The Insurance Podcast

Being the new-(ish) President of MSA Research is one job, but putting on the most important insurance event in a country is filling some pretty big shoes for Nevina Kishun. With the National Insurance Conference of Canada event happening in 19 days we talk with Nevina about the issues the facing the insurance industry.

In this this episode:

• Where the data says the industry faces it's biggest challenge
• How speakers and to...

Claims service is evolving and Paul Disney, Chief Product and Technology Officer, and itel have a vision and the data ready. Paul shares important lessons claims experiences are teaching the insurance industry and how those lessons are shaping technology and service options that itel provides.

In this episode:

• The difference between education versus advising insureds during the claims process
• How data can help the experi...

FloodFlash is not another insuretech, rather it's technology, data, and underwriting combined into a new product to help cover a peril that causes the insurance industry many problems. Co-founders Adam Rimmer and Dr. Ian Bartholomew share their early vision and how they addressed the peril no one seems to want to cover.

In this episode:

• How the cofounders saw their vision and built up a company
• Overcoming obstacles with ...

As insurance attempts to become more interactive for customers the data still needs to be entered and those forms are key parts of the customer journey. Alun Lucas of Zuko Analytics shares how looking at forms and how customers behave with them can help insurance distributing entities.

In this episode:

• Why looking at customer behaviour analytics on forms can explain where challenges exist
• How the Prune, Tune, Explain mod...

AI and its impact is looked at with curiosity, desire, concern, and a bit of fear, but with insurance its presence is often seen with affecting distribution and customer experience. However, is enough focus happening on use within the underwriting chair? Jeff Sutton, Senior VP Sales and Marketing for Markel shares what he sees and how Markel is finding advantages with underwriting and for their partners.

In this episode:

Marketing for insurance is a challenge when it's easy but when the space becomes more competitive and crowded, what can be done to stand out? Steve Pieroway, founder of Benevolent Marketing talks, content, creative, messaging and more.

In this episode:

• How understanding lived experience matters for marketing
• Why content needs to be aligned with strategy
• What kind of journey is going to resonate with clients
• Steve's confe...

Never before has reinsurance been talking about so much by so many across insurance. At ReConnect 2025 we talked with the people who are finding new ways to raise, manage, measure, regulate, and distribute capital into the insurance industry.

In this episode:

• How regulatory authorities are working to help make reinsurance secure and accessible
• How actuaries are measuring and allocating capacity to the market
• Why companies ...

Graham Haigh has seen a thing or two during his insurance career, now looking at a deserved retirement he sounds off about some of the problems he sees in the P&C sector.

In this episode:

• What he sees as the biggest challenge in the industry
• Scaling up with mergers and acquisitions
• Should insurers continue to be a part aggregating distribution
• Where new success is being found and who is having it
• Why product innovation i...

Legacy insurance technology is costly and debatably efficient but there is more and more talk about the hidden fees that come with accessing your data. Sherif Gemayel, founder of Trufla Technology shares some thoughts on what he calls "Tech Tariffs". In this episode:

• What the true cost of operation is for many brokers and agents
• Why you are paying a fee for a non-revenue generating action
• How technology and SaaS service...

Data is still the principal currency for insurance businesses but as more try to leverage the value of their data for modernization and AI adoption, what issues do they face? Mike Allee, President of Universal Conversion Technologies, shares what organizations need to consider for their future.

In this episode:

• Why understanding your data before embarking on modernization is key to success
• The importance of knowing wha...

Insurance brokers and agents are always looking for efficiencies and QuickFacts might be the one insuretech startup that delivers right away. The founders, Jeff and Christy Barsalou share their story and lessons as a startup, how to grow and how stepping away from the broker world was key to being better for their target market.

In this episode:

• How a startup mentality works and lessons learned
• Why scaling matters but no...

Selling insurance easily is a challenge that is slowly being solved but not easily. Angela Sethi, CEO and co-founder of Mangopolicy, believes the solution is not that far off:

In this episode:

• How existing technology can power insurance sales without headaches
• Why brokers and agents need to look at insurance sales differently for future success
• The importance of brokers working to develop products and no rely solely on in...

CAT event and losses are never a good story but the insurance industry is coming together to look at the future and how to address the problems CAT losses cause.

In this episode:

• Why parametric insurance solutions align with CAT events
• How building codes need to consider variations in climate across regions
• The technology and people driving efficiency for claims settlement and adjusting
• How insurance is addressing humanitar...

AI is all the rage but now we have an insurance wholesaler, Flow Specialty, deploying AI Agents into the workflow and broker experience. CEO and Co-founder Sivan Iram explains how the value of using AI powered agents will help brokers and agents accelerate their customer journey in the SME segment.

In this episode:

• Why the specialty market is increasingly using algorithmic underwriting
• How the ability to digitize knowled...

In part 2 of our interviews at NICC 2024 we look at thoughts from leaders who shared perspectives on what will affect insurance when it comes to global positioning, data, technology, and joint purpose. This collection of thoughts taps into a statement around geopolitical issues to start and then moves to how so many across insurance are looking to position for the future. In this episode:

• Thoughts from Munich Re
• How in...

CAT losses are more than a tragedy, they are a real event that the insurance industry has to address but there are many layers to the challenge. During our interviews at NICC we heard from Peter Routledge, Ceyleste Power, Paddy Jago, Paul Kovacs, Matt Godsoe, and Bob Fitzgerald on many subjects but the complexity of CAT losses was front of mind.

In this episode:

• Why CAT losses need to be looked at at many different le...

Recent fires and a record breaking summer of CAT losses has the insurance industry nearing turmoil when it comes to understanding when CAT losses will occur, where, and how impactful they will be. Laura Twidle CEO and Caroline Floyd of CAT IQ sat down to talk about the summer of CAT losses and what to expect at the upcoming CAT IQ Connect conference in Toronto Feb 4th-5th in Toronto.

In this episode:

• Reviewing the 7 C...

Guidewire Connections is not just an average conference, it's a showcase for insurers, partners, and anyone else who wants to understand what one of the largest insurance software platforms/ecosystems is building for the future of insurance. The theme was Agility in Action and the message was clear, agile and responsive entities within the insurance industry will find longterm success. It's eye-opening, full of incredibl...

2024 was once again a transformative year for The Insurance Podcast. We were at more events than ever, we met more people than we can remember and produced more content including videos from some of our events and interviews.

In this episode:

• A review of the year by the hosts
• Favorite people we met and talked to
• Interview quotes that all seem to align to where the industry is going and how to get there
• Our wish list of t...