The Leadership in Insurance Podcast - Insurtech & Innovation

🎙️ NEW EPISODE: Leadership in Insurance PodcastThis week, host Alex Bond is joined by Balaji Devarasetty, CTO of Vertafore, to talk about bringing AI and outside-industry thinking to insurance technology.In this conversation, Balaji shares:✅ His path from banking to payments to crypto — and how that cross-industry experience shapes how he approaches insurtech✅ Vertafore's vision for the "Agentic Agency," using AI to modernize the tech stack without ripping out legacy systems✅ How the Orange Partner Program's 40+ partners and hundreds of APIs let agencies of every size extend their platform, rather than building everything in-house✅ How AI is closing the gap with other industries — cutting regulatory updates from days to hours and commission reconciliation from hours to minutes✅ Why attracting the next generation of insurance talent means rethinking user experience, not just technology It's a conversation about modernizing legacy systems without ripping them up, why the best insurtech ideas often come from outside insurance, and what it takes to build technology the next generation really wants to use.

🎙️ NEW EPISODE: The Leadership in Insurance PodcastThis week, host Alex Bond is joined by Peter Colis, co-founder and CEO of Ethos — the vertically integrated platform that's rebuilding how life insurance gets underwritten, sold and serviced in the US.In this conversation, Peter shares:✅ How Ethos went from a Stanford dorm-room idea in 2016 to the largest direct life insurance marketer in the US✅ The three pivotal decisions behind Ethos's growth — from vertical integration to automating 95% of underwriting decisions instantly (vs. a 20-30% industry average)✅ Why building a real competitor to Ethos is harder than it looks, and what makes their culture different from traditional carriers✅ His view on where LLMs will (and won't) fit into life insurance distribution✅ How Ethos's agent platform is democratizing access to life insurance for the mass and middle marketsIt's a conversation about innovation, execution, and building a category-defining company — as told by someone who's done it twice over: through years of private growth and now as a newly public company.#LeadershipInInsurance #InsurTech #LifeInsurance #Leadership #Ethos #Innovation

🎙️ NEW EPISODE: The Leadership in Insurance PodcastThis week, host Alex Bond sits down with Bill Harris, co-founder and Chief Customer Officer of ITC (InsureTechConnect), ahead of ITC Vegas 2026 (Sept 29 – Oct 1).In this conversation, Bill shares:✅ How InsurTech has evolved over 10 years — from disrupting legacy carriers to helping them adopt technology at scale✅ The AI investment numbers reshaping the sector, and why he's excited (with eyes open) about where it's heading✅ What's new at ITC Vegas this year, including dedicated Cyber and AI summits✅ Why 80-85 of the top 100 global carriers now show up — and what keeps 9,000+ attendees coming back✅ His take on why the best opportunities at ITC happen outside the formal agenda — in the hallway conversations and serendipitous meetingsIt's a conversation about scale, connection, and why ITC has become the industry's annual homecoming.

In the latest episode, host Dan Briselden sits down with Tobias Bergmann CEO & Founder, and Bassel Hamadeh, Head of Innovation at TigerLab — a company that has been building insurance technology from Southeast Asia to global markets for nearly two decades.What makes TigerLab's perspective different:🔧 Founded before the InsurTech boom — they've lived through 2.0 and are now helping carriers, MGAs and brokers navigate 3.0🌍 Global reach with deep domain expertise — from Malaysia to Europe to an expanding US presence⚙️ A product-led approach that combines a core platform with bespoke builds so clients get exactly what they need, fastWhat else they cover:🤖 Where AI is actually delivering ROI right now and where it isn't ready yet (spoiler: confidently wrong is worse than no decision at all)📧 Why email triage, document ingestion and multilingual support are the unglamorous AI wins that are transforming underwriting workflows💡 The build vs. buy debate and why domain expertise will separate the long-term survivors from the white-labelled newcomers🧑‍💼 Why human relationships in insurance will remain irreplaceable even as automation reshapes the size and shape of teamsWhether you're an MGA scaling fast, a carrier weighing your AI strategy, or simply curious about what two decades of insurance tech experience looks like in practice, this is a grounded and honest conversation from people who've seen the industry evolve from the inside.🔔 Follow Leadership in Insurance so you never miss an episode#LeadershipInInsurance #InsurTech #AI #CoreSystems #MGA #Insurance #Podcast #TigerLab

In the latest episode, host Alex Bond sits down with Gráinne Murphy from Swiss Re's Risk Data Solutions to explore how behavioural science is reshaping insurance — from underwriting to claims to AI adoption.A few highlights:🔹 Why under-insurance persists — people consistently undervalue future risk against present-day cost🔹 How behavioural science helps debias expert judgment in underwriting, especially for novel or high-volatility risks where data alone isn't enough🔹 Why loss aversion is a far more powerful lever than statistics for getting people to buy insurance🔹 Inside Swiss Re's AI transformation — how an "AI champions network" is driving real adoption and trust in AI toolsIf you work in underwriting, pricing, or product — or you're just curious about the psychology behind why people buy (or don't buy) insurance — this one’s a must-listen.#LeadershipInInsurance #InsurancePodcast #BehavioralScience #SwissRe #InsurTech #RiskManagement

