Afleveringen
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On the "Insurance Coffee House" host, Nick Hoadley welcomes Andy Moss, the CEO and co-founder of Send.
Andy provides an insight into his 25-year career, starting in technical his accidental fall into the insurance industry in 2003 after a previous role at BBC Radio Music New Media.
He gained broad insurance experience through roles with Xchanging (later acquired by CSC and merged into DXC), the Corporation of Lloyd's, and as a managing agent in the London Market.
Andy shares the journey to launching Send alongside his two co-founders, to scratch the proverbial “entrepreneurial itch” in 2018.
All with backgrounds as software developers, the initial focus of the platform was on data and integration. Send launched with its first customer in 2019.
With clients across the London Market and in the US, the platform provides a variety of benefits. Andy highlights how Send helps bring insurance technology into the modern era, helping clients make better underwriting decisions by understanding the portfolio impact of individual submissions, improve operational efficiencies by automating digital paperwork and unstructured data management, and ensure compliance with rules and regulations.
He discusses their business growth, particularly in the US market, noting the larger scale and different go-to-market approach compared to the concentrated London Market. Despite the differences, Andy emphasizes the common challenges in underwriting across both regions.
Looking ahead at the next five years, Andy shares a "techie's angle" on evolution within the insurance market. He sees a continued drive to apply automation to increasingly complex product lines, building on the success of digital underwriting for simpler products.
Andy discusses the rise of AI and the increasing use of data in underwriting, stressing the importance of 'operationalizing' and integrating new data sources and AI tools within the underwriting workflow to avoid creating more disconnected systems.
With around 20% of Send’s 100-strong team having a background in insurance, Andy stresses that while insurance knowledge is valuable, they also value the diversity of backgrounds and different perspectives that employees bring.
Andy uses the phrase "knowing the art of the possible" to describe the key combination of insurance expertise and technological understanding needed in the insurtech space.
He advises insurance executives considering a move to insurtech to recognize the value they already add, particularly those focused on data, process, and automation opportunities. He suggests reflecting on their current skills and job functions and mapping that onto the requirements of insurtech roles, as well as networking at industry events.
As closing advice, Andy urges people to "just get involved" in technology initiatives within the insurance industry to improve outcomes.
Connect with Andy Moss on LinkedIn or find out more about Send.
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and...
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On this special episode of the podcast, we welcome InsurTech NY Co-Founder, Tony Lew.
Tony gives an insight into his career background, from holding various roles across big corporations to having a burning desire to launch his own business.
He shares what drew him to the insurance sector and why he believed it was a great industry to build his business around.
Tony highlights the technology challenges that continue to exist in the industry and why insurance isn’t first choice of the very best tech talent.
Co-founding InsurTech NY in 2019, Tony how the business is supporting the global insurtech community through startup and corporate innovation programs, education & networking activities and investing in startups through their InsurTech Fund.
Tony talks about the upcoming Spring Conference: Insurtech is the New R&D, taking place at Chelsea Piers, New York on 2-3 April.
Partnering with Insurtech Insights and Insurtech Connect, he highlights the benefits on offer to attendees, including the two education tracks for P&C and Life & Health.
To take advantage of the conference, Tony urges visitors to plan their time around the diverse agenda, covering all the functional areas of the insurance lifecycle – from established corporates to the early-stage start-up competition, and the work the InsurTech NY are doing with universities across the USA.
When it comes to attracting talent for both insurance and non-insurance roles, Tony believes companies need to explain why insurtech is a great industry to join.
Connect with Tony Lew on LinkedIn or find out more about visiting InsurTech NY
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2025 – All Rights Reserved.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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On this episode of the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, we welcome Miranda Hunter, Head of Investor Relations at Fidelis Insurance Group.
