The Insurtech Leadership Podcast

Insurance Innovation is not a Game, Treat it Like a Business (w/Andrew Rear, Chairman of Buckle)

Until 2015 Andrew Rear worked in all facets of insurance in a 30-year career and turned that into an Insurtech second-half, convincing the board of MunichRe to partner and invest in Insurtechs. From 2021 'Andy' has been chairing a few Insurtechs including Buckle, and working with a private equity fund on its investment strategy. 

✅His approach to partnering with MGA-insurtechs has always been deploying patient underwriting capital, in return for investing in early-stage entrepreneurs.

✅Andy believes there will be no 'Uber of insurance,' however there is already an Uber of the speciality areas of insurance such as small business insurance, or of gig economy insurance. 

✅Andy uses an example of insurance innovation in the credit score space, with those above 650 correlated to paying bills on-time and fewer auto accidents as not being the 'end' of the insurance focus, but digging into the <650s to find those in that group who are hard-working aspiring high-credit behavioural customers.

✅Buckle has shown insurers Can differentiate insurance for these people in the gig economy and produce products that really work for both sides, for example a gig driver who retains auto insurance and leasing to enable their business, and how having access to that combination is a virus cycle increasing your risk profile and credit score.

✅Andy sees insurance in the fundamental early stages of change (beyond our lifetimes) but that in 30 years time people will look back and realize the seeds of change were sown in the last five years. 

Follow the Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

 

Big Data‘s Big Impact on Worker‘s Compensation and What to Expect in the Next Decade (w/Heather Wilson, CEO CLARA Analytics)

Heather Wilson was the first Chief Data Officer at AIG and Chief Analytics and AI Officer at LBrands before taking the role as CEO of Clara Analytics. 

✅Clara helps deliver 10x-40x savings back on worker's compensation claims processing using AI and API integrations.

✅Clara's interface helps understand the complexity and nuance of claims including medical records, allowing the adjuster to recalibrate and choose the right specialist to review the injury in that exact location, predicting and preventing litigation.

✅The next decade will see a focus on speed and efficiency and 'no-touch' claims in the personal lines, and a transformation of commercial lines from back-office processing to front-end customer-facing businesses.

✅Heather sees a fantastic opportunity partnering claims organizations with Insurtech's using the best talent and ecosystem to transform the industry.

✅Heather acts as a strong champion for Diversity Equity & Inclusion by helping young women understand what they do best and how to develop their own path to success in business, and CLARA aligns with this mission having a strong female C-suite presence across multiple top roles.

Heather H. Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of CLARA Analytics, has more than a decade of executive experience and leadership in data, analytics, and artificial intelligence. She was Enterprise Chief Data Officer of AIG, Global Head of Innovation and Advanced Technology at Kaiser Permanente, and Enterprise Chief Data Officer of Citigroup. She currently sits on Equifax’s Board of Directors and is a member of the Audit and Technology Committees. While at AIG, she was named the Insurance Woman of the Year by the Insurance Technology Association for her data innovation work. Ms. Wilson is recognized as a world-class expert and pioneer in data, analytics and AI. She has been a steady supporter of diversity throughout her career. She launched the Kaiser Permanente Women in Technology group, focused on mentorship and retention for women in math, technology and science. She was an Executive Member of Citi4Women at Citigroup, leading predictive analytics around retention. At AIG, she launched Global Women in Technology and served as Executive Sponsor of Girls Who Code.

Follow the Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

The Emergence of Chief Data Officers and their Importance to Insurers (w/Rob Rowello, Oracle VP Cloud Transformation)

Rob Rowello works with CXOs to use cloud to innovate at Oracle today, and was previously Cognizant's VP of Digital Transformation.  

Insights in today's episode include:

✅How to get more intimate relationships with customers beyond using mass advertising to establish your brand

✅How insurers are using AI/ML models to better price risk into their products  

✅New customer acquisition via mining social media data to micro target ads to individual consumers 

✅The importance of providing enabling tools to 3rd-party agents and brokers to succeed in their market

✅Recognizing and embracing the importance of the Chief Data Officers' role at insurers

Follow the Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

 

Insurance is Just One Big Crowdfunding (w/Allen Kamrava, CEO Eusoh)

Meet Allen Kamrava Founder and CEO at Eusoh, community-based veterinary care. Allen is a physician, surgeon and avid businessperson. 

✅ Insurance is one of the most successful global crowdfunds, however the financial reimbursements incentivize various stakeholders to act in certain ways, not always for the benefit of the others.

✅ Any predictions about your startup business will prove wrong so staying focused on growth and doing what you need to sign partnerships and customers is key.

✅ Being deliberate and get your regulatory setup right will pay huge dividends in the longer-term sustainability of your company and convincing investors to double and triple down.