In this episode, Alex Bond talks to Henri Kasurinen, CEO and co-founder of Nomain, about modernizing mainframe systems in insurance.Henri explains the problem Nomain was built to solve: organizations often depend on one long-serving employee — the "Jorgen" of the business — who holds deep, irreplaceable knowledge of legacy systems. Nomain's AI-powered knowledge platform aims to capture and scale that expertise before it walks out the door.Key themes from the conversation:🔹 Insurance vs banking — insurers rely more heavily on batch processing, which has slowed modernization compared to banking's real-time demands🔹 The real barrier is cultural, not technical — approval processes, lack of incentives, and fear of losing relevance often block progress more than the technology itself🔹 Finding the right pace — Henri makes the case for incremental, targeted rollouts (team-by-team) over ambitious org-wide overhauls🔹 What's next for Nomain — expansion into Germany first, then the UK, alongside growing excitement about open-source LLMs offering better data sovereignty for European insurersA candid look at what it really takes to modernize legacy infrastructure in a highly regulated industry.

Ron Gura didn't build Empathy because he saw a market gap. He built it because he'd lived through loss — including the death of his brother — and knew the industry was getting it wrong.Not on purpose. But wrong nonetheless.In the latest episode of The Leadership in Insurance Podcast, host Alex Bond sits down with Ron, Co-Founder & CEO of Empathy, for one of the most human conversations the show has had. Because at the heart of it, that's exactly what this is about.Ron explains how Empathy provides continuity of care through technology and services for life's hardest moments — bereavement, legacy planning, disability — partnering with insurers and employers to transform what has historically been a transactional process into something genuinely supportive.They also get into:✅ Why 91% of beneficiaries are satisfied with claims — but fewer than 1 in 10 repurchase from the same carrier✅ The "orphan claim" problem — 70% of US life insurance claims have no assigned advisor✅ How AI should make humans more human, not replace them✅ What the $100 trillion generational wealth transfer means for life insurers right now✅ Empathy's expansion into Canada and Europe — and what's coming nextWith 200 employees across multiple offices and a live partnership with Zurich serving over 3 million people, this is a company that's moved well beyond vision into execution.

Finn didn't come from insurance. He came from startups — real estate, entertainment, a TPA. But when he looked at the Canadian Insurtech landscape and saw how much was being left on the table, he decided to do something about it.He took over InsurTech Canada. And then he started rebuilding it from the ground up.In the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast, host Alex Bond sits down with Finn for a wide-ranging conversation about what it really takes to build an insurtech ecosystem — not just talk about one.Finn shares how he transformed InsurTech Canada from a non-profit meetup organisation into a for-profit, deal-flow-focused platform with a curated membership of 27 companies. And he opens up about his next move: launching an InsurTech investment fund, focused primarily on Canadian companies but with eyes on the US and UK markets too.They also get into:✅ Why Canada lags 2–3 years behind other markets — and what needs to change✅ The talent drain pulling founders and operators south of the border✅ How to evaluate founders (and why people skills matter as much as product)✅ His vision for Canada to become a genuine global hub for InsurTech innovation✅ What it means to have "skin in the game" when you're championing an ecosystemWith a clear commercial mindset, a growing network across carriers, brokers, MGAs, and capital providers — and a fund on the horizon — Finn is one to watch.#LeadershipInInsurance #Podcast #Insurtech #InsurtechCanada #VC #Innovation #Insurance #Canada

In the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast, host Dan Briselden sits down with James Rendell, CEO and founder of BirdsEyeView — a UK-based insurance technology company backed by the European Space Agency — for a conversation that spans the journey from Lloyds broker to InsurTech entrepreneur.James brings a rare blend of market knowledge and technological curiosity to the world of natural catastrophe modelling. His path didn't start with a lightbulb moment: it started with a genuine obsession with emerging technology, a willingness to show up alone to InsurTech events, and a growing conviction that satellite data could meaningfully improve how the insurance market models and manages catastrophe risk.In this episode, James and Dan explore:🔹 How BirdsEyeView secured backing from the European Space Agency and why that rigorous, year-long process turned out to be the best thing the business ever did🔹 Why building customer-first — really understanding the day-to-day problems underwriters face — has been the key driver of early traction across Lloyds, Australia and the US🔹 The challenge of selling into a market that's historically slow to adopt new technology, and how to shorten the sales cycle by starting niche and expanding from there🔹 Why secondary perils like wildfire and severe convective storm represent the biggest product opportunity and where BirdsEyeView is investing to stay ahead of the incumbents🔹 How AI has already transformed output at BirdsEyeView — and why James believes the science-heavy, domain-specific nature of catastrophe modelling keeps them well ahead of any AI-generated challengersJames also shares his vision for where BirdsEyeView is heading: to become the go-to tool for at-desk hazard modelling and exposure management — bridging the long-standing gap between the lightweight tools underwriters use daily and the sophisticated outputs of the traditional vendor models.If you work in underwriting, exposure management, or catastrophe risk — or if you're building a business in the Lloyds or cover holder market — this episode is full of honest, hard-won insight from a founder who's done it the right way.