The Issues and Answers Podcast: Recent Episodes
Best's Review magazine
A special section published in Best's Review magazine in which experts discuss new capabilities and opportunities for insurers.
Anita Bourke, executive vice president of The Institutes, spoke about how professionals should determine what courses could help fast-track their career.
Hank Haldeman, president of NAPSLO, spoke about career opportunities for young talent in E&S insurance.
Daniel Epstein, the CEO of ReSource Pro, says there’s been a relative neglect of looking at insurance operations as a driver of profitable growth.
Scott Bayer, SVP of Tokio Marine Specialty discusses the company's MELC product whcih stands for multi line environmental coverage, a combined GL and environmental form.
Greg Wright, SVP agency management systems for Vertafore, said today’s modern producer needs to have the right content and solutions at their finger tips, anytime, anywhere, using any device.
Mark Dutton, CEO of FJA, and Truman Esmond, vice president of customer engagement for AAIS, spoke with Best’s Review about their strategic partnership to create the AAIS Underwriting Platform.
Chuck Johnson, chief marketing officer for EIS Group, said the question is going to become: Where does an Apple Watch or Google Glass fit into the customer’s arrangement with their insurance company?
NAPSLO Vice President Hank Haldeman said that under his leadership the organization will have a two-pronged approach to legislative advocacy.
Ziad Kubursi, SVP, head of the management and professional liability division for Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY), said the company’s specialty lines unit has always prided itself on being mainly a small- to medium-size enterprise operation.
Heather Jordan, Senior Director of Programs for Scottsdale Insurance, said that Programs have become one of the fastest growing segments of commercial insurance
Paul Bunce, senior director of personal lines for Western Heritage Insurance, said that from an automation standpoint the industry has done a good job of advancing the use of technology for rating and issuance of personal lines.
Ethan Allen, Executive for AIG Programs said the company offers products both on admitted and non-admitted paper and in terms of transacting business.
Alex Tsetsenekos, Chief Strategy Officer for IDT911 said that cyber insurance in many ways is traditional insurance, in terms of your first and third party coverages.
John Merchant, AVP Cyber and Professional Liability, Freedom Specialty Insurance Company said that agents should be aware that most cyber products are much more than just a policy.
David Lupica, Division President, ACE Commercial Risk Services, works with brokers every day who tell him they are looking for ways to improve their transactions and margins on small accounts.
David Kennerud, principal and consulting actuary for Milliman, discusses how the Arius system is designed to customize workflow so that you can work the way you want to.
Steve Kinion, Director of the Delaware Bureau of Captives and Financial Insurance Products, explains how the state is always looking at new innnovations for capties as alternative risk transfere vehicles.
Sanford Saito, captive insurance administrator for Hawaii, explains why 17 new captives were formed in the domicile in 2013 and what makes Hawaii an attractive domicile.
Rob Leadbetter, Chairman of the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman, said there are over 5,000 captives globally and Cayman remains the second-largest domicile in the industry.
Rob Walling, principal and consulting actuary for Pinnacle Actuarial Resources, explains that actuaries, because of their experience with both the structures of captives and the coverages that are being provided, can offer insights that the captive manager might not have the same perspective on.
NAPSLO Executive Director Brady Kelley said retail agents and insurance buyers can rely on wholesalers in their professional and expert approach to finding the right solution for their clients.
Jake Diner, CEO of Driveway Software says the UBI market has forever changed with the introduction of Driveway’s smartphone-deployed, cloud-based UBI Platform.
Scott Bayer, senior vice president of Tokio Marine Specialty Insurance Company, says the company differentiates itself by product offering.
Roosevelt Mosley, Principal and Consulting Actuary for Pinnacle Actuarial Resources Inc., says the ultimate goal with predictive analytics is to better understand the data and the information at hand.
Bill Reid, VP in Product Management for Vertafore, said that for 30 years the company has been building software so the independent insurance agents can manage their business by easily connecting to the carriers so both sides can grow their business.
Dan Bergman, Senior Director for Garage at Western Heritage, says garage business has been a cornerstone for the company for many years. Its focus regarding underwriting and claims helps set the company apart from the competition.
