David Embry, CEO of Mylo, a digital, independent insurance broker that uses AI and people to connect clients with the right coverage for their needs. He is responsible for the overall vision and financial performance of the business as well as developing strategic partnerships. As a seasoned entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience leading financial and insurance companies, David brings deep expertise and innovation to Mylo. Previously President of SelectQuote Benefit Solutions and Managing Director at J.P. Morgan.

Highlights from the Show

• Mylo is a digital broker that was built from within a big, national broker, and today uses technology to match small business and individual insurance customers with coverage
• They currently write about $4m in premium per month; 65% being small commercial, and the rest being personal lines, plus benefits for small businesses
• They use AI to keep up with changes in coverage and appetite in real-time rather than having to manually recode their algorithms through some regular review process

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

After ITC Vegas 2024, I had to do a quick recap of the themes that stood out to me, and what I took from it.

Highlights from the Show

• The winner for most-talked about buzzword? AI, obviously
• The focus, however, was on AI for efficiency
• An AI-enabled data company talked about the difficulty they have talking about improving UW results, so they only talk about efficiency when meeting with carriers, or they lose the audience (even though they have proof of positive L/R impact)
• As an industry, I challenge all of us to actually push on the core of the business and not just go for the "easy" sell of efficiency 

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

While the show is on a break for a few weeks, I wanted to be sure you knew two things about ITC Las Vegas 2024:

• You can save $200 on registration thanks to the deal I scored for my listeners! Just visit http://www.future-of-insurance.com/itc for the discount code and a link to register
• If you're an insurance company executive, drop me a DM on LinkedIn if you'd like to be a guest on the show while I record in-person episodes at ITC on October 16th

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

In this quick episode, I share that I need to take a break from releasing episodes for a few weeks as my schedule hasn't allowed me to do any new interviews, and, in place of a new episode, I recommend a show you need to be listening to - "What's the Scenario?" with plrb.   To be in the insurance industry means understanding what insurance is all about and how complex the idea of coverage can be. Every week, the team at PLRB disucsses a coverage issue that came to them from across their members. The issues are really interesting, the discussion is rich and easy to follow, and it all just gives you a much better understanding of and appreciation for the work we do in insurance.   You can listen to "What's the Scenario?" with plrb on your favorite podcast platform (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon, etc) or watch it on YouTube.   This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

I'm joined my Insurance and Underwriting veteran and thought leader, Nick Lamparelli, for this episode as we discuss the ideas in the new white paper I'm publishing, "The Economic Viability of Insurance," available starting today for free at http://www.future-of-insurance.com/profit.

Highlights from the Show

• The approaches we have been using to stresses on underwriting profit historically have been cutting costs (focusing on expenses), taking rate, pulling out of markets or segments
• These approaches proved insufficient to deal with the scale of macro-level pressures insurers faced in 2023, and I would argue will continue to face going forward, like
  • Severe Convective Storms (SCS, or, mainly, hail) and other Natural Catastrophes driven by Climate Change
  • Social Inflation
  • Supply Chain and Labor Constraints
  • Inflation
  • and more
• We should be looking at new approaches, including
  • How we think about and respond to risk – tools we use to understand risk, select it intelligently to compete on, and harden it when we do choose to offer coverage
  • Move to next-generation approaches to rating that are more dynamic, allowing us to stay ahead of the need for rate change rather than respond far too late and insufficiently
  • Rethinking the products we offer to cover what have been come extremely different exposures from the ones our current products were designed for
• These solution can take the form of insurtech software or services; E&S/non-admitted product development; Parametric solutions to coverages no longer viable as indemnity products; and so much more
• Now is the time to really engage in the idea of doing things differently as we are seeing increasing difficulty in aligning prices that are affordable to buy coverage at with prices that are economically viable to sell it at, meaning the market may begin to fail to clear
  • If that happens, other capital can come in and solve for the need for coverage, increasing the pressure insurers have seen on the decreasing percent of risks that are insured against (measured by NatCat losses that are insured vs. not), as one method)
• Download the paper today, and share it with your network to get more people talking about how we can push our industry ahead.

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

I shared some thoughts triggered by a recent conversation with an executive at an InsurTech solution provider who was voicing frustration with his perception that there seems to be a lot of talk that we are perfect or don't need to look to improve at many carriers. He was curious if this was my observation, as well, and what I thought we could do about it. One thing I know I can do is to talk about it, and help inspire all of you to push your organizations to be humble and honest so we can get back to truly achieving what's possible.

