking in to the c-suite at Zurich and his journey to CEO of Crawford, the world's largest claims management business

“I’ve taken every leadership challenge as a way to transform”, says Rohit as he talks about his biggest successes and how he reacted to being overlooked, citing that his connectivity in the market wasn’t there.

Rohit shares his thoughts on technology, decluttering the most aggravating processes and how Crawford are building partnerships with best-in-class insurtech providers.

In response to the “tsunami of retirements coming our way across the sector”, Rohit discusses talent attraction, mindset and the key skills he looks for when recruiting. 

“Empathy is extremely important. We’re in the business of claims. When people call us, we’re talking to them on one of the worst days of their lives. They’re not just a policyholder.”  

As closing advice Rohit inspires us to build our networks and clarify our value proposition.

“Do great work! You don’t have to be pompous about it, but make sure the right people are aware.”

Connect with Rohit Verma on LinkedIn or see more about Crawford & Company

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“There is this misconception that the only way to grow or advance is to move into leadership. Some people just don't want that or aren’t sure”, says Andrea.

“We want to give people an experience who aren't sure if they want to. We'll find opportunities to allow them to try their hand in things like the mentorship program, where they have an unofficial way of helping to grow talent.”

On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Andrea shares her career journey in HR.

“It all started with a knack for numbers and data. I was drawn into the world of compensation because it beautifully combined my analytical side with that human aspect.

In compensation, you have to know the business inside and out, you have to know how your sales people are motivated, how the company earns money.

I always found myself really closely connected to our leaders in the business and working on programs to incentivize and drive performance in the organization.”

Andrea discusses what she learned from being part of staffing business, TrueBlue, where she rose from Director of Compensation & Benefits to Chief People Officer over 12.5 years.

She joined AssuredPartners as Chief Human Resources Officer in June 2023 and highlights the transition from staffing to insurance. 

“One of the things that I was drawn to at AssuredPartners was their unwavering dedication to people.

There's such a strong connection to fostering a culture of learning and development and that's something that really resonated with me.

Believe it or not, there’s a lot of similarities.  Whether it's on the staffing side or on the insurance side, you really need to know your customer, what impacts them.

In insurance, the thing that is really compelling is there's such an incredible tie to protecting people's livelihoods. Whether it's their business, their health, their employees.

There's something really heartwarming about helping people protect the things that are most important to them.”

Based in the US, UK and Ireland, with just over 10,000 employees, Andrea shares her passion for nurturing and advancing talent at AssuredPartners.

“I am incredibly passionate about ensuring there's a clear path and trajectory for their growth and the importance of our employees feeling valued, recognized and knowing their company envisions a future alongside them.

Discussing the initiatives to foster growth and development, Andrea says,

“Our mentorship programs are game changers. There's something truly magical about pairing up employees with seasoned pros.

And we're cooking up something extra special this year, which like a Master's degree in AssuredPartners leadership. It's almost like a VIP experience, tailored just for them and their success.

We also recognize there's another piece of the puzzle, which is heavily focused on building content and experiences for our individual contributors. It makes our employees fiercely loyal.”           

Andrea highlights that developing in your career doesn’t always equate to going in to a leadership role.

“When it comes to fostering growth and development, there's more to it than just your typical learning programs. First off, there's the structural piece around job or role architecture.

These give employees that framework for career paths and for development. A road map that helps show them exactly what they need to do to move up that ladder.

For those who really do want to help us grow to the next level, it’s really helping them to learn how to be a leader.”

Andrea showcases the outcomes the business has seen as a result of learning and development initiatives.

“In 2023 we promoted over 550 people in our organization with 77% of those being women.

Our employees are highly engaged and we have very low voluntary turnover levels.”

Andrea shares her recommendation for an executive coming in to interview at AssuredPartners.

“One of the things I absolutely adore here is the genuine sense of inclusion and belonging that people feel here.

So just be yourself, let us get to know the real you and give us a chance to connect with you on a personal level.”