Lexington Insurance President and CEO Jeremy Johnson said industries like energy, construction and transportation have all been improving, and the improved exposure bases within these segments are driving premium growth in the E&S sector.
Joseph Werner of Freedom Specialty said that despite recent Supreme Court decisions that appear favorable for employers, employers still need to be on guard for the possibility of significant employment claims.
Ethan Allen of Lexington Insurance Company, says "with regard to providing insurance, we continue our quest to understand the evolving needs of the segments we serve."
Ziad Kubursi, Senior Vice President and Head of the Management & Professional Liability Division of Philadelphia Insurance Companies, says "we listen to our customers and gauge their responses to better understand their needs."
Christopher Timm, president of Century Surety Company, explains the changing environment that impacts insurance transactions.
John Goodloe, senior vice president of brokerage at Scottsdale Insurance Company, explains that leadership is the reason Scottsdale Insurance Company is successful.
David Bresnahan and Vince Pugliese of Lexington Insurance discuss what continues to make their company a dominant force in the E&S business.
David French, president of Starr Marine, explains how the full marine line insurer is able to standout in today's competitive marketplace.
Conning's Steve Sonlin explains how risk and capital management has always been an important part of insurance companies' operations and Conning understands the importance of that role.
Bruce Winterburn, vice president of industry relations for Vertafore, said agencies have to rethink their way of doing business and explains how his company can help do so.
Tom Burns, managing director for North America for Ultimate Risk Solutions, explains why dynamic financial analysis technology is important to insurers.
Eric Rea, president of se2, explains why insurers are looking more toward the annuity market these days and how technology can help capture that market.
MSB Vice President Jerry Fox explores the biggest challenges the independent agency market faces in writing homeowners business and how his company is addressing those needs.
Robert Curry, assistant vice president and actuary at ISO, discusses how advanced analytics play a role in homeowners underwriting and ratings.
Kurtis Suhs, vice president at Ironshore Insurance Services®, said privacy and network security coverage is changing all the time as new data security threats, litigation and privacy regulations evolve.
Bob Emery of GR-NEAM explains how the CARA® toolset is GR-NEAM's proprietary capital and risk analytic platform, and is an integral component of the investment technology solutions.
Meryl Golden, general manager for North America operations for Earnix, said companies that adopt price optimization realize substantial financial benefits.
Kim Gilbertson, director of corporate operations for CT Corporation, said the insurance industry continues to be among the largest targets of civil action in the country.
Tom Herendeen of Philadelphia Insurance said that today's business environment is more challenging and changes faster than ever when it comes to matching up risks with the right products.
Ethan Allen, senior vice president and program division executive for Lexington Insurance and David Hampson, president and CEO of Willis Program, discuss the program market.
John Merchant of Freedom Specialty Insurance said that for anyone in business, security is a top priority. The data that companies hold should be recognized as an extremely valuable asset.
Rob Walling of Pinnacle Actuarial Resources explains the important role the actuary plays for the captive.
Paul Struzzieri of Milliman explains that actuaries play an important role in the formation of a captive.
Wayne Forest, president of the American Association of Managing General Agents, says that when a hard market comes the first thing you need to do is go back in to your book of business and get rid of the accounts that cost you money.
A quartet of executives discuss what distinguishes Lexington Insurance in the Excess & Surplus Market.
Anthony Washington and Stan Lam of Western Heritage explain why general agents who want to succeed will want to partner with Western Heritage.
John Edack, senior executive vice president and chief regional officer for Arch Insurance, says Arch is a financially strong company that provides a full range of products on a specialty basis.
Jim Carey, president and CEO of Admiral Insurance Company says in the E&S world, chaos equals opportunity.
Anita Bourke, executive vice president at The Institutes, explains why professional development is the key to success.
James Massielo, chairman of the Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance, says that SIAA is constantly evolving and always looking to improve upon what they say they already do better than anyone.
Steve McElhiney, the new president and chairman of the CPCU Society, says younger CPCUs are looking for virtual interaction opportunities and the efforts of The Institutes will greatly enhance what they have done to date.