Highlights from the Show

• The biggest danger to our industry is hubris - the sense that are are good enough where we are, or that we're so great, we don't need to open our ears, eyes and minds to feedback and insights from customers, employees, partners and peers
• I'm seeing more of this than I think we have a right to show, and it's holding the industry back
• I liken it to a bank robber who robbed 10 banks last year, and 5 this year, holding up their great achievement as if that was an acceptable end state
• Remember that we can and should respect our progress and improvement, but should never confuse that with being good enough to seizing on the true opportunity in front of us
• Get $200 of new registrations for ITC Vegas 2024 using code 200ITC1291 at vegas.insuretechconnect.com/register

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Adam Denninger leads Capgemini's global strategy for the insurance industry and manages its relationships with the insurance technology ecosystem. Adam has 20+ years' experience creating and delivering solutions at the intersection of business and technology.

He joins the show to share some of the perspective in their World Property and Casualty Insurance Report for 2024.

Highlights from the Show

• A focus Adam shared is the idea of being effective in underwriting
  • This is a combination of accuracy and speed
  • That's about getting better data and being able to act on it faster than we have in the past
  • To achieve speed, it requires changing the entire process for evaluating underwriting performance, changing risk factors and inputs, and changing products rapidly
  • Making this change is like doing open heart surgery on a patient who is actively living their life rather than being anesthetized on an OR table
• A major theme of Capgemini's research is the confluence of rapidly changing macro factors impacting losses
  • While each factor may have moved like this before, we haven't had so many factors moving at the same time to such an extent and at such speed
• Adam believes the industry needs to come together to create accurate, easily-accessed data sources for common things we all need, like natural perils
• Download Capgemini's World Property and Casualty Insurance Report 2024

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Edouard is the CEO of Stellantis Insurance, having spent his career building new ways to solving insurance-related needs globally. He is responsibile for creating insurance solutions to support Stellantis' growth objectives in their automotive business, where insurance can enable or hinder those aspirations. He formerly worked at Volvo and Stellantis' predecessor, PSA. He joins the show as he winds down his time leading Stellantis' efforts in Insurance, and on the back of a major announcement with Bolt on embedding auto insurance in the US market.

We met over a year ago when we were part of research Capgemini was doing on the future of Mobility and its impact on insurance as part of their World Insurance Report in 2023, which Lars Boeing joined the show to discuss. I shared my work on the Future of Auto Insurance with Edouard, and was excited to bring him on the show to discuss his take on the question given his rich background in the space and being a key driver in where things are heading.

Highlights from the Show

• Edouard began his insurance career while still in school, doing his master's dissertation on new entrants into insurance
• That lead to a roll at Volvo Group to setup an insurance business, which then lead to a roll with PSA (now Stellantis) to build their insurance business
• Why would car companies (OEMs) get into insurance?
  • Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) - if insurance for a given car model is too expensive, people won't buy your car, so OEMs want to work to control insurance cost as part of TCO
  • Diversification of Revenues - important in any business, and if you run it right, there's attractive margin in insurance
  • Opportunity - insurance is a way to demonstrate to consumers that you care, and the perception of most insurers is that they're against you rather than trying to pay your claims, so OEMs are well positioned to be the solution to that issue
• But can OEMs succeed?
  • They're very well positioned with existing assets – brand name with high loyalty and affinity, logistics and supply chains, key purchasing moments, repair and distribution networks, deep understanding of the physical product being insured, etc.
  • They have the assets and resources, but the remaining challenge is execution
• There's also a question of whether the OEM has to be the insurer, or simply partner with insurance providers and capacity
  • This depends on risk appetite, which is trickier in insurance since you don't know the cost of product until after it is sold
  • Stellantis has looked at multiple models, from building their own insurer to partnering with insurers to working with platforms like Bolttech in each of their global markets to meet local needs
• Partnership matters because, even if you have your own insurer, you cannot and do not want to take every risk that comes in
  • Car dealers still need to make the sale, so they need solutions beyond an OEM's insurer to be sure they don't get forced to say "No" to a customer who needs coverage
• We discussed whether OEM's push into subscription services means insurance mustbe part of the equation, but there are local regulations that need to be navigated that may not allow this, so Stellantis must have options for customers that could include an embedded insurance offering but has to include other paths
• The technology we have to enable new pathways for OEMs to sell insurance are completely different than ever before
  • It's important for insurers to create far more technical capabilities to partner with OEMs as most insurers currently are not flexible enough for most OEM needs
• You can get the report at future-of-insurance.com/capgemini2023
• Download The Future of Auto Insurance: Connected, Embedded, Subscribed for free today

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Auto Insurance: Connected, Embedded, Subscribed, which you can download for free today, thanks to support from Guidewire. This report is part of The Future of Insurance book series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Ian is the co-founder and CEO of Koffie Financial, a finsurtech platform purpose-built for the trucking and transportation industry. With insurance at its core, Koffie's instant and transparent financial services empower truckers with the modern tools and technology necessary to drive efficiency and safety. He is an entrepreneurial leader at the intersection of data, enterprise markets and geospatial analysis.

