Profiles in Risk

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  

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 can be your risk stars! HOW TO CONNECT WITH DEIDRE WRIGHT:LinkedInTwitter www.diversityinclusioninstitute.com BOOKS:Eat That Frog by Brian TracyOutwitting The Devil by Napolean HillStargirl by Jerry Spinelli 

Out of all the insurtech ideas sprouting in the market, I have yet to see anything that has the potential that blockchain has. In this episode of Profiles in Risk, I spoke with Patrick Schmid of The Institutes' RiskBlock Alliance. Patrick is working with the insurance ecosystem to help them co-develop the blockchain platforms and technologies necessary for insurance to blossom in the next wave of innovation. HOW TO CONNECT WITH PATRICK SCHMID:LinkedInRiskBlock SiteEmail MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:EthereumGDPR RegulationsHyperLedgerB3iR3PRODUCTIVITY:SlackConfluenceGitHubTwitter BOOKS:The Rationale of Central Banking by Vera SmithIshmael: A Novel by Daniel QuinnMan's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl 

In this episode of Profiles in Risk, I spoke with Garrett White, President of Blue Lime Group & Chris Prewit, co-director of the IIASA (Independent Insurance Agents of San Antonio). We discussed the current state of Independent Agencies, the future and how IIASA has piloted outreach programs for college and high school students to experience insurance and gain real-life experience.UPCOMING EVENTS: ELITExas - AI in Your Agency: Automate the boring stuff - March 30th, 2018 2018 TRADE FAIR - THE PEARL STABLE - April 5, 2018 CONNECT WITH GARRETT WHITE: LinkedIn CONNECT WITH CHRIS PRUITT: Email MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST: Embroker Bold Penguin Bold Penguin podcast with Ilya Bodner Ask Kodiak Podcast with Allan Egbert Cover podcast with Karn Soaroya BrokerLift podcast with Thomas Accardo National Alliance CISR DesignationStephen Covey Daily PlannerBOOKS MENTIONED: As a Man Thinketh by James Allen The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

David Milton is the founder and CEO of TelaClaims, based in Florida. In this episode we discussed the tech advancement of claims from an old paper based system to a modern tech based function. The mission of TelaClaims is to get claims closed properly as fast as possible. According to David, the only good claim is a closed claim and we discussed why that is. We also talked about what technologies are now being used in the claims adjustment process. We closed the conversation on the TelaClaims work culture and he offers free yoga and judo to his employees on the job site!HOW TO CONNECT WITH DAVID MILTON:LinkedInTelaClaims HomePage MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:Licensing Course (LMS Course) BOOKS:Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (founder of Zappos)Insuring Tomorrow by Tony Canas and Carly Burnham 

In this episode, Lisa Miller and I discuss regulators, regulations and how the insurance ecosystem can interrelate effectively with regulators. Lisa provides some advice on when (often) and how (engage and discuss) to work with regulators. Her advice is similar to what Trent Cooksley advised on how to pitch to investors...DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Make it easy for them to buy into your idea (rates, forms, products etc). Yes, regulators are human, and yes, they do like coffee. HOW TO CONNECT WITH LISA MILLER:LinkedInHome PageMENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:Florida Office of Insurance RegulationAssignment of Benefits (Wes Todd & I discussed this for an entire podcast recently)FHCF - Florida Hurricane Catastrophe FundBryan Koon - Director of Florida Division of Emergency ManagementBOOKS:A Regulator’s Introduction to the Insurance Industry

February was Insurance Careers Month. In this episode of Profiles in Risk, I spoke with Chris Stanley, someone who is literally helping people to build an insurance career. Chris is an author, independent adjuster and the founder of IA Path, an online training company helping those who would like to build their own Independent Adjuster or Appraiser business. We discussed how to become an IA & more importantly, what successful IA's do and DON'T do.  MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:Jon Nastor & ProductivityJon & Jerod Morris' Showrunner PodcastCONNECT WITH CHRIS STANLEY:IA Path SiteLinkedInTwitter 

We finish Insurance Careers Month by speaking with an up and coming insurance professional. Cooper Cohen is an International Underwriter at CNA in Chicago. We discussed how he got into insurance, blockchain, insurtech and near the end of the recording Cooper describes the real challenge we as an industry face in trying to recruit college grads into insurance.