Justin Gress is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Vantage Group Holdings Ltd. Prior to joining Vantage, Justin served as Director of Strategic Operations for North America for AXA XL. Vantage was launched in 2020 and Justin has been leading the charge in helping them build out their U.S. product offerings. In this week’s episode, Justin shares his thoughts on innovation, where the insurance industry is headed, and how he identifies new insurtech solutions for his market!

 

Key Takeaways

• Justin shares a little bit about his story and how he got into insurance.
• What questions should risk management professionals ask themselves before joining a new company?
• Justin shares the biggest difference between working for a startup vs. a larger more established company.
• You have to be hyper-conscious about what the company culture looks like in a startup and how you’re showing up with a smaller team.
• What is the state of innovation right now in the industry?
• Justin shares his process on how he identifies new insurtech.
• Closing the talent gap is on everybody’s minds. How is Justin trying to solve the problem?
• Justin believes it’s not going to be uncommon to see individuals with more than one expertise, from underwriting to data science, coming through in the industry. The siloed career professional with one skillset is going to be less and less.
• There’s a lot of moving pieces in the industry that make this space very appealing to new professionals. You just need to let them know about it.
• Justin shares his thoughts on where the industry is headed in five years.
• The customer relationship is going to be even more transformed in the future. Professionals need to be prepared for that.
• What does Justin wish he’d learned sooner in his career?

 

Keep Getting Better

Vantagerisk.com

Justin on LinkedIn

 

Quotes

 

“When you’re in a startup, you have to realize you’ve got to build everything from scratch. You’ve either got to buy it or build it, and you’re going to get your hands dirty.”

 

“In many ways, things continue to speed up. There are so many opportunities to get involved from an innovation perspective.”

 

“There’s a ton of room for innovation, so a fresh set of eyes is important.”