Innovation & AI: Reimagining Insurance Risk with Ashish Srivastava

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Nov 26, 2025

Ashish Srivastava, Head of North America Insurance & Risk Management for Blackstone Real Estate, discusses transforming insurance with InsurTech and AI. He highlights the crucial gap between customer needs and market offerings. Ashish emphasizes that innovative tech should top brand loyalty when selecting partners. He shares practical AI use cases, like sensors for loss prevention, and introduces an AI team model to reshape how carriers operate. His insights on leadership commitment and fostering curiosity provide a roadmap for risk managers navigating the evolving landscape.

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INSIGHT

Scale Creates Strategic Insurance Advantage

Pooling Blackstone's many portfolio companies creates diversification and market leverage when buying insurance at scale.
Scale yields better pricing, terms, and a strategic edge that materially affects real estate investment outcomes.

INSIGHT

InsurTechs Can Bridge The Customer Gap

The insurance market still delivers a buyer experience similar to five years ago despite back‑room innovation.
InsurTechs are best positioned to bridge the gap between buyer needs and market delivery.

INSIGHT

Flip Insurance From Cost To Value

Ashish wants to flip insurance from reactive cost to proactive value by preventing claims before they occur.
AI should enable prevention and turn risk into a strategic value‑add for the business.

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We're coming to you LIVE from ITC 2025! In this new, limited series of Risk Management: Brick by Brick, host Jason Reichl sits down with Ashish Srivastava, Head of North America, Insurance & Risk Management for Blackstone Real Estate, to explore the massive gap between what insurance customers need and what the market actually delivers. With experience spanning McKinsey & Company, Zurich Insurance, and now managing one of the largest real estate insurance portfolios in the world, Ashish reveals why InsurTechs are positioned to bridge this gap and how AI will transform risk from a cost center into a strategic value-add.

Discover how portfolio scale creates competitive advantages, why innovation should trump brand names when selecting partners, and what it takes for insurance carriers and brokers to keep pace with evolving customer expectations. Whether you are a risk manager at a global enterprise or a carrier trying to modernize, this conversation reveals why intellectual curiosity and innovation are the only ways to survive the shifting landscape.

To find out how TrustLayer manages risk so that people can build the physical world around us, head to TrustLayer.io.

Podcast Host: Jason Reichl

Executive Producer: Don Halliwell

Episode Highlights:

00:00 - Intro: Welcome to Risk Management Brick by Brick
00:25 - From McKinsey to Blackstone: Ashish's Journey into Insurance
01:25 - Scale as Strategy: Managing Risk Across Portfolio Companies
02:45 - The Customer Report Card: What Buyers Need vs. What They Get
03:55 - AI's Role in Transforming Risk Management
05:05 - From Reactive to Proactive: Preventing Claims Before They Happen
06:37 - Practical AI Applications: Sensors, Cameras, and Pattern Recognition
07:07 - How AI Will Reshape Insurance Carriers and Brokers
08:35 - The "Three in a Box" Model: Building Effective AI Teams
10:23 - Why Risk Managers Must Be Part of AI Conversations
12:06 - Leadership and the Innovation Gap in Insurance
14:17 - Innovation vs. Brand Names: Selecting the Right Partners
16:06 - Advice for Risk Managers: Curiosity and Influence
17:17 - Getting Started in Insurance: Resources for Young Professionals
19:27 - Why Insurance Affects Everything in the World

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Previous guests include: Seth Hausman of Kraus-Anderson Insurance, Matthew Meyer of The Horton Group, Diana Rich of Foundation Building Materials, Christy McHenry of Suffolk Construction, Mark Rieder of NFP, and Cory Mangum of Primoris Services Corporation.

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