And her advice to insurance industry people leaders looking to hire the best insurance talent.

“Before bringing anybody on board, it's really crucial that you have a clear picture of what success means for each role.

From there, pinpoint the skills and competencies that are needed to excel in that position.

Craft questions or scenarios that give candidates the chance to showcase their expertise.”

Andrea highlights what she looks for in an external insurance executive search partner.

“It's really important that they get to know who we are as a company beyond the numbers.

Our culture is what drives our success. I need a search partner who takes the time to understand that, who understands what makes people successful contributors here and helps us to find diverse well rounded candidates who can make an impact.”

Andrea discusses the tech tools that help attract talent, emphasizing the need for a strong CRM component to streamline the process.

“It helps to get savvy with all of the recruitment related social media tools. You have to get really smart about finding where the talent hangs out. Think about Gen Z. Get acquainted with them and understand how to hook that type of talent into your organization.

You've got to spruce up your career site, make sure that it's, it's warm, it's welcoming, it's informative.

I can't echo the consumer like experience enough.”

As for the one lesson her job has taught her, she thinks everybody should learn at some point in their life, Andrea concludes,

“My time in HR and leadership has really hammered home the importance of vulnerability.

Leaders who embrace vulnerability, are the ones who are truly able to connect with their teams on that deeper level.

And when you have that connection, it has that spark of collaboration, it drives innovation and leads to big time success.”

Connect with Andrea Brogger on LinkedIn or find out more about AssuredPartners

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO of Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

“Digitising the most common experience with a customer, felt like a pretty important thing to enable”, says Andrew.

Purpose-built for insurance, the all-in-one payments platform is on a mission to improve customer experience, loyalty and retention as well as reduce operational workload for agencies, brokers and carriers.

“Insurance in the US is one of the biggest industries that relies on paper cheques. They’re outdated, a bad customer experience, unsecure and very expensive to handle.”

Ascend is white-labelled to power the checkout for whoever is collecting the payment from the insured – the retailer, the wholesalers or the carrier – whilst also offering point of sale financing for eligible policies.

Andrew talks about the importance of customer empathy, whether you’re an engineer or in sales and the long-term opportunities for those joining the team to truly modernise, not replace to the insurance industry.

For those considering a move to a high-growth insurtech, Andrew says, “Companies are very well funded now. It’s not a massive career risk but people should have a rightful degree of scepticism.” 

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn or find out more about opportunities at Ascend

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“Health Insurance and Employee Benefits lacks connectivity, lacks infrastructure. That’s what we’ve set out to solve”, says Michael.

With a background in colour printer supplies and medical malpractice, Michael co-founded and leads the team at Vericred, who connect health insurance and employee benefits carriers to insurtech companies to simplify the exchange of data.  

Headquartered in New York City, the 100-strong team is focussed on the US market for the foreseeable future, enabling digital transformation and efficiencies to brokers and carriers.

Michael shares the benefits those with a background in health insurance or employee benefits bring to the team.

“It’s an exceedingly complex space. When they come in with industry experience, we’re that much better for it. They bring domain experience and can ramp up faster.”

For those with grit, agility and tenacity, Vericred offers tremendous opportunities to be part of the journey. “We have to work very hard but people can evolve in to new roles.”

Advising those who are considering a move in to an early stage company, Michael says, “Immerse yourself in the community, understand the problems that are being solved, understand the culture.”

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn or find out more about Vericred.

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“We have standardised in a very novel way the underwriting process”, says Paul.

Harbor.ai uses AI automation tools to help insurers get products to market and works to support the broker channel, helping them to sell more efficiently.

With some of the most talented people in the world working in insurance, Paul maintains that the sector needs to do a better job of patting itself on the back.

“We’re finally engaging younger people. Tech has made it cool.”

With a 60/40 split of insurance vs non-insurance backgrounds across the team, Paul outlines the value high performing insurance talent can bring to their business as well as the personalities that fit in.

