The Insurtech Leadership Podcast

Building New Insurance Platforms with a Customer-First Mindset (w/Yaron Ben-Zvi, Founder Haven Life)

Yaron Ben-Zvi was the CEO of Haven Technologies, a subsidiary of MassMutual and SaaS company in the life insurance space. Yaron led the company from inception through M&A, building a cloud-based end-to-end technology platform for life insurance.

As Founder and CEO of Haven Life, Yaron was also responsible for the strategy, vision, and management of one of the leading direct-to-consumer term life insurance businesses, whose mission was to make life insurance simple. Haven Life was recognized by US News, Investopedia, and many others as one of the best Term life insurance providers in the United States. 

Previously, Yaron was also the Founder of Goalmine, an early robo-advisor that was acquired in 2012. Before that he was a Director at BuzzMetrics, where he joined as employee number ten, and helped grow the company’s key accounts until its exit to Nielsen.

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.

How Insurers Can Price Companies Ability to Mitigate DEI Risk (w/James Felton-Keith, Inclusion Score)

James Felton Keith is Founder of Inclusion Score, an award-winning engineer and economist who was the first Black LGBTQ person to run for US Congress. James is currently an elected member of the New York Democratic Committee and is a frequent keynote at global venues like the United Nations, Future Tech Congress, Data Protection World Forum, and the World Pride Human Rights Forum. As an entrepreneur, he established the first international diversity & inclusion certification and the first insurance policy for a lack-of-inclusion based on an "inclusion score". 

James has also founded multiple companies in Insurtech, Fintech and Adtech including Harlem Center, Slay TV, LGBT Chambers, and Accrue.com. James' focus economic inclusion, and how to get equity in the hands of the people who have increasingly less, while the world becomes more productive from their inputs.

James played an important role in forming the data industry by founding of Data Unions and Personal Data Week conferences. He also co-founded and edits the Ethics of Personal Data Collection series at Anthem Press. As an author, his bio-political philosophy, Inclusionism, is at the forefront of International Relations and Human Rights diplomacy. His career transitioned after founding Detroit’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce and "Pride Nights" at the four Big Box American sports franchises: NBA, NHL, MLB, & NFL.

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.

 

Improving Access for First-Time Auto Buyers (w/Josh Minsky, CEO Suretys)

Josh Minsky is the Founder and CEO of Suretys, replacing the need for a co-signer for first-time auto buyers with little or no credit history (eg. recent immigrants).

Retail lenders want to make more loans but are concerned about risk.  Suetys insures these lenders by underwriting the individual, leveraging banking transaction data, binding a policy and enabling the lender to give a favorable interest rate to the buyer. In the rare event of debtor default, Suretys will repay the loan balance and settle a claim with its insurance partner.

Finicity and Plaid with their 15,000 institutional individual-level account connections allow Suretys to review income and spending patterns and drill deeper than traditional credit scores can. Josh digs into how the team evaluate data and find proof points to back their risk decisions.

Suretys is an example of a startup built on a founder's personal values and beliefs. Josh is both passionate and action-oriented about in helping working people get ahead, creating opportunities for Americans to build solid financial futures, and creating solutions that bridge the inequality gap for millions of Americans.

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.

On Becoming a Pure-Play Software Technology Provider for Insurers (w/Shameem Shah, CTO InsurIQ)

Shameem Shah is Chief Technology Officer at InsurIQ, providing the insurance industry with specialized resources and SaaS products design to create speed and efficiency throughout the policy life cycle. 

Shameem tells the story of how InsurIQ came to be, pivoting from business process outsourcing and inventing code to becoming a pure-play software tech provider. Over time the team added submission-to-quote-and-bind processes including policy administration, digital store for direct-to-consumer, agency onboarding, license management, appointments and policy terminations.

InsurIQ now assists insurance providers, managers, and distributors in achieving their digital transformation objectives in both B2B and D2C businesses, converting legacy applications (eg. excel) into containerized micro-services and migrating applications to scalable cloud environments.

In the episode, Shameem talks about recent implementations of A&H Policy Administration Systems using InsurIQ's flagship PAS application for some of the leading carriers in North America. As a result of these initiatives, he describes how carriers were able to receive submissions, rate, quote, bind, and issue state-compliant fulfillment documents in a significantly reduced time frame.  

Shameem spent the past 18 years working closely with underwriting, operations, and financial teams with a variety of insurance related constituents leading technology strategy from within MGU and TPA organizations prior to co-founding and launching InsurIQ as an insurtech partner on which its clients depend.

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.

Why Health Insurance Is Not Important -- Until It Suddenly Is (w/Dylan Slattery, CEO Excel Health Plans)

Dylan Slattery is from Dyersville, Iowa - home of the Field of Dreams.  An avid baseball fan, he moved to Denver after coaching baseball for six years while battling two bouts with stage four melanoma in his twenties. Later, while working for a benefits consulting company, Dylan realized that many consultants were looking for a solution that worked for their small groups without all of the customization that comes with large group self-funding. 

Dylan says that as we approach $5 Trillion annual healthcare spend in the USA, 40% of it goes to waste, fraud and overspend, so trimming at small pieces can go a long way. Excel Health Plans helps employers with fewer than 150 employees save 20-40% on their health insurance without giving up access to a network. Excel increases transparency and control to make decisions such as adding access to health supplies, finally bringing the free market principle of choice to healthcare.