Follow the Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

Understanding Business Goals and User KPIs to Create a Better User Experience (w/Richard Alvarez, Saggezza)

Richard Alvarez leads the user experience practice at Saggezza, and says UX is not always about heuristics or how people work with computers. 

✅When it comes to user interactions, not being an insurance expert can be a huge asset to dig deeper and understand why customers do what they do and leads to building a better product.

✅The essence of user experience is about helping make the experience to be seamless and enjoyable and not frustrate customers. 

✅The large volume of data now being exchanged in many user interfaces such as those using telematics or AI mean that the humans involved on the insurance side need to be able to use that data effectively to evaluate claims for better processing or fraud.

✅Great UX allows the system to automate all processing and allows the human to focus on interacting with other humans rather than do manual preparatory tasks.

✅When it comes to large data using IoT, AI/ML or RPA, this means having these technologies run in the 'background' to harnessing the power of doing jobs that would require thousands of people to do, whereas UX empowers the individual users be productive and add value through making decisions. 

Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

Why to Innovate the Simplest Things First (w/Itai Ben-Zaken, CEO Honeycomb )

Itai Ben-Zaken, CEO Honeycomb - enabling real-time rating for small commercial real estate. 

Itai started his career at Intel as a software engineer and did his MBA at Wharton, gained experience in an insurance company, then started a digital marketing company in social media campaigns.  Now he's back to innovate insurance using big data and AI. A few highlights from today's pod:

✅ The sweet spot is smaller commercial lines because in high-volume businesses, multiple hours saved on customizing coverages is just money in the bank for insurance brokers.

✅ Itai says providing the digital experience is easy, but working with insurance markets and their incredibly complex limits on types of exposure and coverage is hard.

✅ He believes AI will actually make its biggest image in greater than ten years from now - the connectivity to diverse data just isn't there yet. 

Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

Give People the 'Psychological Safety' to Innovate (w/Richard De Sousa, SCOR)

Richard De Sousa is Deputy Head for Growth & Development at SCOR, its US new business and client-facing unit. His entrepreneurial experience has helped enormously in particular building partnerships with smaller, more nimble companies. SCOR as a major reinsurer has been super active in working with and acquiring companies in Life and P&C. He talks about the advantages of working at a reinsurer, seeing across many different carriers and understanding what the market and distribution needs on a macro level. Richard says working in insurance is about protecting families so has an important mission to join.

Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

Don't be Surprised by Market Feedback - Be Dynamic & Adapt Fast! (w/Doug Roth, Insurtech Investor at Connecticut Innovations)

Doug Roth, MD & at Connecticut Innovations is one of the top most active east-coast investors, with CI having closed more than 100 direct equity investments over the past 12 months including insurtechs. They focus on producing and re-investing financial returns on investment as an evergreen fund into new startups on a continual basis. Investments include direct Insurtech's like Aureus Analytics and more indirect, complementary insurance plays. Doug shares how CI runs its investment scouting strategy, investment diligence process and more, so don't miss out! 

Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

Managing the Frequency vs. Severity of Claims (w/Doug Ver Mulm, CEO Stable Insurance)

Doug Ver Mulm, CEO Stable Insurance built ride-share apps operations, onboarding drivers, maintenance. Uber/Lyft have opened their databases to driver scores, trip and earnings data and started using it for credit modeling and rentals. While scaling that for Mercer, outside investors realized taking this into an insurance product would make more sense and Doug made the jump to co-founder.

Rideshare is now a decade-old and allows underwriters to look at large amounts of data in real-time, and the current drivers in that pool today vs. those from a year ago or longer. This allows underwriting to solve for real-time fleet and driver management. The new field of real-time underwriting requires meaningful ties to data and linkages to resulting claims processes. 

Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

Be Omnipresent for the Customers Who Really Need You (w/Nestor Solari, Founder SIGO)

Nestor worked in investment banking, focused on emerging markets and lower-income 'base of the pyramid'. He witnessed many new sustainability business models, coupled with his desire to get closer to the customer. He took his own family's struggle getting auto insurance gave him a personal mission and he created Sigo-Seguros as an inclusive insurance provider focused on affordability, accessibility and removing bias from underwriting.

Nestor started the business as a brokerage direct-dialing customers, building it brick-by-brick into the Omnichannel experience it is today. Sigo solves for hispanic working-class people who end up pushed into in-person ID and car checks just because of their 'non-privileged' address, employment, education or ethnic background.

What Sigo does exceptionally well is figure out what effects the customer negatively. They are not trying to be fancy using telemetry data or having a mobile-only experience, rather just focusing on being omnipresent for the customers who really need a solution.

Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.