“We have two criteria. Are you qualified and crazy enough to join? It’s about who you are as a person. As long as you meet the criteria, the sky’s the limit.”

Paul encourages those preparing to change tack to understand that they’d be joining a technology company operating in the insurance space.

“Those with insurance knowledge have an advantage. Realise where your asset is.”

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn or find out more about Harbor.ai. 

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“We’re flipping the traditional model of what people think of as a carrier on its head”, says Aaron, a former attorney and insurance defence litigator, responsible for building out Accelerant’s presence in the U.S. 

Officially launched in January 2021, the team has grown from 3 to 45 and currently supports 15 ‘members’ by providing capacity for their SME program business through a tech-fuelled risk exchange.

“We’re highly selective with whom we’re supporting. There’s something truly special about what we’re doing and creating. There’s another 7-10 members going through the on-boarding process.”

Aaron shares his thoughts on the future of insurance - on distribution, CX, underwriting & pricing and claims – and how insurtech 3.0 will make it possible to underwrite more meaningful risk with better transparency, better data and better technology. 

As well as sharing the traits Accelerant seek in new hires, Aaron talks through the opportunities for high performing talent and the advice he’d give to those looking for a move in to insurtech.

“One day you might be doing HR, the next compliance or creating content for the website. You have to be prepared to do what it takes.”

Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn or find out more about Accelerant

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“I had the bug to do something different”, says George.

Having risen through the ranks at Prudential, AXA and AIG and reached senior management positions by his early 30s, George shares how his frustrations with the corporate insurance world coupled with his entrepreneurial mindset led him towards insurtech and setting up his own successful start-up.

ZA Tech, a joint venture between ZhongAn and Softbank, then came knocking. The business, currently operating across Asian markets and expanding in to Europe, offers full stack technology to insurers looking to launch digital insurance products, short-cutting the route to market from over a year to less than 3 months.

George gives his thoughts on the future of the insurance & insurtech sectors and the value high-performing insurance talent can bring to a tech business. 

“You have to be comfortable with ambiguity and solving problems”, says George as he encourages those looking for a career change to get up to speed with what’s happening in the marketplace and to seek out an intermediate step to facilitate the transition.

“Most of the team are running at 110mph. People are hungry.”

Connect with George on LinkedIn or find out more about ZA Tech

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“You’ve got to be able to sell or you’ve got to be able to build”, says Chris.

The former Insurance Litigator talks about his journey from law through tech solutions for document management into the world of insurtech.

Bold Penguin, digital quote and bind for commercial insurance, provides carriers and agents with a software application to assess the eligibility of small businesses for insurance policies in real time.

As widespread digital adoption becomes the norm, Chris shares his thoughts on the future of the insurance industry as well as the greenfield opportunities for high performing talent.

“You have to be a person who takes on a problem and pushes it to a solution."

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn or find out more about Bold Penguin

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“The more data we capture, the more expertise we glean, the more it enhances our products and drives value for our clients”, says Bill.

Launched in 2018, ForMotiv operates in the behavioural intelligence space, collecting users’ digital behaviour to help insurance carriers drive a better user experience in real time.

Having processed 100,000 transactions in 2019, the business has grown to a head count of 20, capturing behavioural data on 200m transactions this year alone.

“A new dimension of data and real-time insight, allows clients to tie the data set to a meaningful business outcome, says Bill. 

With Covid having accelerated many business’ roadmaps from 5 years to 18 months, ForMotiv is making the digital experience more human. “Whoever can understand user intent will survive”, says Woody.

With 40% of the team coming from an insurance background, the team offers swift upward mobility for resilient and consistent new hires. “It’s fun and fast-paced. A 20 person company that’s looking to double and double again isn’t for everyone.”

With ambitions to expand in to the UK, Europe and across the globe, the team is looking to build out its platform and expertise.

"We’re trying to find doers, people who’ve made decisions and taken risks”, explains Bill.

