Profiles in Risk

Tony chats with Angie Richards, VP at Poms & Associates about her career in employee benefits and her very unique approach to that side of the insurance field.Angie Richards: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-richards-402b34a/Poms & Associates: https://www.pomsassoc.com/Video Version: https://youtu.be/ftOvt__F-kw

Tony chats with Marissa Rutkowski, Founder and Co-Chair of IndispensAbility at Applied Systems. They are a community of interest for mental and physical abilities of all kinds - seen and unseen; and fellow Board Member at Insure Equality. Marissa is one of the insurance industry's leading advocates for mental health and is doing crucially important work. We discuss her own history and the difficult circumstances that led her to create the group and to become a leader in this fight.Marissa Rutkowski: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissarutkowski/Insure Equality Summit: https://insureequality.org/summit-2024-home/Marissa's episode on Bound & Determined: https://www.adjunctadvisors.com/podcast/604Ryan Deeds and Brendan Corr on Mental Health on PIR: https://youtu.be/yGYLdtPRwxk?si=xzxdVX5EghdBiHPYVideo Version: https://youtu.be/htez9GG2haQ

In this episode of Profiles in Risk (E557), Nick Lamparelli engages with Tim Robinson and Corey Schmidt from AgencyBloc to delve into the transformative journey of their technology platform. As a CEO with extensive experience in software solutions across various industries, Tim Robinson shares his transition from web development to creating a comprehensive system designed to streamline insurance business management. AgencyBloc stands out by offering specialized, efficient tools that allow smaller health and benefits agencies to operate with the efficiency of their larger counterparts.Throughout the discussion, the trio touches upon the delicate act of balancing diverse skill sets within a business and the significance of a SaaS company's deep understanding of its clients to provide truly valuable insights and solutions. Emphasizing the importance of customer feedback and integration with top-tier solutions, they highlight how staying at the forefront of technology is crucial for success.The episode showcases AgencyBloc's robust AMS solution features, emphasizing its effectiveness in managing leads and sales activities. The technology's capacity for automated nurturing campaigns is also discussed, showcasing how it enables agents to forge stronger customer relationships through strategic engagement.AgencyBloc - https://www.linkedin.com/company/agencybloc/posts/?feedView=allTim Robinson - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyjrobinson/Cory Schmidt - https://www.linkedin.com/in/coryschmidt/Video Version: https://youtu.be/b3PnBw0hRbM

Tony chats with Charlie Sidoti, Executive Director at InnSure, they are a non-profit innovation hub focused on innovation in insurance related to climate change. They look at it through the lens of what does the world need from the insurance industry to help with climate change, and is also good business for the insurance industry. How can insurance help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and how does insurance need to be reimagined to close the protection gap. What a fantastic conversation you MUST listen to! We can be heroes!Carlie Sidoti: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidoti/InnSure: https://innsure.org/Video Version: https://youtu.be/kwY00XQrl1M

Tony chats with Cyrus Karai, CEO at CoverForce, they help strengthen agencies by offering the best infrastructure to connect commercial P&C agencies and carriers. The help carriers digitize their access points to agents, brokers, banks, etc. They offer a unified API that lets you access several of the leading P&C commercial lines carriers.Cyrus Karai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyrus-karai/CoverForce: https://www.coverforce.com/Video Version: https://youtu.be/VPBnapLF0ss

Tony chats with Marlena Sarunac and Lubna Hameed, Co-Founders at The Company Advice. (For High Ds: actual content starts at 4:10.) They provide design leadership and execution to startups from the very beginning by bringing them in a fractional capacity. They have extensive experience in insurtech, healthtech, fintech, and more. Marketing and design is often deprioritized in the early days and then there's a lot of catching up to be done post-MVP. The Company Advice can help you infuse marketing and design thinking to help make that little MVP grow up big and strong.Marlena Sarunac: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlenasarunLubna Hameed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubna-sarwat-hameed/The Company Advice: https://TheCompanyAdvice.comVideo Version: https://youtu.be/fBqg7I7fYmU

Tony chats with Sivan Iram, Founder and CEO at Flow, they are a next-generation wholesale broker specializing in financial lines providing wholesale services that are needing help in those lines of business. A different approach - specialized in middle and small commercial, and already featuring 50 carriers.Sivan Iram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaniram/Flow: https://www.flowspecialty.com/Video Version: https://youtu.be/9oD0JcIPrp8

Tony chats with Woody Klemmer, Head of Growth at ForMotiv. They use behavioral data science, a combination of behavioral analytics and real-time data science to help Life and P&C carriers to analyze how people fill out their digital applications. They call this digital body language, and it allows them to identify risk, non-disclosure, premium leakage, and more!Woody Klemmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/woodyklemmer/ForMotiv: https://formotiv.com/Video version: https://youtu.be/UyDSqHkVzNg

We catch up with Joseph Zaarour, Founder at ISolvRisk. Joseph is on a mission to solve insurance and risk management's talent problem with incredibly innovative solutions. ISolvRisk is pivoting to a really cool new idea we'd love to come to fruition because it's brilliant!Joseph Zaarour: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-zaarour-8769a6177/ISolvRisk: https://www.isolvrisk.com/Video Version: https://youtu.be/VdKLTguNDgQ

I chat with Dave Olchowka, Founder and CEO at Prizm Insurance, the first and only tech-enabled insurance brokerage that catered to the high-net worth personal lines space.Dave Olchowka: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-olchowka-2523ab13b/Prizm Insurance: https://www.prizminsurance.com/Video Version: https://youtu.be/WFCnzUtc3QM