Don Harrell, senior vice president for Marine at Liberty International Underwriters, discusses the main issues impacting the marine market.
Joe Corey, vice president of Hartford's Marine and Technology and Life Science Practices, and Beth Bronger-Jones, director of marine underwriting for Hartford, discuss the growing logistics industry and the ensuing coverage issues.
Aaron Mayfield, director of MSB Commerical Solutions explains how organic growth is very hard to come by, so understanding and managing the book of business of a company has become increasingly important.
David Wilson and Alexander Ng explain Cutwater Asset Management's dynamic financial analysis tool called the risk analysis manager.
Kevin Thompson, senior vice president of insurance services for ISO, explains how the models they produce are extremely flexible and customizable, and the information can be delivered in a number of different levels of detail.
Sherri Manetta, head of operations for risk and capital solutions at Conning, explains the critical element of understanding risk is having a good financial modeling process.
Sharath Dorbala, senior vice president of product management and strategy at Vertafore, explains how his company is focusing on improving efficiency across the distribution channels-- not just in the silos.
Joe Herbers, Managing Principal at Pinnacle Actuarial Resources, explains the critical questions that audit committee members of the Board of Directors should ask their actuary.
Chris Kogut and Joel Chansky, both principals at Milliman, explain that for captives, domicile considerations are complex, in part because there are so many to choose from, but the basic underlying actuarial principles are the same regardless of the domicile.
Joseph LoPorto, Vice President/Insurance Asset Management at Brown Brothers Harriman, discusses current views on managing investment portfolios for captive insurance companies.
Bill Whitehead, Vice President, Alternative Risk Transfer/Captives, Lexington Insurance Co. talks about choosing a captive business partner.
Liz White, president of Peachtree Special Risk Brokers, discusses the importance of relationships in the excess & surplus market.
Matthew Power, vice president of Lexington Insurance Co., discusses how by the company has remained a dominant E&S insurer.
Mark Kissick, president of York Programs explains why the company is the largest third-party administrator in the program marketplace.
Jim Cary, president and CEO of Admiral Insurance Co., discusses how the company continues to look for new ways to access the E&S market.
Suzanne Brandt, managing director of Ryan Specialty Group, explains the importance of diversification in the excess & surplus market.
James Drinkwater, president of Amwins, discusses the effects of balance sheets after recent catastrophic events.
Michael J. Carr, senior vice president, Liberty International Underwriters discusses the most pressing issues facing brokers placing high-risk property and how LIU helps them with those problems.
Warren Farrar, president and chairman of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society, explains how The Society is there to help its 25,000 members achieve success in the insurance industry
James Masiello, chairman of the Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance, discusses the benefits of being an SIAA member.
Anita Bourke, executive vice president at The Institutes, explains why professional development is the key to success.
Arthur Tacchino, J.D., assistant professor of health insurance at The American College, discusses a comprehensive new designation designed to bring agents and brokers up to speed with the constant changes taking place under federal healthcare reform.
Gary Marshall, a senior vice president with Diversified Insurance Facilities discusses the company's dealer open lot insurance programs
Flagstone Re’s Chief Actuary David Flitman explains how one of the company's founding principles was instituting a fully integrated workflow model where submissions, modeling, and pricing analysis are all commonly shared and stored in its MOSAIC expert system.
Steven Finch, vice president of Enterprise Market Solutions at Vertafore, says the company's WorkSmart provides unprecedented insight, reduces process steps and ensures maximum efficiency through streamlined workload management.
John Felton, executive vice president for business development for Quadrant, says the company is the foremost provider of the best enterprise-wide insurance solutions for property and casualty insurance.
Steven Brewer, vice president of strategic initiatives for Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, discusses how the company offers a full service of turnkey solutions driven by a value creation roadmap.
John Cantwell and Howard Waldrop of ISO explain how data prefill at the point of quote provides better service, lower operational expense, and improved premium accuracy.
Meira Primes, vice president of marketing at FirstBest Systems, explains how the company delivers insurance software solutions that help commercial- and specialty-lines carriers drive premium growth, scale their business and achieve high service levels with agents.