Miranda talks to Nick Hoadley about:
her background and career journey, from being born and raised in Bermudareturning to Canada for university and joining KPMG moving back to Bermuda after her CPA exams, to join PWC Bermudathe pivotal career advice she was given of ‘being just as mindful of the company and the management team you're joining as of the role and the package you're accepting’taking a step back to get into the right role to match her longer-term career goalstransitioning through varied insurance roles, before joining Fidelis in December 2023the two distinct entities of Fidelis Insurance Group and the Fidelis PartnershipFidelis’s flat structure and the chance employees have to work on diverse projects and explore various aspects of the organizationbeing surrounded by colleagues whose company you genuinely enjoy, who support you, and are invested in your career growth the importance of mentorship and supporting those at the start of their careershow she gives back to the local Bermuda community the advice she’d give to anyone looking to develop their career on island, and to those considering a move to BermudaConnect with Miranda Hunter on LinkedIn or find out more about Fidelis Insurance Group
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2025 – All Rights Reserved.
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On this podcast episode, we’re joined by Cullen Piske, President and, Michael Pitre, COO at Gray Surety.
Cullen shares how ‘love’ led him to joining the Gray Insurance Company and moving around their portfolio companies before 'finding' surety.
Michael discusses his logistics and communications role in the US Marines, doing a Masters Business Degree at night, before joining Gray Surety in 2013.
They discuss how Cullen’s knowledge of surety and Michael’s systems expertise have helped them streamline the business and eliminate non-value-adding steps.
Cullen and Michael highlight their dual roles of managing an insurance company and a surety business, as well as profitability, underwriting performance, business operations and looking after their people.
With just north of $70 million in gross written premiums and year-on-year double digit growth, they talk about their trajectory towards a $150 million per year surety, territorial expansion and adding the right people to the team.
They emphasize how creating a killer culture is everything.
“We're a tech forward company that can outmaneuver the competition since we have access and control of our data. We measure success by performance metrics rather than how long you sit at your desk a day”, says Cullen.
Cullen and Michael highlight how finding the right people is the hardest part of their job, emphasizing their strong desire to find, attract and retain entrepreneurial leaders who like working together.
“We want people to understand what they're walking into. The biggest thing on our end is retention. Hiring is one thing, but retaining is another, and we have a tremendous retention rate. We hire people to retire them.”
Michael shares the characteristics that make Gray Surety such a great place to work, stressing the small company culture and the servant leadership philosophy.
They discuss interview advice and the lessons their careers have taught them, they think everyone should learn.
“Pursue endeavors that have a high penalty for failure and are outside your comfort zone, so that you can always have an exciting life”, says Michael.
“Take risks. You'll have more fun”, says Cullen.
Find out more about Gray Surety or connect with Cullen Piske and Michael Pitre on LinkedIn
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or
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On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, we welcome Allison Keavey Luther, Deputy Chief of Human Resources at Boston-based Plymouth Rock Assurance
Allison talks about her career journey from TV producer at CNBC to catching the start-up bug, working as General Manager for early-stage businesses.
From there she rode a massive wave of growth at Wayfair, where she was ‘pulled’ in to HR.
She joined Plymouth Rock in 2023 to work alongside CHRO, Mary Strong, and support the next phase of business growth.
Allison gives an insight in to Plymouth Rock’s 40-year history, with the business now managing over $2 billion in auto and home insurance premiums, across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
She highlights the top-down culture, embodied by founder Jim Stone and the desire to create an environment where employees are happier than they would be anywhere else
Allison discusses some of the initiatives in place to drive culture forward, including being intentional about how they work together in the physical environment.
On-site gym facilities, drop-in meditation sessions, online recognition program all contribute to creating a culture of friendliness, good citizenship, integrity, loyalty, hard work, and the pursuit of excellence.
She shares her one recommendation for insurance leaders coming to interview there at Plymouth Rock.
“Let us see who you are. When we are making a hire, particularly at the senior level, culture matters just as much as technical qualifications.
Our culture statement is such a critical part of our success that we need to have folks who can advance our culture in the right ways.”
Allison urges her HR peers to set the bar high and not to make short-term trade-offs when looking to fill roles.
She shares some of the tools and technology Plymouth Rock are using to support talent and help people do their jobs better.
As for the one lesson her job has taught her, she wants everyone to learn, Allison emphasizes the power of active listening.
“Whether it's a talent or a business challenge, taking the time to really get the full picture. Hear whatever sides of the story are there to make the best decision for the business and the people in it.”
And for anyone considering an insurance career move, Allison concludes by advising people to consider how they feel at work every day.
