InsurTech Geek Podcast

JBKnowledge
  • 4.3 (13)
  • Tech News
  • Updated Semimonthly

A bi-weekly interview series highlighting the technology that is shaping the future of insurance and exploring how industry leaders are leveraging technology to grow their businesses.

  1. 3d ago

    Claims Automation, AI Adoption & The Future of Adjusting

    Ken Bunn, Vice President of Claims at Builders Mutual Insurance Company, joins hosts James Benham and Rob Galbraith to explore how a construction only Southeast insurer built its claims department from scratch, why the AI tools that stick are the ones adjusters never have to think about, and what it takes to keep training junior adjusters into seniors.Ken's path ran through 18 years at Nationwide, rotating between claims leadership, field training, and IT program management, before Builders Mutual asked him to build a claims department that didn't exist yet. Twelve years later, the company has grown from roughly 200 million to 650 million in revenue, and Ken still leads much of the original team he brought over from an outsourced TPA.In this episode:• Why Builders Mutual pulled its claims department in-house, and how they kept close to 30 of the original 40 people they brought over. • The predictive AI models that worked exactly as designed and still failed to stick. • The unglamorous automation, document routing, indexing, and med record summaries, that actually delivered the ROI. • Ken's leadership philosophy for change management with no formal program at all. • Why work comp rate softening may be hitting a floor as catastrophic claims costs climb. Key Quotes:"You can't work on an assembly line and do brain surgery at the same time." "It's not going to solve all your problems. It's going to help." "There might be something wrong when your claims adjusters are the happiest people in the room." "Be real. Tell people what's going to happen and why you're doing it." "Pick and choose your tools well so they inform the adjuster, not just replace them."🔗 Connect:Ken Bunn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenbunn/Builders Mutual Insurance Company: https://www.buildersmutual.com | https://www.linkedin.com/company/builders-mutual-insurance-company👤 Hosts:James Benham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenhamRob Galbraith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-galbraith/🎙️ This episode is sponsored by Terra, the next-generation Workers' Comp and Commercial P&C Software.Visit 👉 https://terra.insure / https://www.linkedin.com/company/terrainsure/📌 Find InsurTech Geek:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insuretechgeek/Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/InsurtechGeekInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/insurtechgeek/Subscribe, rate, and comment. As always, Enjoy the Ride & Geek Out! 🤓

  2. Jul 10

    AI Liability, Insurtech Innovation & The Future of Reinsurance | Freddie Scarratt (Gallagher Re) - Ep. 181

    Freddie Scarratt, Global Deputy Head of InsurTech at Gallagher Re, joins James Benham and Rob Galbraith to unpack why 95% of all insurtech funding in Q1 2026 flowed into AI-focused companies, and what that means for the birth of an entirely new risk class: AI liability. From the Air Canada chatbot case that made headlines, to the hard lesson the industry learned when cheap venture capital tried to scale insurtechs like SaaS businesses, Freddie brings a reinsurance broker's view of where AI liability, cyber, and professional indemnity are converging into one digital risk category, and why insurance, unlike every other industry, can never fully cap its downside.

  3. Jun 26

    Ep. 180: The Future of Cyber Insurance and Parametric Risk

    Cyber risk is evolving faster than the policies written to cover it. Rick Wong, Head of Insurance at Parametrix Insurance, sits down with James Benham live at RIMS 2026 to talk about the future of parametric cyber — and why the standard tech E&O form wasn't designed for the exposures that actually matter today.   Parametrix is a Lloyd's coverholder writing parametric cyber, SLA, and enterprise risk. Named Cyber Underwriting Team of the Year at the Intelligent Insurer Awards, Q1 2026 already at 60% of full-year 2025 volume.   In this episode:→ Why standard cyber policies fail data centers→ How parametric products are being used as financial tools — not just risk transfer→ AI-powered criminal organizations, nation-state actors, and what's coming in cyber threats→ Building a differentiated MGA in a space with growing capacity and real opportunity   Guest: Rick Wong - Head of Insurance at Parametrix InsuranceWebsite: https://www.parametrixinsurance.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-b-wong/   Host: James Benham - Founder & CEO at JBKnowledge   Sponsor: Terra - Cloud-native Workers' Comp and P&C platform | terra.insure