Previously Ian served as founder/CEO of Urban Mapping, a web-based mapping platform he sold to Pitney Bowes in 2015. Customers included Tableau Software, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Kayak, IAC, CoStar Group.

He has also served in a senior role at a startup that acted as outsourced research for the financial services industry, focusing on alternative data to generate alpha for hedge funds.

Highlights from the Show

• Ian has been a serial entrepreneur, including working in the mapping space and how powerful the meta data about locations, and how critical it is to have accuracy in the data
• He went on to work on catastrophe exposures, with a specific focus on how geology impacts earthquake losses, which gave him more exposure to managing risk and the impact of loss
• He was drawn to insurance after a stint offering data to hedge funds because it wasn't as 'I win, you lose' as hedge funds where insurers doing worse means they're helping others
• Koffie was founded initially to look at the difference in trucking equipment, and how that impacts losses
• They found that midsize and large risks were self-insuring and forming captives because insurers weren't meeting their needs, but small trucking firms (under 100 tractors) can't afford to do that, so Koffie focused on the smaller-end of the market
• After a year and half, they got capacity in place, required telematics for insureds (first dedicated equipment, and later with an iPhone app)
• While this was all positive, the business ultimately didn't survive, and was sold to Acrisure in early 2024
• Ian learned first hand something he calls the "InsurTech Paradox"
• Ian thinks, while we'll see a return of funding, it won't return to the situation where there are huge checks being written
• He also wonders about whether insurance should be incenting better behavior, even if it means the business that's insured doesn't work that day

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Joshua Morey is the Chairperson of Ori-gen and President of The J Morey Company Inc. Ori-gen amplifies the voice of diverse communities throughout America by providing resources, services, and perpetuation planning for indepedent agents and brokers from diverse backgrounds. With offices in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Orange County, Torrance, and San Jose, California, Ori-gen represents a wide variety of personal, business, and specialty insurance from 40+ national and international carriers. He is a founding Board Member of the Asian American Insurance Network and Asian's in Insurance Podcast, and advisory council member of the Equity in Infrastructure Project. In addition Mr. Morey serves on the Board of Director's for the US Japan Council (Executive Committee), Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo Community Council, and was featured on the cover of Rough Notes, and IIABA's national magazine. He is co-founder of KODO Insurance Services (Insurtech) and Chairman of the Board of Arrowood Insurance Services. He has a B.A. in Business Economics, from Wheaton College and a M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. In his free time he loves playing baseball and spending time with his wife and three kids.

Highlights from the Show

• Josh is a fourth generation Japanese American, with his great grandfather having immigrated in the late 1800s, and setting up an import-export business in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles
• The family lost everything when Japanese Americans were sent to incarceration camps during WWII
• Finding insurance the Japanese American community was next to impossible, so they started their own, and Josh's family started an agency, The J Morey Company, to serve the community, which he runs today
• Josh's story in taking over is similar to a lot of multi-generational insurance agencies, where the next generation may not be interested in taking over, can't afford to buy the business, or the business is no longer viable, which threatens the legacy of so many family businesses
  • Rather than selling to another agency, Josh worked with a consultant to find a path to keep the business in the family despite not having the financing in place to buy the business
  • That's what sparked the founding of Ori-gen, as a platform to continue the legacy of these companies
  • It's not just about keeping the agencies going, but to support the communities that rely on these agencies in the way his ancestors and their communities needed each other after WWII
• Josh has also tried to drive more minority involvement in the insurance industry overall, which stems from his sense that this is the best industry and best country in the world
  • That includes engaging the Asian and Pacific Islander community through AAIN (Asian American Insurance Network, where he's a board member), as well as partnering with other groups, like joining NAAIA and Ngozi Nnajiand her Black Friday efforts
  • Josh advocates for DEI efforts because, without them, the industry will miss out on great talent and different approaches that only come from diversity within that talent

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.