“Sometimes we don't check in regularly enough with are we feeling valued? Are we feeling respected? Do, do we feel like there is growth for us ahead? At Plymouth Rock, those are the standards for our people and for our leaders.”
Connect with Allison Keavey Luther on LinkedIn or find out more about Plymouth Rock Assurance
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on
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On the podcast this week, we welcome Nick Campbell, Global Head of Credit & CEO Bermuda at SiriusPoint.
Nick talks to Nick Hoadley about:
being Bermudian but starting his career in the UKreturning to Bermuda to be told he was the ‘wrong’ kind of actuary and wouldn’t get a job on island his journey to becoming Global Head of Credit and Bermuda CEO of SiriusPoint the mix of local and global roles available to high-performing insurance talent how the company’s culture informs every interaction and conversation engaging in the local community in both formal and informal ways taking risk and considering lateral moves for longer-term career progressionmaking sure you’ll enjoy a Bermuda lifestyle, if you’re exploring career opportunities on islandand whether he’d do anything differently if he had his time againFind out more about SiriusPoint
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
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On the podcast this week, we welcome Andrew Couper, Chief Actuary at Conduit Re.
Andrew talks to Nick Hoadley about:
qualifying as an actuary in 1995 and working in the London Marketjoining Conduit Re in November 2021 and his experience of working in Bermuda and LondonConduit Re’s growth from launching in 2020 to writing $2.6bn of premium by Q2 2024the characteristics and culture that make it a great place to workimpacting the local community and offering green loansopportunities for high performing local insurance professionals who want to progress their careersdoing your research and speaking to those who have their ear to the ground, for anyone considering a move to Bermuda from overseasif he was moving to Bermuda now, what he’d do differentlyConnect with Andrew Couper on LinkedIn or find out more about Conduit Re
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
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On the podcast this week, we welcome Laura Pepper, Head of Claims at RenaissanceRe
Laura talks to Nick Hoadley about:
her career journey from law graduate in to insurance and joining RenaissanceRe 10 years agomoving to Bermuda in 2019 for a one-year secondment and what’s kept her on island business growth and acquiring Validus Re in 2023the characteristics that make RenaissanceRe a great place to work engaging in wider aspects of island life and her involvement with the DEI committeesupporting the development of local Bermudian talent career opportunities for high performers and her advice for taking your insurance career to the next leveland how to make a successful move to BermudaConnect with Laura Pepper on LinkedIn or find out more about opportunities at RenaissanceRe
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
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On the podcast this week, we welcome Andrew Thornton, Head of Advisory at Grant Thornton Bermuda.
Andrew shares:
an overview of his career journey from trainee accountant with Ernst & Young to joining Grant Thornton 20 years agomoving to Bermuda 2 years ago to run the advisory side of the businessthe outcomes of acquiring and merging with local firm, Arthur Morrishaving the ambition to grow from 20 people and seeking insurance experts to join the teamwhat makes Grant Thornton Bermuda a great place to worktalent development and career progression opportunities within Grant Thornton how he engages within wider aspects of island lifethe tips he’d give to someone moving to Bermudaand what he’d do differently if he had his time againConnect with Andrew Howie on LinkedIn or find out more at Grant Thornton Bermuda
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
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On the podcast this week, we continue our Bermuda series by interviewing Jesse DeCouto and Tonia Morgan at Canopius Re.
Chief Underwriting Officer, Jesse and Chief Financial Officer, Tonia talk about:
their respective career journeys to joining Canopius Rewhere the business is now and plans for the future the culture and characteristics that make it a great place to work their passion for mentoring and helping young people turn in to young professionals the international opportunities Canopius Re provides for high-performing talent how local insurance executives can develop a successful career on islandthe advice they’d give to someone considering a move to Bermudawhat they’d do differently if starting their careers over againConnect with Jesse DeCouto and Tonia Morgan on LinkedIn or find out more about career opportunities at Canopius Group.