Connect with Bill Conners or Woody Klemmer on LinkedIn or find out more about ForMotiv

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“Search out those things that you may or may not want to do. Take advantage of the learning,” says Erik.

The seasoned entrepreneur shares his career journey through some of the biggest brands in the industry to the entrepreneurial bent that led him to founding Transverse Insurance Group.

Erik discusses what Transverse has achieved over the past 3 years and its value proposition in the marketplace, as well as what he learned from breaking in to his first C-suite role at AIG. “You’re not there for a popularity contest. There’s no simple playbook. It makes you concentrate on what you need to do.”

He talks through his biggest achievements, being overlooked and the role technology is playing in the growth of Transverse.

Having fallen in to the industry himself, one of Erik’s biggest passions is attracting young talent to the sector and he gives an overview of the Internship Programme at Transverse.

He encourages execs to be nimble, “We’re being thrust in to the unknown”, and advises those looking for their next move to, “Think about who you are and what you want to do. Always set the bar higher than you think, whether it’s your personal or business life.”

Connect with Erik on LinkedIn or find out more about Transverse Insurance Group

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“The supply chain has become so dramatically digitized. I felt there was a better way to distribute, underwrite and settle claims”, says Johnny.

With 19 years’ experience in the cargo and logistics insurance space, Johnny launched Loadsure in 2018.

Building a digital platform to enable end users and cargo owners to procure insurance at the click of a button, the portal allows Loadsure to underwrite in real time, using predictive analytics and machine learning.

Providing policy holders with the benefit of an instant purchase, embedded within their daily workflow, enables instant decision-making for a fast-paced industry and claims to be settled in near real time.

Johnny shares his thoughts on the future of the cargo and freight insurance market. “There’s a lot of noise out there. The market needs to be careful that we understand what the need for technology is and that we use the right tech to improve a process.”

Speaking about the opportunities for insurance talent, Johnny maintains that ,”Tech doesn’t just go and do the job. You have to teach it. We need subject-matter experts to build our product suite with us.”

Johnny says there’s a lot that’s different about working in insurtech. “Working in an agile process, it’s alien to a lot of people in the industry.”

He encourages us to bring ourselves up to speed with products and the value proposition. “Do your due diligence, make sure they’re well-funded. It’s not for the feint-hearted!”

Connect with Johnny on LinkedIn or find out more about Loadsure

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

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“It’s been a tremendous place to explore my own curiosity about business, to work with people and build something really unique.”

As an aspiring lawyer, Sean fell in to the insurance industry with a claims role. Warmly embraced by the leadership team, Sean’s passion for the industry grew as he was entrusted to build his team and handle complex problems and negotiations.

Joining the EPIC team in 2017, Sean talks about how he was recognised as having a strong capability to align people around an idea.

“I was tasked with building a young, smart, aggressive claims team and recruiting new talent to the industry. A role was created to do those two things. There was no roadmap.”

Sean shares how he’s dealt with adversity and being overlooked and says, “There’s always a context that we don’t understand in the present moment.

You can be so focussed on what it is you want to achieve or accomplish, that you may not understand some of the other forces at play.”

Explaining EPIC’s approach to adopting tech, Sean gives his thoughts on the future of the industry, the characteristics that make EPIC such a great place to work and the opportunities on offer for high performing talent.

“It’s an entrepreneurial place. We’re not done yet. We look for collaborative, communicative and tenacious people.”

Connect with Sean Conrad on Linkedin or see more about EPIC Insurance Brokers

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

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“A lot of businesses talk about it, but do they really analyse what they need to do to build it? We've spent a lot of time thinking about what high performance looks and feels like within the context of a turnaround”, says Karen.

“When I joined the business, I prioritized improving the culture, establishing values that really mean something, as well as working with Scott Egan (CEO) to ensure we've got the right leaders at every level that exude those values.

We've created a really strong accountability culture. I think the key to making sure culture change sticks is integrity."

On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Karen shares her 30-year HR career journey.

