Profiles in Risk

Tony chats with Michael Ley, Director of Network Relationships at Hawksoft, they are the third largest Agency Management System (AMS) with a passionate group of users. (For High Ds: Actual content starts at about minute 8.) I had heard about Hawksoft every once in a while and it was awesome to finally hear the story direct from them. What an interesting company! What started as an app writer because of bad handwriting, grew to be a full fledged AMS. They're still family owned and every agency that uses is part of the family. 

Michael Ley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realmichaelley/
Hawksoft: https://www.hawksoft.com

Video Version: https://youtu.be/Y1nc-PR_J90

Tony chats with John L. Connell, Co-Founder and CEO at Focal, they are the enterprise grade AI notetaking platform and automation platform for financial advisors and in the insurance agency and broker/dealer space. They are used across Charles Schwab, Vanguard, Commonwealth, and others. They deliver a vertical specific purpose built platform that saves advisors 50 hours a month! It empowers you to deepen your relationships with your clients.

John L. Connell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-l-connell/
Focal: https://meetwithfocal.com/

Video Version: https://youtu.be/n0PUISKLMqs

Tony chats with Eric Adler, Founder and CEO at Flume Water, they help save insurance companies money and homeowners the pain and experiences of filing a water claim. They also help decrease the time away from their house which is a win/win. They do this through a combination of DIY self-installed sensor and a network of Flume technicians that help identify issues in the home.

Eric Adler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-adler/
Flume Water: https://flumewater.com/

Video Version: https://youtu.be/qr36cZdz8-o

Tony chats with Mike Hallock, Partner at McCoy Leavitt Laskey and President at Chicago CLM. Mike is an expert in fire and explosion catastrophic claims and is working with CLM to build an Emergency Response Taskforce with over 100 members to aggressively defend instead of always playing catchup to plaintiff appointments. A fascinating conversation!

Mike Hallock: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hallockmichael/

Video Version: https://youtu.be/7wOFHgSTfpk

Tony chats with Lokesh Ballenahalli, Founder and Sunil Shivappa, COO at Enkefalos Technology, they are a research first global AI company focused on building AI solutions for the AI industry. They combine research deep research in LLMs, Responsible AI, and domain expertise to develop what they call the AI operating system for insurance. It has 3 core layers: Insurance GTP, Agentic AI Applications, and Monitoring of that AI.

Lokesh Ballenahalli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lokesh-ballenahalli/
Sunil Shivappa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunil-m-shivappa-86273519a/
Enkefalos Technology: https://www.enkefalos.com/

Video Version: https://youtu.be/u3_xWZyPDEg

Frederick Fisher, Professional Liability Expert and Author of "Claims-Made Insurance The Policy that Changed The Industry: A Deep Dive, Review, and History". A fascinating conversation about the Claims-Made side of insurance! A must not miss episode for anyone in the Professional Lines side of insurance.

Frederick Fisher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederick-fisher-j-d-ccp-46b1944/

Claims-Made Insurance The Policy that Changed The Industry: A Deep Dive, Review, and History: https://amzn.to/4nQgWrR

Video Version: https://youtu.be/mCrv3xWRbos

Tony chats with Graham Topol and Michael Topol, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs at MGT Insurance, they are the first Neo Insurer, a modern commercial insurance carrier which they built from the ground up to support small businesses and the agents that support them. A super interesting conversation that you cannot miss!

Graham Topol: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-topol-645b5451/
Michael Topol: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-topol-74710b99/

MGT Insurance: https://www.mgtinsurance.com/

Video Version: https://youtu.be/_cJv2osE4-w

Tony chats with Kyle Bartee, Founder and CEO Aviation Ops Ally. They are building an all-in-one app for private pilots that helps them get on the air faster, and helps them with their complicated insurance needs. A super fun conversation, especially for a flight sim nerd like me!

Kyle Bartee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/knjnd-consulting/

Tony chats with Michelle Raue, EVP Chief Claims and Transformation Officer at Preferred Mutual. Michelle has had an incredible claims career and joins me on the show to talk about claims careers, mental health, innovation, and so much more. A cannot miss conversation!

Michelle Raue: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleraue/

Video Version: https://youtu.be/t1STEHxd_XI

Brandon Dendas, Owner and Marketing Director at Convirtue. They specialize in helping independent insurance agents grow through content marketing and SEO. They're also now starting to work on LEO: Large Language Model Optimization. You heard it here first (July 2025)! Their approach is different, instead of being top-of-funnel demand gen focused, they optimize bottom-of-funnel transactional content. They focus on people who know what they need and what they created works exceptionally well on Google. Now they're changing that approach to make sure it works with LLMs also.

Brandon Dendas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandondendas/
Convirtue: https://www.convirtue.com/

Video Version: https://youtu.be/7pHSC7dAzZ4