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
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On the podcast this week, we’re delighted to launch our new Bermuda Series by interviewing Katie Partington-Howarth, Chief Capital Officer at Ariel Re
Katie talks to Nick Hoadley about:
Her career background and joining Ariel Re in 2005The culture and characteristics that make it a great place to work How she engages in wider aspects of Bermuda lifeThe opportunities Ariel Re provide for high-performers Her advice on how to build a successful career in Bermuda What she’d do differently if starting her time on island againConnect with Katie on LinkedIn or find out more about Ariel Re
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
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This week, we are joined by Tara Foley who shares with us her journey to becoming the CEO of AXA, UK & Ireland and her passion for making a difference.
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
An international Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses in the UK, Bermuda and across the United States.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, London and Bermuda.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
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On this episode we interview Jose Luis (Pepe) Velasquez and find out how he has used his experience working at blue chip companies like Heineken to drive a high-performance culture at Mapfre USA.
Connect with Pepe on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-luis-velasquez-906560/on LinkedIn or find out more about Mapfre USA https://www.linkedin.com/company/mapfre/
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to you by Insurance Search.
We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent.
Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the Insurance Coffee House Podcast or sign up to our News and Insights.
Copyright Insurance Search 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram
Insurance Executive Search Consultants in USA, UK and Bermuda.
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Zimbabwe born and South Africa educated, Warrick Beaver started his working life as an HR professional in the fashion retail industry.
“If you're talking about journeys to insurance, fashion and retail is probably as far away as you can imagine. I was taught that you were a retailer first and an HR professional second”, says Warrick.
“The lesson learned was, 'Understand where the value creation happens and be as close to it as possible. Understand your business.' That commercial curiosity has always stayed with me. It has stood me in good stead, kept me engaged and helped me find impact, meaning, and alignment throughout my career.”
On this episode of the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, Warrick delves in to his career journey and what he’s learned along his professional journey.
Through retail and recruitment industry, FMCG manufacturing and information services, Warrick shares his experiences of M&A, business divestures and balancing his commercial and HR hats.
He discusses his role of Chief People Officer and Fidelis Insurance Group’s novel operating model.
“The hypothesis was that businesses should lend themselves to their core competencies. If that core competency is underwriting, then it should focus on underwriting and ensuring a relentless pursuit of execution and excellence.
Conversely, the core competence in terms of capital management, balance sheet management, capital allocation, reserving, would also be best served if there was the same level of excellent focus and time and attention.
Decisions can then be made with the clearest of intention, and there's no potential contradiction or conflict in terms of what you do from a capital management or from an underwriting point of view, because the two businesses are managed separately. So that's the hypothesis. We are in a long-term relationship with The Fidelis Partnership. They are focusing on what they do best, and we are focusing on what we do best.”
With its growing presence in London, Dublin and Bermuda, Warrick discusses the culture at the business and whether bifurcation is a true USP to attracting top insurance talent.
“Culture is dynamic. It's ever changing. You can never put a pin in it and say, “We're done, victory is declared!” It is a constant evolution.
We also see that in terms of our demographic, our employee base and what they’re looking for from an employer and the working experience.
We've been able to assemble, very capable, experienced professionals from within the insurance market who have worked for much larger, more established organization
This model represents something novel, unique and an opportunity for them to become part of something interesting. Of course there is a lot of uncertainty with a scale operation, but we have a deep heritage. We have some fantastic experience. We're a building brand, and it's enough to attract people who are well regarded.”
Warrick emphasises what he looks for in insurance leaders coming for interview.
“It's just as much a conversation on how that technical capability, experiences and skills are translated into value added. Don't spend your time talking about your accomplishments. We're going to take those as read.”
As closing advice, Warrick says, “Understand your business. Be as close to the value-add inflection point as possible because you will feel relevant, get immediate feedback, and will be constantly evolving with the needs of the organization.”
Connect with Warrick Beaver on LinkedIn or find out more about Fidelis Insurance Group
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is brought to...
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“Many people you'll work with and meet in business will be happy to accept information and explanations in the way it's being presented to them.
Some people you work with will have a real appetite to go one level deeper because they'll want to know the drivers of the things they are seeing.
They'll want to have a proper understanding about how that part of the business or that part of the market or that customer behaviour really works”, says Steve.