  4. Jun 12

    Access, Operations, and Scale: Rethinking the Insurance Market with PoloWorks

    Paul Andrews and Mark Elliott of PoloWorks join us to discuss how insurers can access, operate, and scale across the Lloyd’s and broader insurance market. Drawing on decades of experience across underwriting, reinsurance, and operations, they share how PoloWorks is simplifying complexity through turnkey managing agency solutions, outsourced services, and support across the full insurance lifecycle.

  5. May 22

    Innovation at Scale: How Generali Is Shaping the Future of Insurance

    Danilo Raponi, Group Head of Innovation at Generali, joins us to discuss how one of the world’s largest insurers structures and scales innovation. From venture investments and startup partnerships to AI, IoT, and climate-focused solutions, Danilo shares how Generali is evolving insurance from a reactive claims payer to a proactive partner in risk prevention.

    Innovation at Scale: How Generali Is Shaping the Future of Insurance

  6. May 8

    Leading Digital & AI Transformation in Global Insurance

    Dr. Thomas Kuhnt, Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer at HDI Global SE, joins hosts James Benham and Rob Galbraith to explore leading digital and AI transformation in corporate and specialty insurance — recorded live at Insurtech Insights London on March 18, 2026. Dr. Kuhnt's path is unlike most in insurance. A PhD in algebraic number theory from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 15 years at McKinsey building the European insurance practice, and now a dual CIO/COO seat overseeing technology, operations, and transformation at one of the world's oldest and largest industrial insurers. He brings a systems thinker's lens to one of the most complex transformation challenges in the industry. In this episode: • Why organizations must stop waiting for perfect conditions and start experimenting with AI now • How agentic AI is transforming input management and underwriting workflows at HDI Global • Why business leads — not IT — should own AI transformation in global insurance organizations • The process trap: how applying AI to broken workflows just accelerates the breaking • What the next 5–10 years really looks like for underwriters and claims professionals at the desk level Key Quotes: "Don't wait. Start to experiment and iterate. This is not going to go away." "Business becomes IT — and IT becomes business." "We're overestimating the short-term impact — but underestimating it in the long term." "Seventy to eighty percent of an underwriter's work is just rekeying data. That's not really underwriting." "The first question should always be why — and that's an ops question, not a tech question." 🔗 Connect: Dr. Thomas Kuhnt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kuhnt/ HDI Global SE: https://www.hdi.global/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/hdi-global/ 👤 Hosts: James Benham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenham Rob Galbraith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-galbraith/ 🎙️ This episode is sponsored by Terra — the next-generation Workers' Comp and Commercial P&C Software. Visit 👉 https://terra.insure / https://www.linkedin.com/company/terrainsure/ 📌 Find InsurTech Geek: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insuretechgeek/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/InsurtechGeek Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insurtechgeek/ Subscribe, rate, and comment. As always — Enjoy the Ride & Geek Out! 🤓

