Mark Walls is the Chief Marketing Officer at Safety National, a multi-line specialty insurance and reinsurance carrier and member of the Tokio Marine Group. With over 30 years of workers' compensation and risk management experience, Mark's career spans claims management, client engagement, strategic analysis, and market research. He previously served as VP Client Engagement at Safety National and as Senior VP at Marsh's Workers' Compensation Center of Excellence. Mark is the founder of the Work Comp Analysis Group on LinkedIn, the largest online discussion group dedicated exclusively to workers' compensation issues. On this episode of In The Know, Chris Hampshire and Mark explore the changing landscape of the workers' comp landscape, hot topics in today's workers' comp space, and the game changer that is (or could be) AI.

Key Takeaways

• Mark's journey toward prominence in the workers' comp space.

• Workers' comp is an industry that fundamentally helps people.

• The current state of workers' comp line of coverage.

• Mark's inspiration behind the LinkedIn Work Comp Analysis Group.

• Lessons learned from Mark's career.

• The challenging impact of AI on workers' comp.

• GLP-1 drugs, marijuana, and other hot topics in the workers' comp space.

• Making the career move from claims to marketing and public speaking.

• Addressing the industry talent shortage.

• Mark's five-year look at the future of the industry.

• "The outcome makes the journey worth it all."

In the Know podcast theme music written and performed by James Jones, CPCU, and Kole Shuda of the band If-Then.

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Quotes

• "Workers' comp is an industry that is fundamentally there to help people."

• "Risk managers like comp right now because it's predictable."

• "There's not a week that goes by that you don't learn something in this industry."

• "At its core, we are an industry that's there to help people."

• "The insurance industry is the financial backstop of the entire economy."