“My push would be to go one level deeper than that. When you work with people that want to understand not just the drivers but the drivers of the drivers or the footnotes of the footnotes, often that is where you find the opportunities that others have missed.
One thing I am really passionate about is some of the best opportunities exist there. It's really worth going one level deeper to not just really understand your market, but to discover things that other people haven't and in a really competitive business, those are the things that can separate you.”
On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Steve talks about how his early career working as an analyst on the equities trading floor in a Dutch investment bank, taught him about the importance of discipline and attention to detail.
“But when businesses came to see us to talk about how their business was performing, I had a real feeling of envy. I really wanted to be on the other side of the table. I wanted to be in businesses and solving the kind of problems they were solving.”
A move in to start-ups followed, providing the opportunity to work in high-performance, fast-moving environments.
“Anyone who's had a career in the early-stage part of a business, will know that you get some real successes and you get some failures along the way as well. We had both.
But I learned a huge amount, worked with some fantastic entrepreneurs and learned about thinking big.
The other thing I got to see firsthand, that value can be created out of thin air. Working in a successful start-up or scale up will really teach you to see that with your own eyes and to know it can be done is quite a powerful thing to experience. It gives you a lot of confidence for the future.”
Moving in to product leadership and general management roles at bigger, more mature businesses took Steve on a journey to joining insurance price comparison business Confused.com as COO in 2019, before becoming CEO in 2023.
Steve reflects on his leadership journey, saying:
“I used to look at my career path almost like a game of Trivial Pursuit, where you were trying to collect all the skills that you needed to be the ‘rounded leader’.
You’d go around the board, collect those wedges and when you had them all, you could move to the centre, and that's the game complete.
But unlike trivial pursuit, when you move to the middle, you don't win the game, you just discover there's a whole new game below, and you start again.
I realised that it’s going to be an infinite journey. Instead of just accepting it, it’s really learning to love the experience of learning new things.”
In this podcast episode, Steve talks to host Nick Hoadley about:
if you acquire a lot of skills and experience, your next career move will be obvioushow price comparison businesses are the main distribution channel for UK general insurancewhy he looks for super smart people and insurance leaders who want to go one level deeper and challenge the givenswhy he wants Confused.com to be the place where people do the best work of their careersand the one lesson his career has taught him, he thinks everyone should learn“Whatever your career goals are, be open to the fact that the moment you hit them, there'll be a whole new mountain to climb. Learn to love that. Get yourself into the frame of mind of enjoying the...
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“DE&I is one of the biggest challenges for the industry. For a lot of our clients in the US, it's one of their biggest priorities”, says Nick
"Before we engage with a client, we really want to make sure they're set up for diverse candidates. It's so important for us as an insurance executive search firm, that if we move someone who's very successful into a new environment, that they're going to be set up for success there.
And that internally, there are no barriers and people will have the same opportunity across the board.
For us as a search firm, it's key for our processes to be as transparent and inclusive as possible.
When we’re working on a mandate, rather than just going to a little book of contacts, that we actually do a thorough market mapping to identify every single person who could potentially do that role.
What that gives us is a more diverse talent pool. The shortlist of candidates we provide is more diverse. When you've got more people in that process, you can scrutinize those candidates more and end up with a better-quality hire.”
On the podcast this week, Nick shares his journey from corporate law to insurance broker to founding global insurance executive search consultancy, Insurance Search.
“I was working for an insurance company. We were looking to hire great quality people, but were really struggling to get the candidates.
I was working with some of the agencies, seeing some of the CV s that were coming in. It could be quite depressing and just thought, there's an opportunity here. I backed myself that I could do better.
I've always been a real people person, helping people in whatever way I can. It just seemed like a really natural fit, putting businesses together with great insurance talent.”
Nick highlights the challenges to launching an executive search consultancy and how he’s coped with adversity along the away.
“We're still very fresh from it, the pandemic. We were doing very nicely as a firm, working with lots of good insurance companies who were expanding.
But then the pandemic came along and the world changed.
We went from all of our clients actively hiring multiple positions to pretty much zero overnight.
That was a real trauma. But it gave me the opportunity to really reflect and decide where I wanted to take the business.
