Vertafore Insurance Podcast

The independent model couldn’t survive without connectivity. When carriers and agencies must work closely together for the sake of the customer...and do so quickly...the health of our connectivity is unavoidable. When agencies are forced to weaponize speed as a competitive edge in their experience and operations, the quality of connectivity within their tech suites and into partners’ tech must be held to a high standard.  Jamie Peers, VP of Business Development at Synatic, walks us through the death and rebirth of connectivity in insurance. You’ll walk away learning: 

• Why a South African insurtech launched in the U.S. 

Andrew Wynn, Founder of Ascend, started his professional career as an entry-level Levi Strauss employee. Today, he owns an insurtech startup looking to resolve the payment processing controversy in the independent channel. By the way, that startup just received a $30 million Series A. You’ll walk away from this episode learning more about Andrew and why he decided to take on this challenge, in addition to: 

• Why he swims the length of Lake Tahoe (12 miles!)

Jess Butler, VP of Product Management and Owner of Commercial Submissions, is taking over for the infamous Dave Acker, long-time champion of connectivity products here at Vertafore. Dave has been looking to retire, but needed to find the right person to whom he could pass the torch. That begs the question: Why Jess Butler? You’ll walk away from this episode learning more about Jess and why she said yes to leading Vertafore’s connectivity mission: 

• How Jess got started in insurance over 20 years ago 

• How she guided Travelers’ business strategy during rater adoption 

Jason Cass has many accomplishments under his belt already: successful agency owner, host of one of the most popular insurance podcasts, founder of BrainShare, a cutting-edge author and thought-leader in the insurtech space. But he’s not done. In 2023, he’s launching a new conference called “IndieTech.” In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• What is indietech? It’s not a conference. It’s not an event. It’s not a mastermind. It’s a live guided experience to help you vet the right and best tech for your agency. 

• How he automated his entire sales process – thanks to a US AirForce Veteran (Jason’s COO) 

James Thom, Vertafore’s Chief Product Officer, candidly shares the challenges and opportunities for one of the largest tech providers in insurance. You’ll walk away from this episode with a better grasp on the insurtech conversation and how Vertafore plans to dominate it in 2023: 

• What are the biggest challenges facing any insurtech in 2023? 

You know the scene from the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie. Clark Griswold has spent hours affixing a superfluous amount of flashy Christmas lights to his house only to have none of it illuminate when he plugs it in.

VIP guest Chris Cline, executive director of Agents Council for Technology, says this iconic movie moment can be compared to a common issue insurance companies face when they don't take the time to carefully strategize.

Chris believes you can buy every shiny tech option available, but if you don’t have a good strategy for putting it together, you won’t be successful—and no, the lights won’t turn on.

How can you balance your InsurTech aspirations with solid results? Listen now.

In this episode, we are joined by Jessica Jeffress, chairwoman at NetVU and current associate vice president at Peel & Holland.  

During this episode, Rick and Jessica talk through:

• Building the planning muscle; learning to execute a plan, from start to finish

In 2021, there were over 1,000 insurance agency mergers and acquisitions in the U.S.—up 30% from 2020. This high activity is expected to continue in 2022, so if you’re an agency owner or hoping to be one day, Rick says it’s time to start planning for the day when it might be time to sell.

To make their business worth the most when the feeding frenzy comes, agencies need to be doing everything they can NOW to get fit and maximize value.

This episode is a super-informative listen for current agency owners and aspiring owners alike!

In this episode, we have AI and data experts Liri Halperin Segal and Michael LaBella joining us from InsurTech LeO, where Liri is the co-founder and CEO, and Michael is the vice president of sales.  

During this episode, Rick, Liri, and Michael talk through:

• The importance of creating new data to improve sales (11:00)

Happy listening!

In this episode, we have the one and only Syd Roe joining us on the podcast, and she’s got some insights about tech and insurance you need to hear:

• Changes Syd wants to see in the industry

Enjoy the episode!