Stephen Clarke and Jeff DeTurris of ISO discuss how the company is a leading provider of statistical, actuarial underwriting and claims data for the property for the property/casualty sector.
Bill Bloom, vice president of global client services for EXL, explains how the company is committed to the industry for the long haul in business process outsourcing, and one need not look any further than its client base to see proof of that.
Joe Gustafson, founder and CEO of Brainshark, talks about how his company helps insurance professionals communicate faster and more effectively to increase business results.
Kurtis Suhs, assistant vice president at Ironshore Insurance Services, talks about how privacy and network security coverage provides solutions to protect non public personal and confidential corporate information.
Mary Grazen of InsurBanc explains how the company has developed financial products and services that respond to the needs of agents and brokers.
Sanford Elsass, president and CEO of UniTer, discusses how the company forms and manages risk retention groups that provide general and professional liability insurance in the medical industry.
Jared Smith, head of payments and cash management and Gord Scharf, head of product management payments and cash management for HSBC Bermuda, on the value of having payment and cash management expertise in the Bermuda marketplace.
Cameron Laird, senior vice president and head of insurance asset management at Brown Brothers Harriman, who discusses the investments of particular need for captive clients.
George Sumner, captive insurance administrator for Hawaii, on what the state is doing to make the domicile attractive to captives.
Joseph A. Herbers, managing principal for Pinnacle Actuarial Resources, discusses how actuaries are critical in predicting reserves.
Brian First, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Sparta Insurance, on how the company is built around meeting the unique needs of commercial specialty and captive programs.
HM Insurance COO Mike Sullivan discusses what makes the company a leader in the stop loss industry.
Professor Mary Quist-Newins, of The American College, on the school's new course called Marketing Financial Services to Women.
James Masiello, chairman of The Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance, on what sets SIAA apart from other networks.
Anita Bourke, executive vice president AICPCU, discusses how professional development is the silver lining in a cloudy economy.
Douglas Holtz, president of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society, on the value membership in CPCU Society brings in difficult economic times.
EXL's Yogendra Goyal discusses how the global economy is accentuating a shift in intellectual and human resources and unleashing the power of business process outsourcing more than ever.
Lindsay Moran discusses how 3M Privacy Filters for computers and cell phones allow clients to keep things to themselves.
Vertafore's Dave Acker explains how the company's products are making the insurance industry more efficient.
MSB's Jonathon Kost discusses leveraging technology and data to help property insurers and vendors improve the claims process.
AQS' Bruce Davis discusses the varying appetites within the policy administration market.
Quadrant's Michael Macauley discusses the company's MapPro analysis tool, and how it delivers an unsurpassed suite of both historic and predictive metrics for auto and home insurers.
ISO's Kevin Thompson discusses how 21st century technology is changing both underwriting and claims.
FirstBest Systems' John Belizaire, Julian Pelenur, and Joe Pilkerton explain how their software fills a collaborative gap in underwriting and streamlines the process.
Brian First, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at SPARTA Insurance Holdings Inc., says market turmoil is pushing ART to the forefront, and that the unbundled approach makes the most sense because it gives clients more control.
Joel Chansky, a principal in the Boston office of Milliman, says that while says that different captive domiciles may have a distinct requirement, the variations are basically part of the same theme.
Gordon Gaar, CGI's vice president for Global Insurance Sector Strategy, says CGI can do everything except take risk, including claims management, policy administration, fraud prevention, statistical and regulatory reporting services, and document management and print and mail services.
Brian Hardgrove, director of Business Development at ImageRight, talks about how its electronic content management system encompasses everything that's in digital content, and how that can benefit insurers.
Scott Kotroba, president and chief executive officer of GreatInsuranceJobs.com, says while its job postings and the resume database remain popular, its online career fair in particular has risen in prominence.
Jonathan Kost, senior vice president, Claims & Commercial Solutions Group, at MSB, says the company's smart systems results in decreased loss-adjusting expenses, higher customer satisfaction and increased productivity.
Randy Wheeler, managing director at Aon, says its new iVOSc Carrier Edition is designed to help property and casualty insurers transform data into actionable business intelligence.