We’d been doing quite a lot of senior, international work at the time, but we are also still doing some quite junior insurance roles, which was an area we weren’t enjoying as much.
And so, we pivoted and really focused at the senior end of things.”
Nick discusses the motivation behind launching the Insurance Coffee House Podcast as a way to highlight the breadth of opportunity across the insurance sector, and to learn from the experiences of C-level insurance leaders.
He emphasizes the executive search, human capital consultancy and market intelligence services Insurance Search provides, both to global insurance brands as well as smaller, mid-market businesses.
“Our core service is insurance executive search and finding senior leaders for insurance companies.
As part of that work, we have a human capital consultancy where we very much look to align ourselves with our clients. Where they are as a business now and work with them to achieve those strategic objectives and where they want to be in 18 months, two years, five years.
And we offer insurance market intelligence studies.
We've got a great team of researchers, who are looking externally for our clients at what their competitors are doing, how those competitors are being successful, looking at some of the aspirational businesses that they want to be like in 24 to 36 months.”
With Insurance Search seeking to make executive search more accessible, Nick highlights the types of roles the team works on.
“As well as C-level positions, we also work on...
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“The strength of our culture was something we used in the presentations to analysts and investors”, says Daniel.
“We did some work around our employee value proposition and we asked our colleagues, ‘Why do you work at Hamilton?’
The common theme was collaboration and that's how we came up with the phrase ‘In good company’.
As part of the IPO, we used it as our overall company tagline to say, ‘You're in good company with Hamilton, whether you're a client, broker, stakeholder or investor.’”
On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, Daniel shares his career journey from the NatWest graduate programme, his varied roles at Munich Re to joining Hamilton Insurance Group six years ago.
He talks about the transition from a larger, more corporate environment to starting his current role at Hamilton, with 120 people and $500m in premium in 2018.
“Joining Hamilton, I was excited for the opportunity to be at a company, almost at its start and helping it build. It's very different to being at a large organisation. What excites people about joining Hamilton is that you feel you can move the needle.”
The business has subsequently grown to 550+ employees, with $2bn in premium and listed on the NYSE in November 2023.
Daniel gives an overview of the core functions of the business today and his role of overseeing the HR function, internal and external communications, as well as developing the strength of culture Hamilton has become known for.
“We firmly believe that having a strong culture is critical and a component of our overall underwriting success.
Engaged employees are an essential part of Hamilton's success. They drive productivity and innovation, that will lead to the ultimate success of the company.”
Daniel explains how Hamilton’s values of ‘Be smart, Be sensible, Be open, Be more’ underpin activity around recruitment, performance management and talent management, as well as the key role communication plays.
Regular town halls at both group and local level, together with ‘Hamilton on a page’ lays out strategy and helps employees understand current performance and achieve our business imperatives of sustainable underwriting profit, strategic growth, technology enablement and being a magnet for talent.
Daniel highlights the importance of collaboration and how the outcomes of staff surveys help address any team concerns.
He shares his advice for leaders coming to interview at Hamilton and advises his insurance industry HR peers not to rush the hiring process if they’re unsure of a candidate, but to move with haste if they are.
Daniel explains Hamilton’s DEI statement, ‘Open minds open doors’ and how welcoming and respecting differences, helps attract and retain the best talent.
“We embrace all forms of diversity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, but gender has been something we’re particularly proud of what we've been able to achieve.
Of our total employee base, 45% are female. 36% of our Underwriting leads and Claims leads are female. There's always room for growth, but we're extremely proud of that progress we've been able to make in that area.”
Daniel stresses the key leadership roles and influence of Pina Albo, Anita Kuchma, Megan Thomas and Gemma Carreiro at executive level.
“Pina is the first female CEO of a Bermuda-based company to ring the New York Stock Exchange bell and Hamilton was the first woman-led insurance company to go public in 20 years.”
Daniel emphasizes what he looks for an in an insurance executive search partner, including trust and third-party perspectives and insights.
He concludes by adding the one lesson his career has taught him, he thinks everyone should know.
“There are always other forms of information that come through to you as a professional, but having good, solid data to help you make decisions is such an important...
