Profiles in Risk

This episode is sponsored by IA Path - Unlocking Your Adjusting Superpowers. Go to iapath.comRecently I had the pleasure to spend a Saturday morning speaking with Ashley Fitzsimmons. I invited her on because I have been following her on LinkedIn and Twitter and her enthusiasm and motivation for her work stand out. She is the self-professed Beyonce of insurance and in this episode, we talked about her initial career, the trade-offs with working in the family business, millennial stuff and of course, since she's in productions, sales stuff. Performers like Ashley are the future of this business. CONNECT WITH ASHLEY FITZSIMMONS: LinkedInTwitterBOOKS:Eat That Frog by Brian TracyYou Are A Badass by Jen SinceroInsuring Tomorrow by Tony Canas & Carly BurnhamThe Power of Moments by Chip Heath & Dan HeathSubscribe at: Stitcher iTunes Google Play YouTubeBuzzsprout RSS

Last week I was very fortunate to attend the 2018 Global Insurance Symposium in Des Moines, IA. With well over 650 attendees, this is one of the biggest insurance focused events of the year. Besides great speakers and panel discussions, we got to hear the final pitches from the latest cohort of the Global Insurance Accelerator, a Des Moines based insurtech accelerator lead by Brian Hemesath. Another perk of the event is that I can walk around and talk to people. This special episode of Profiles in Risk comprises my random conversations with a variety of attendees of the conference. The interview list is below. Here is a video with Ryan Hanley (I am the last interviewee). On the show: Stephen Goldstein Mica Cooper Sonny Patel & Maya Strasser Ryan Hanley Laura McKiernan Boylan Paul Winston Kaitryn Patchett Holli Gronset Subscribe at: Stitcher iTunes Google Play YouTube Buzzsprout RSS

Bob Frady is not your normal CEO.Bob is CEO and co-founder of HazardHub, a company which provides a full hazard report card on your property. Fire, flood, wind, earth movement, and even man-made risks are all covered and graded. The report also tells property owners where the closest fire station and fire hydrants are. It is the most comprehensive hazard report available. You can get one free at www.freehomerisk.com.One interesting take away from my conversation with Bob was about the Law of Large Numbers. This insurance principle has protected insurers for 300 years. Even with Insurtech on the rise, insurers are still somewhat shielded by the Law of Large Numbers. So even in an environment with imperfect information becoming less imperfect every day, this principle is still quite valid (information will never be perfect). Bob was also a stand-up comic. With permission, here is my favorite laugh out loud skit of Bob's CONNECT WITH BOB FRADY: LinkedIn HazardHub Home Page  BOOKS:Papi: My Story by David Ortiz & Michael HolleyBack From The Dead by Bill WaltonThe Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Steve Evans is the owner of Artemis and Reinsurance News. These are the two go-to publications when it comes to ILS and reinsurance news (fitting name). Steve has been building Artemis for 20 years and has recently celebrated Artemis' 20th anniversary. In this episode, Steve discusses the history of Artemis, and how it has paralleled the internet, the birth of CAT bonds and now the insurtech scene. If you aren't signed up for Artemis, go to the link below, and do that now! Subscribe at: Stitcher iTunesGoogle PlayYouTubeBuzzsprout RSS  HOW TO CONNECT WITH STEVE EVANS:LinkedInTwitter MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:Artemis Home PageReinsurance News Home PageILS Asia - July 12 - SingaporeILS-NYC - February 2018 (post-event blog)Extraordinary ReWill Dove (CEO of !Re)Solidum Partners ILS on BlockchainMy article on insurance innovation 

This is a special episode of Profiles in Risk. The audio for this episode is derived from a video webcam recording we did with Bill Wilson to announce the release of his new book When Words Collide-Resolving Insurance Coverage and Claims Disputes. If you want to watch the Carly, Tony and myself discuss the book in video format, follow this link to our YouTube channel (and subscribe while you are there!)When Words Collide is the culmination of 30 years of Bill's work. Bill is a sought-after policy interpreter and is the go-to person when there is a claims dispute. Bill outlines the steps he takes in order to analyze the situation and when coverage is or is not offered by the policy. It is essential reading for agents, brokers, underwriters, adjusters, litigators and product developers., Basically anyone who touches a policy and needs to understand the nuance behind the complicated language often structured within a policy.When Words Collide can be ordered here: https://shop.insnerds.com/product/when-words-collide/ Subscribe at: Stitcher iTunes Google Play YouTubeBuzzsprout RSSHOW TO CONNECT WITH: LinkedInTwitterEmailMENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:John EubankRTFP - Read The F- PolicyKevin Grudzien's podcast on BI accounting and Insurance CSIOxford Comma ClaimBOOKS: How to Draft and Interpret Insurance Policies by Kenneth Wollner and Richard Scislowski and W. Jeffrey WoodwardGeneral Liability Insurance Coverage by Randy Maniloff