J.P. Schmidt, Hawaii's Insurance Commissioner, says the state is focused on improving laws to maintain a friendly environment for captives, while keeping up on any changes on the regulatory landscape.
Karen Fettig, director of Legal eXchange Product Management, says a comprehensive legal spend management program includes the receipt of electronic and paper invoices, automated validation of billing guidelines and advanced data tracking for reporting.
Paul Gange, vice president of U.S. Sales & Marketing at Audatex, talks about how company software systems are not only making the claims process easier for auto insurers, but are providing insights that are helping them make better decisions.
Doug Sinclair, a partner at Atlantic Information Systems, says completion of online training courses can lead to the adoption of better project management — and a dramatic decrease in the frequency and the size of budget and schedule overruns.
Peter Miller, CPCU, president and CEO of the American Institute for Chartered Property/Casualty Underwriters and the Insurance Institute of America, says adapting and evolving to new technologies remain key ways to succeed in the insurance industry.
Andrew Hofer, managing director of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., says the important thing in servicing captives in different domiciles throughout the world is to be able to provide extra services — the trust, custody and banking services.
George W. Sumner III, president and director of Hawaii Captive Insurance Council, says the council's efforts has helped put Hawaii on the map as a leading captive insurance domicile in the Pacific Rim.
John Weitzel, South Carolina's Captive Insurance Association president, talks about how the domicile has expanded — from reinsurance intermediaries and a licensed actuary to investment managers and CPA firms that specialize in the captive industry.
IMSA's Brian Atchinson, president and CEO, and John Dohmen, vice president and treasurer, talk about how its Web-based Clearinghouse system has helped make IMSA an industry leader in annuity suitability solutions.
Michelle Flint, General Manager for the Biller Services Division within CheckFree's Internet Banking and Electronic Payments Division, says insurers can optimize customer interactions through a process that ends ultimately with paperless billing.
Tap Johnson, president of TAPCO, says its service model for 1,000 classes of business reduces the quoting and binding process to a five-minute phone call.
Neal Lucchi, senior vice president of Worksite Products at HM Insurance group, talks about how its latest HM Worksite Advantage product line was built specifically to meet the needs of employee benefit brokers.
Mark Nichols, vice president of Markel's Accident and Health Programs, says self-funding, short-term medical, limited benefit and stop loss plans are more appealing to employers looking to controlling health care costs than ever before.
Chris Perna, president of the MedAmerica Companies, says its Simplicity LTCI product is designed for baby boomers who want to be in control, providing a monthly cash benefit directly to the policyholder.
Karthik Balakrishnan, vice president, analytics, ISO Innovative Analytics; Beth Fitzgerald, vice president, Commercial Lines and Modeling, ISO; and Glenn Meyers, vice president and chief actuary of ISO Innovative Analytics, talk about how reliably predicting future outcomes can lead to sound business decisions.
Peter Miller, president and chief executive officer of the American Institute for CPCU and the Insurance Institute of America, says its educational programs can help close the knowledge gap being left by retiring baby boomers.
Yogendra Goyal, EXL Service's vice president and head of insurance sales, says its integrated suite of services around outsourcing and transformation is fundamentally improving clients' operations.
Elizabeth Couchman, senior product manager of underwriting solutions at RMS, says the Underwriting Toolkit helps insurers assess the risk of specific locations for a range of natural hazards and bridges any disconnect between portfolio management and underwriting.
James Masiello, chairman of the Strategic Independent Agents Alliance, says the alliance continues to provide its affiliates with the ability to write more business and qualify for larger commissions on that business.
Anthony Valente, Assistant Vice President of GMAC RE, says dedicated relationships helps the company more effectively price business and be more responsive to its clients' needs.
Blaine Bontempo, Discover Re's Specialty Marketing Group president, says a balancing of ingredients is needed for success, and not only can Discover Re offer those ingredients — fronting, reinsurance and other crucial services — but it can bring them together for a smooth formation.
With compliance more important than ever for insurers, IMSA has emerged as an industry leader in annuity suitability solutions with its Web-based Clearinghouse system.