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“In our experience, a reinsurance deal was being profiled in a physical binder full of paper. I thought, ‘How good would it be if we could take risk or bundles of risk and make a profile for it’", says Ben.
"Think of all the information that you could attach to that profile. That was a very early concept. For a long time we debated, how this would work in the reinsurance world where we've got all these different parties with vested interests, and deals they like doing in a very particular way, with a very particular workflow.
We just iterated and iterated on how you could create a system whereby these buyers, brokers, reinsurers could exchange profiles of the deals that they wanted to do.”
On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, two of Supercede’s co-founders, Ben Rose and Jerad Leigh, talk about their early career journeys and realisation of the breadth of opportunity within the insurance industry.
They discuss the inspiration for launching Supercede, the mountain of iteration and calibrating constantly around the different elements, features and parts of the work flows within reinsurance deals.
“We have a very mission driven culture. There such an obvious problem we're trying to solve. We're not inventing something for the sake of inventing it. We're not pursuing something, because it sounded nice.
We've got a thing that everybody in reinsurance universally hates and wishes was better.”
5x growth over the past 12 months, has put Supercede on track to triple again this year, with new clients, investors and top talent joining the team.
Ben and Jerad explain the benefits and efficiencies Supercede offers to all stakeholders within reinsurance deals and their desire to create modern tools to free people up to do what they’re good at.
“People want technology. It’s really important to have modern tools to free up the talent at a broker or underwriter so they can do the jobs they're actually meant to be doing and not the sort of janitorial work instead”, says Ben
Attracting the right talent is critical for business growth and Jerad explains what they look for when hiring.
“Testing for culture is obviously really important. People who are familiar and comfortable working at a company of this size.
But I think it's really important to test for people who are principled thinkers. You have to have people who are willing and able to look at the variety of challenges that are being brought to the business and the factors that are involved and make decisions based on principles of what is best and most important and most thoughtful at that time.
Certainly, a don't hire assholes rule should apply, because when you're sub 50-100 people, bad individuals or people who don't really fit can bleed across the organisation.
You have to be very thoughtful in those first 25-50 hires, making sure you're retaining a quality of character.
You have to be intentional, to phrase and present questions that are trying to root out what you're looking to solve for.
Over the last half dozen years or so, there's a real belief that people can thrive in an environment that's a start-up.
Some people can, and some people can’t. You have to identify what you're trying to test for and present questions and case studies through your hiring process that will allow you to distil down to the individuals that actually can thrive.”
Highlighting which other insurtech businesses inspire them, Jerad cites hyperexponential as a prime example.
“I think their team does a great job. I really rate how they hire and how they set roles for the things that they're trying to solve for.
Like us, they're taking a core problem that sits within the underwriting units of businesses and giving tools to help those underwriters do that work more effectively.
There's this concept or fallacy of, ‘If you build it, they will come’. A lot of software companies...
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“When you hire for specific experience, then you're always going to have to hire for somebody within the industry”, says Nicola.
“When you break it down to what are the specific jobs to be done, what are the skills that are required to do those jobs, often those skills are industry agnostic.
There are clearly some examples where that's not the case, but there are many examples where it is the case, and if we can start to do that, then that opens a whole world of new opportunities to new and different talent. But it takes intentional effort.”
On this episode of the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, Nicola talks about her not planning her career journey and saying ‘yes’ to exciting opportunities.
Having significant industry experience in pharmaceuticals and private banking, including 17 years at ING, Nicola joined Hiscox in September 2022.
Headquartered in Bermuda and with 3,500 employees in 14 countries, Nicola explains that she was hired to transform the HR function, to make it scalable, to elevate it, to become a more strategic partner to the business.
“We're guardians of the employment proposition, of the culture and therefore the experience that each of those 3,500 colleagues has while working here. It's a real privilege.
One of the first things I did when I joined was to change the title from HR to People. People are humans, they shouldn't simply be considered as resources. Language really matters.”
Nicola describes the company’s growth ambitions in the US under the stewardship of recently appointed CEO, Mary Boyd.
She also highlights how her own career experiences have shaped her passion for people and inclusivity, as well as how leadership set the tone.