Starting in insurance, she has moved through some of the most recognizable brands in insurance, financial services, hospitality and media, before returning to insurance with roles at Saga Plc and RSA.  She joined SiriusPoint in November 2022.

Karen discusses working across a wide variety of sectors, and how she has found transitioning back in to insurance.

“When I started my career, for many insurers, there wasn't a big focus on culture and values. People talked about it, but I don't think they did it as well as we did it in hospitality and retail.

I think in the past, in in financial services, technical skills have tended to be rewarded with bigger and bigger roles, and I felt that the leadership aspects were secondary.

What I found in retail, hospitality and also media, is because the customer is just so central and critical, there's just much more focus on leadership of the people, the values and the culture within the business.

It's just such a heartbeat of the business at every level in those industries. I'm a massive believer in values and culture, and I love being part of businesses where these are really central.

I think that's become true, probably now more so in the insurance industry than it was when I started. That's certainly true for SiriusPoint.”

Karen explains how some of her best experiences have come through the tough times and the importance of HR’s relationship with the CEO.

“The relationship I have with Scott and other bosses I've worked really well with, are where you've got mutual respect but sometimes differences of opinion.

That’s where the real spark comes. Sometimes we come at things with different opinions and we'll explain them to each other.

But we'll end up in a different place, and it's a better place than either of us had thought of.

That ability to challenge with mutual respect and actually stand your ground is so important.”

Headquartered in Bermuda, with offices in New York, Liege, London, Stockholm and Zurich, Karen gives insight in to SiriusPoint and the ambition to be a best-in-class insurance business.

“We're a global underwriter of insurance and reinsurance. With over $3billion capital, our business lines include accident and health, aviation, space, casualty, credit, energy, marine, property and life insurance.

Our global headcount is around 1000. In terms of growth, we really want to become a top performing reinsurance and insurance company in the coming years. Our aim is really to be among the names who consistently outperform the market year on year.”

Karen emphasizes how creating a high-performance culture is more than an HR task, as well as the role integrity plays.  

“From day one, our CEO has made building a high-performance culture, one of our executive leader leadership team’s top priorities.

We've created real integrity around what we say we're going to do and what we're actually doing. If there's any mismatch there, people see through the cracks and they just lose trust very, very quickly.

My strong belief is that culture can be built. But culture can also be damaged in a nanosecond. If you don't have integrity, you can just lose trust so quickly.”

Karen shares how SiriusPoint are bringing culture to life and making it real across the entire organization.

“We've given all our teams a lot of time to immerse themselves in it. Workshops at team level and across our sites. We've got a big recognition scheme.

We get people to call out when they see people living our values. But we also encourage people to call out when they see things that are not living our values.

It's so important that we hold ourselves and our leadership team to account for the way that we behave.

Karen highlights the impact in terms of measurable outcomes.

“The results speak for themselves. 2022, we made a loss of $400million. We've turned that around in 2023 and knocked the ball out of the park in terms of performance.

A number of things have helped that. We've looked at our global footprint, reduced costs but the most important thing is we've created a real culture of accountability.

We've set some goals that are really clear. We changed our bonus structure to support those goals. It gets people laser focused on the results that really matter. The outcome of that has been a much more engaged workforce.”

Karen describes the effect SiriusPoint’s turnaround financial results have had on talent attraction.  

“We're building real pride in our business and working with individuals who really need to be at the top of their game. When I joined the business in ’22 it was more difficult to attract them. But now, as our success story is becoming more widely known, it's much easier to attract people.

If you look at our trajectory over the last 12 months, we've actually put a billion dollars’ worth of value on the business in a year. People can see the opportunities here and the opportunities of being part of something really special.”

Karen highlights the key selling points of being part of the team.

“We've turned over every bit of our business, reshaped our footprints. We’ve overhauled our philosophy and structures, and delivered a fantastic profit.

The next phase is becoming a best-in-class insurer and reinsurer and being recognised as such by our peers.