    Leading Digital & AI Transformation in Global Insurance

  7. Apr 24

    Reimagining Risk in the Age of AI | Amir Kabir | InsurTech Geek Ep. 176

    Amir Kabir, Founding & Managing Partner at Overlook Ventures, joins hosts James Benham and Rob Galbraith to reimagine risk in the age of AI — what the last decade of insurtech got wrong, where the next wave of opportunity actually lives, and why "liability is getting weird" is an understatement. Amir spent the first chapter of his career in Germany, building enterprise software at a Karlsruhe startup that was eventually acquired by a Silicon Valley company. In 2013 he immigrated to the US for an MBA at Georgetown, became the third person on the founding team at Munich Re Ventures, and helped grow that fund from $50M to over $1B. He later served as General Partner at AV8 Ventures leading the financial services practice before launching Overlook Ventures to invest full-time at the intersection of risk and frontier technology. In this episode: • Why the early insurtech era mistook insurance for a scalable SaaS business • "Insurance is a get-rich-slowly business" — and what that means for exit math • The Overlook thesis: investing in the infrastructure of risk across every tech cycle • Where AI is real in insurance today (claims, underwriting data extraction) — and where regulation still slows it down • The emerging risk categories that don't fit today's policy structures: autonomous systems, longevity, and reputational narrative risk Key Quotes: "Insurance is a get-rich-slowly business." "Technology moves in cycles. Risk always evolves through them." "Liability is getting weird." "Try to find a problem before you find a solution." "A brand can be destroyed in 48 hours by a viral moment." 🔗 Connect: Amir Kabir: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirkabir/ Overlook Ventures: https://www.overlook.vc | https://www.linkedin.com/company/overlookvc/ 👤 Hosts: James Benham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenham Rob Galbraith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-galbraith/ 🎙️ This episode is sponsored by Terra — the next-generation Workers' Comp and Commercial P&C Software. Visit 👉 https://terra.insure / https://www.linkedin.com/company/terrainsure/ 📌 Find InsurTech Geek: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insuretechgeek/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/InsurtechGeek Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insurtechgeek/ Subscribe, rate, and comment. As always — Enjoy the Ride & Geek Out! 🤓

    Reimagining Risk in the Age of AI | Amir Kabir | InsurTech Geek Ep. 176

  8. Apr 10

    Technology Leadership, AI Adoption and the Future of Mutual Insurance

    Vineet Bansal, Chief Information and Technology Officer at The Mutual Group, joins hosts James Benham and Rob Galbraith to explore how technology leadership, disciplined AI adoption, and a shared operating model are shaping the future of mutual insurance — from inside a two-year-old, Bain Capital-backed startup built to help community-based carriers compete and grow.Vineet brings over 20 years of financial services and insurance technology experience to the role — from engineering roots in Nagpur, India, to nearly two decades at Fidelity Investments across ten different business lines, to building a greenfield digital platform as CTO at IptiQ by Swiss Re. Now at The Mutual Group, he's architecting a shared technology and operations platform designed to scale across multiple member companies — starting with GuideOne Insurance in Des Moines, Iowa.In this episode:Why insurance is a deliberately risk-managed industry — and what that means for responsible AI adoptionHow The Mutual Group is building a multi-tenant platform to help smaller mutual carriers access enterprise-level capabilitiesWhy clean data, API-driven ecosystems, and strong governance are the real foundation for AI success — not the tools themselvesWhat it means to hold the combined CIO and CTO role — and how Vineet divides his focus across operations, applications, strategy, and multi-member platformThe shift toward hyper-personalized insurance: policies sold by the hour, by the day, or only when the risk event is happeningKey Quotes:"The winners will be the ones with the strongest foundation.""Insurance sits at the intersection of risk, regulation, economics, and human behavior.""AI won't solve your data issues. It's garbage in, garbage out.""There's no easy answer. It takes meticulous planning and thoughtful execution.""We may have insurance products sold by the hour, by the day."🔗 Connect:Vineet Bansal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vineet-bansal/The Mutual Group: https://www.themutualgroup.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-mutual-group/👤 Hosts:James Benham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenhamRob Galbraith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-galbraith/🎙️ This episode is sponsored by Terra — the next-generation Workers' Comp and Commercial P&C Software.Visit 👉 https://terra.insure / https://www.linkedin.com/company/terrainsure/📌 Find InsurTech Geek:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insuretechgeek/Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/InsurtechGeekInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/insurtechgeek/Subscribe, rate, and comment. As always — Enjoy the Ride & Geek Out! 🤓

    Technology Leadership, AI Adoption and the Future of Mutual Insurance
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Ratings & Reviews

4.3
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

A bi-weekly interview series highlighting the technology that is shaping the future of insurance and exploring how industry leaders are leveraging technology to grow their businesses.

Information

  • Creator
    JBKnowledge
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    182
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © JBKnowledge
  • Show Website
    InsurTech Geek Podcast

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