Dylan believes if you are only seeing your benefits consultant at enrollment or taking orders and coming back with a price, you should look elsewhere. In his words, "A good consultant will push back, bring value and know blind spots about an employer's benefits they should be considering, and be right up there with your lawyer and accountant." And his personal cancer experience has brought a patient-focused approach: Excel do not believe in denying claims as a form of cost-containment.

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.

Finding Growth in Highly Regulated Channels (w/Will Prest, Managing Partner KWP)

Will Prest is Managing Partner of KWP Consulting LLC (kwpworks.com). KWP accelerates company growth by bringing together strategy development, operational and functional expertise on financial products, technology, insights, brand, sales, marketing, and distribution. Their process helps startups get to market, and large firms start new divisions or find new product/distribution partners.

In this episode, Will shares valuable insights and lessons on how to bring new ideas for growth into existing, highly regulated channels. Will has held leadership roles in sales, marketing, and product at insurers, broker/ dealers, and retirement plans providers, and was employee #2 at a successful startup focused on how to deliver advice to recreate your paycheck and benefits in retirement. 

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.

Founder, Market, Product, Team: Why Adding Veteran Insurance Experience is Invaluable (w/Mike Mansell, American Family Ventures)

Mike Mansell is a Principal at American Family Ventures, a multi-limited partner VC firm focused on the future of insurance. Mike assesses, invests in, and teams with early-stage startups that are poised to write the next chapter of insurance, whether from inside the industry or a relevant adjacency.

He talks about the macro investing environment and cooling off after years of hyper-growth, and how founders have become more focused on creating strong businesses. While deploying their latest fund, the team have built an ecosystem of partners across the entire value chain of insurance, including a network of advisors for companies and connections to reinsurance, brokerage/distribution or other investors. 

Mike talks about the team's focus on founder, market, product and team, and staying true to core investing themes that have been iterated over time. Mike feels that massive change to the industry is hard to imagine, that insurance is an industry that moves by inches over a longer time given its compulsory nature. 

Mike’s recent work has taken him to the sectors of insurance distribution, E&S lines, and financial wellness. Prior to joining AFV, he gained deep risk management experience through roles at Liberty Mutual, GE Capital, and Kearney.

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.

Learning About the New Insurance Marketplace at an Incumbent (w/Dan Findley, The Andover Companies)

Dan Findley is Director of Strategy & Business Development at The Andover Companies, responsible for scaling a Business Development vertical. His key responsibilities of the role include marketing, digital agency experience, existing and emerging agency technology, external industry relationships and representation, market analysis and product innovation, and agency partners success.

Dan talks about the large cultural change mindset inside a large incumbent insurer, as employees shift over from 30-40 year veterans to new generations. His team focus on understanding the core competencies of insurance while also learning how to make it better.

The Andover is owned by its policyholders so puts the customer-first, which on a practical basis means modernizing core systems and user experience as well as the digital agency experience. Part of the team's mission is understanding the enduring value proposition but also embracing change and how to work with younger talent.

Dan talks about the speed at which insurers are moving versus brokers, and how professional development in the industry is taking shape. Dan has earned his Master of Science in Insurance Management from Boston University along with his CPCU and ARe designations.

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.

Integrating Modern Digital Tools into Life Insurance (w/Mark Scafaro, CEO Afficiency)

Mark Scafaro is the CEO and co-founder of Afficiency, an insurtech transforming the end-to-end life insurance buying process and accelerating the time it takes to get applicants approved and covered. 

Afficiency delivers life insurance products on an all-encompassing digital platform, available for digital distributors from quote to policy all via API. Its focus is on building life insurance products that a consumer can purchase in less than ten minutes.

Afficiency's API allows distributors to offer innovative digital life insurance products. Its proprietary "likelihood to be approved score" or ApprovedAPI optimizes conversion funnels and spikes approval rates by identifying and targeting highly-likely-to-be-approved prospects.

Afficiency also powers carriers with a digital platform that enables them to build and distribute completely new products in less than six months.

Mark spent nearly two decades working at major financial service institutions, including Morgan Stanley, American Express and MetLife, while rising to leadership positions and honing expertise in strategy, marketing, operations, finance, and data science.

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.

How eCommerce Insurance Products Run on Real-time Data (w/Amit Batzir, Co-CEO Spott)

Amit Batzir is the co-founder and Chief Product and Risk Officer at Spott, an eCommerce insurance platform that helps sellers protect their businesses from unexpected losses.

Spott provides Liability Insurance, Suspension Coverage, and Stockout Protection. Its solutions are geography-agnostic, revolving around real-time data and underwriting capabilities. For example Spott launched "Pay as You Sell" such that coverage spins up based on actual product sales when they occur. 

Amit describes how in eCommerce you have many more data points and signals prior to a claim being filed that provides a basis to train models and create more accurate decisions enabled by real-time measurement of exposure whether number of units sold or other business changes.

Amit also discusses Spott's go-to-market strategy, whether being part of Facebook or Whatsapp groups, or being bundled as part of an embedded insurance product.

Prior to co-founding Spott, Amit spent eight years at PayPal, most recently as Head of Data Intelligence. Over the course of his career in technology, Amit has acquired more than twenty years of leadership experience working in product, analytics, and data science roles. Amit is a veteran of the IDF’s elite intelligence unit and holds a B.Sc in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

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.