We want a team who are working together to deliver that next phase

You've really got the ability to make a massive difference really quickly here.”

Connect with Karen Caddick on LinkedIn or find out more about SiriusPoint

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO of Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

“It’s much easier doing it in person, but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do remotely.”

Jessica describes the tools and creative ways in which the Austin, Texas-based business has grown its team by 200 since the start of the pandemic, becoming the largest insurance comparison platform in the U.S.

With a primary focus on auto insurance and with all the major P&C players on the platform, the Zebra’s ultimate goal is to be a one-stop shop for all insurance needs.    

“We want to empower consumers, help them understand what they’re buying”, says Jessica. “It’s not just about aggregating a list of results. Over and above a price, it’s what additional value a carrier can provide.”

With a recent series D funding raise of $150m and a valuation of $1bn, the team continues to look for individuals who can collaborate and influence, move quickly and embrace innovation.

Whilst an insurance background is essential for senior roles, what’s often lacking is the ability to build a strategy for a large team that centres around the user experience as well as familiarity with the tools that tech companies use.

“We don’t use stale documents, learn how to use Slack and the Google Suite. Speak the language, know the players and have an open mind.”

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn or find out more about The Zebra

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

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Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

“We look for a willingness to re-imagine the entire underwriting and rating process, how that’s distributed through brokers and the relationship with insurers,” says Andy who has a background in underwriting as well as stints at Lloyds and AON UK.

Partnering with Xceedance, NuVenture launched in 2020 and is an incubator focussing on helping those who have a desire to run their own MGA. Difficult to achieve in isolation, NuVenture identifies founding teams - often led by an entrepreneurial individual - provides the funding, the outsourced services required and the full support to get the business up and running in return for equity.   

Andy talks through breaking in to the C-suite, his biggest achievements – including setting up NuVenture and two MGAs in the midst of lockdown – and how he’s dealt with setbacks in his career.

Discussing how NuVenture is adopting tech, Andy says that the starting point must be the customers, “Who needs to benefit from the tech and digitisation?” 

He maintains that there’s too much cost in the insurance system and one way to change that is through embracing new technology. As a start-up NuVenture aren’t burdened by huge legacy systems and can enjoy the benefit of being able to access Xceedance’s tech solutions.

Andy talks through the characteristics NuVenture look for when attracting talent and the challenge of reaching enough of the right people with an entrepreneurial mindset who want to do things differently.

If you’re considering setting up an MGA, Andy advises to think it through as it’s not for everyone. “Start to write a business plan. It starts to give you momentum. It’ll help to bring it to life or not”  

Listeners can contact Andy via andy.colbran@nuventure.com or find out more about NuVenture

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.

“It’s not a cookie cutter process”, says Arun, the Boston-based CEO & Chairman of Xceedance as he talks about the value proposition the business offers its clients.

Launched in 2013, the business has grown to a team of 2200 spread across its offices in India, North America, Europe and Australia with clients relying on Xceedance to launch new products, drive operations, implement cutting-edge technology, deploy advanced analytics, and achieve process efficiencies.

“We help improve the productivity of underwriters and brokers. It’s a balance between people process and technology.”

Arun believes, “The way data analytics and technology is adopted in to the industry, the lion’s share of that still needs to happen. Existing companies that are able to devote to that or new companies that can make that the backbone of how they operate will be the most successful.”

With 60-70% of the team having an insurance industry background, Xceedance prides itself on having the knowledge of how the industry operates and having people who’ve faced the challenges themselves.

When attracting talent, Xceedance looks for people with a collaborative nature who are willing to be challenged, people who are secure in themselves and the role they have in the organisation. “We don’t like team members creating territories.”

With the abundance of capital and support available, Arun believes, “There’s not a better time than today for insurance executives to think about creating the next generation of carriers or MGAs.”

Connect with Arun on LinkedIn or find out more about Xceedance

The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.

We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.

Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.

Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.   

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram

Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.