Paul Gange of Audatex says the next frontier for auto insurers is evolving to smarter software systems that not only drive efficiencies throughout the claims process, but also capture insights for better decision-making.
How the Institutes are helping insurers prepare to fill their ranks in the wake of the retiring baby boomer generation.
As a real-time collaborator and adviser, Insight Catastrophe Group provides advanced and cost-effective risk management tools.
How RMS is helping clients improve underwriting by predicting what perils a specific location faces.
TAPCO’s service model for 1,000 classes of business reduces the quoting and binding process to a five-minute phone call.
Doug Sinclair of Atlantic Information Systems explains how project management can be learned, and the payoff is huge.
Bottomline increases adoption of its Legal Spend Management solution at the nation’s largest insurance companies.
Going paperless is a key element of going green, and that’s at the core of ImageRight’s business as it provides document and content management solutions for insurance operations of all sizes.
By guiding each of its clients to success through systems, CGI fosters its own success.
The new iVOSc Carrier Edition from Aon eSolutions is designed to help property and casualty insurers transform data into actionable business intelligence.
ISO optimizes efficiency and profitability by being a leading source of information about risk.
How MSB is using smart systems to free up insurance clients to focus on weightier issues.
Since its launch in 2001, job posting site GreatInsurance-Jobs.com has evolved to provide the insurance industry the largest focused insurance industry job and resume content on the Web.
Millions of consumers interact online. CheckFree, now part of Fiserv, can help facilitate all the steps needed to boost business profitability, according to Michelle Flint, General Manager for the Biller Services Division within CheckFree’s Internet Banking and Electronic Payments Division.
Bob Carr, chief professional and business development officer for the Society for Human Resource Management, discusses the creative hiring and recruiting strategies employers need to develop.
Scott Beck, vice president of Long-Term Care at MetLife, highlights the opportunities employers have to boost their employee benefits programs with MultiLife long-term care insurance.
Mike Simonds, senior vice president of product development and marketing for Unum Insurance Group, addresses the need for good communications in managing a benefits program.
Doug Layman, executive vice president & chief sales and marketing officer of Gilsbar, Inc., says its 360 Benefit Plan program can help employers create a culture of health to better manage health care costs.
R. Steven Orr, president of Life Settlement Providers, discusses how the life settlement option is allowing some to use insurance as a key cog in their financial planning.
Darren Klauser of CSC explains how CSC takes the guesswork out of developing new products with its Product Accelerator
Stephen Korow explains how Decision Research's newest products interact with users through Excel, rather than proprietary interfaces.
Patrick Brandt explains how Skywire Software builds a multifaceted company with key initiatives in rating and underwriting, and in document automation, allowing insurers to layer on new capabilities.
Tom Gaillard of Bottomline Technologies discusses how insurers are getting the upper hand in their outside legal relationships. It's about more than controlling costs.
Craig Bedell and Simon Sole explain how Pitney Bowes MapInfo has teamed up with Exclusive Analysis to bring new data about terrorism into insurers' risk-assessment systems.
ISO's Steve Craig and Sean Quillivan outline the thinking behind their Coverage Verifier suite of services.
Peter Miller and Beth Sprinkel of the AICPCU discuss the new Comet Online Learning system.
Sheryl Cox Christenson explains how Identity Theft 911 takes on the thorny task of resolving identity thefts on behalf of policyholders.
EXL Service's Yogendra Goyal explains how the focus on outsourcing has moved beyond cost control and into ways to improve business processes and raise customer satisfaction.
Randy Wheeler of Valley Oak Systems and Kathy Burns of Aon discuss the recent acquisition of Valley Oak and how that will enhance Aon's portfolio of offerings.
Chris Zaske and Darryl Demos of Verint System discuss how the Impact 360 gives insurers better data and control over their back office operations.
ImageRight's Mike Fess outlines the benefits of digitizing information when it comes through the door.
Trumbull Service's Brad Burdick outlines the advantages of outsourcing insurers' noncore processes.
Clear Technologies' Brian Cohen believes that improving the claims experience means starting at the ground up, where claims are accepted and adjusted.