“Ensuring we've got the best talent in position, means being an inclusive company. One which values diversity and ensures people feel psychologically safe to fully contribute.
We know this type of environment is when people do their best work and there's real evidence linking it to business performance.
But my experience of living and working abroad has taught me that it's really nice to believe these things, but it takes intentional effort to make them a reality for people.”
Nicola shares how getting diverse talent is one thing, but setting them up for success is another.
She emphasizes the key role data plays in DEI strategies and how it can help identify specific issues in delivering it, as well as why she’s a huge believer in transition planning and rapid support around diverse talent.
Nicola explains how Hiscox is investing in 6 employee network groups, why she believes they need to be inclusive and engage with allies, and how the business is building up its own diverse junior talent pipelines through apprenticeships and early careers initiatives.
Highlighting the need to build diversity into all of Hiscox’s processes and tooling, Nicola says, “We need to make it easy for people. The shortlists and the panels, our talent acquisition colleagues just need to make sure those processes are in place and hiring managers don't even need to think about it.”
Nicola gives her advice to insurance leaders coming to interview at Hiscox and encourages her insurance industry peers to cast the net wide when looking for the best insurance talent.
“Start before you need to so that you're not in that crisis, urgent rush situation and also be very specific about the jobs to be done in the role and matching the skills needed to those jobs.”
She concludes by sharing the importance of trust when working with an insurance executive search partner and the one lesson her career has taught her, she wants everyone to learn.
“You cannot think your way in to new behaviours. You have to take action. There's a book called ‘Act fast and fix it’, but that is such great advice. I would take progress over perfection every day.”
Connect with Nicola...
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“We talk a lot at Howden around not just coming to work, but coming to build a business. It really allows people to kind of have that sense of ownership, that sense of purpose and really allows people to feel like they're part of what they're building”, says Charlotte.
“They understand it and can take a lot of pride. It’s a really different mindset, that feeling of ownership, working as part of our team, collaborating for the good of our clients.
Incentives can drive those behaviours, so a big piece for us was making sure that our combined incentive scheme drives really good collaborative behaviours and decision-making.”
On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast, Charlotte shares her insurance career journey from RSA intern, her stint at Guy Carpenter before joining Hyperion Insurance Group, now Howden.
She discusses the impact of moving from a larger, more corporate environment to a smaller, growing business.
“Howden at the time was a much, much smaller business and a much less established HR function, which is where the real excitement was and a huge opportunity.
You didn't have all of the things you were used to working with in very established centres of expertise. It was a really good shift to start looking at what does the business need, what does the business want?
From an HR perspective, you're building things and doing things that are really fit for purpose.”
Charlotte highlights Howden Re’s accelerated growth story and her expanding remit. The business has grown from 400 employees in 10 countries when she joined in January 2023 to 900 in 35 countries today.
She emphasizes how the reinsurance business is being purposefully different for its clients and people as well as leveraging the power of the Howden Group.
Charlotte talks through the TigerRisk merger, making the integration of the two businesses as seamless as possible and helping people in the business do what they’re good at.
She shares how having start-up energy, yet being a global, established business is helping attract and retain the best insurance talent.
“Our rates of organic growth are outpacing the market. We're having massive amounts of talent joining us. But our retention of talent is really high, and we see people progressing quickly through the business as well.
This isn't a business that you have to wait for someone to leave a role or you have to wait for there to be space. It's a business that is growing and that creates space for people to grow with it.”
Charlotte gives her advice to insurance executives coming to interview, encouraging them to talk about what they want to do, not dwelling on what they’ve done in the past.
She encourages her insurance industry HR peers to, “Make it obvious you want people to join you and be available to them.”
Highlighting the importance of working with an insurance executive search partner who challenges the recruitment function in its thinking, not just when things don’t go to plan, Charlotte says, “I'm a big believer in when things go really well, looking at what made them go really well, how do you embed that and scale it.”
Charlotte points out how the HR team is using tech to balance making the recruitment process as seamless but also as human as possible.
In conclusion Charlotte challenges us to think about where we want [our career] to sit in a changing insurance industry and encourages us to never stop learning.
Connect with Charlotte Hubble on LinkedIn or find out more about Howden Re
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by
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