David Tobias understood insurance from a young age (his Dad was in insurance and David started doing inspections before he turned 20). He also had a passion for technology (he taught himself how to code). David and his coFounder (David Lyman) saw a problem that existed in insurance, which was that roof inspections where hard, expensive, yet the desire to have that information, very useful. They also saw the potential for drone technology to be a potential solution. After their first paid gig, they saw a really big opportunity to use technology to both, acquire digital imagery, but more importantly, to scale the analytics around those digital images to help underwriters, adjusters and others obtain valuable insights on entire property exposures.Betterview exists to make every property thoroughly understood. The company does this by providing software and services to capture, organize and analyze data to unlock valuable insight.There's a really good section of the podcast where David discusses how he thought digital imagery via drones was going to be "the product". Instead, the real product is the insights that The BetterView software provides when examining the digital imagery. This is a valuable lesson for all startup founders. Your solution is likely to be a deeper and more meaningful experience than what you originally imagined. With feedback, BetterView found product/market fit. Whatever itch you, as a business, think you are scratching...keep picking...there is likely a deeper problem to solve.Subscribe at: Stitcher iTunes Google Play YouTubeBuzzsprout RSS HOW TO CONNECT WITH DAVID TOBIAS: LinkedIn Twitter Email MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST: BetterView Home Page Inbox Zero BOOKS: Zero to One by Peter ThielPrincipals by Ray Diallo Creative Confidence by Tom Kelly & David Kelly Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson    

 Avolyn Fisher caught my eye by writing an article on LinkedIn about how she tried stand-up comedy and how that training helped her in her day job as a data analyst. I was very intrigued, mostly, because I have wanted to practice standup but am afraid to, so I have a lot of respect for those that try but I also wanted to talk to Avolyn so that she could tell her story to you all. A story I think you will get something out of. HOW TO CONNECT WITH AVOLYN FISHER:LinkedInTwitter MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:Avolyn's Article on StandupRuss Robert's EconTalk podcast So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal NewportBOOKS:How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life by Russ RobertsSuperforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Philip Tetlock and Dan GardnerWeapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil 

Tom Johansmeyer is the Michael Lewis of Insurance. As the head of Verisk's PCS division, Tom is continuing the PCS tradition of aggregating insured industry losses, and taking that to a whole new level. PCS, globally known for aggregating, weather, earthquake, fire and other natural catastrophes is expanding into cyber, terror and other specialty lines, and taking the show on the road...globally. Tom and I discuss the value of aggregated industry losses, how the industry is creatively using those loss figures and the new products being deployed to help the insurance ecosystem smoothly transfer risk. Armed with a philosophy degree, tenure at a consulting firm and a love of writing, Tom got into insurance at Guy Carpenter. Tom was the creator of Captial Ideas and has kept his writing and marketing skills sharp over at PCS. PCS is an advertiser of Insurance Nerds...join the Reinsurance Revolution!HOW TO CONNECT WITH TOM JOHANSMEYER:LinkedInTwitter MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:PCS - Property Claims Service - a division of Verisk AnalyticsILW - Industry Loss WarrantyBrent Poliquin's Podcast on Insurance Linked SecuritiesRetrocession Insurance (trades)Indemnity Triggers - An loss amount for the sponsor (usually an insurer) of the insurance security corresponding to the actual losses they sustained for an event. Tom discussed different trigger types. The article referenced here describes many of them. PCS specializes in collecting industry data which is often used in Industry Loss triggersBasis Risk - In ILS, because ILS sponsors have different loss triggers available to them aside from triggers on their own losses (see indemnity above), sponsors run the risk that an event payout, based on a non-indemnity trigger, may not match their true losses. With basis risk, a sponsor may receive more payout than they had insured losses, or worse, less payout than their total event loss. Costa Concordia lossDeep Water Horizon lossJubilee lossKea Trader lossEquifax Cyber Breach

Jeff Arnold is the President of RightSure Insurance Group and the author of the book The Art of The Insurance Deal. Jeff spoke with Tony and me about how he locates, finances and buys insurance agencies. We discussed things that can blow up a deal, how sometimes, purchased agencies do not end up being a good fit and in some cases, those same agencies need to be sold to other buyers that can make them a good fit. Some important considerations when buying an agency are:- is it a good fit?- how should the agency be valued?- how should the price be financed?- what are the responsibilities of the sellers upon the sale?- how do you integrate the newly acquired staff and IT?HOW TO CONNECT WITH JEFFREY ARNOLD:LinkedInRightSure Insurance Group Jeff's Home PageBOOKS:The Art of The Insurance Deal by Jeffrey ArnoldE-Myth Revisited by Michael GerberGood to Great by Jim CollinsNapolean Hill BooksBrian Tracy Books 

March is Women's History Month. We end March by discussing diversity in insurance with a woman who knows quite a bit about the topic. Diversity in the workplace is an asset according to Deidre Wright. In this episode of Profiles in Risk, Deidre and I discussed, diversity, what it means (it's deeper than I thought), inclusion and how important it is to allow your employees the ability to allow their true, authentic personalities to be a diversifying asset in your organization's success. Even employees with purple hair can be your rock stars!HOW TO CONNECT WITH DEIDRE WRIGHT: LinkedIn Twitter www.diversityinclusioninstitute.comBOOKS: Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy Outwitting The Devil by Napolean Hill Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli