The Voice of Insurance

Steve McGill, insurance executive and founder of McGill and Partners, returns to mark the end of the firm’s first chapter. He discusses EQT’s investment, talent-led growth, global expansion and the evolution of specialty insurance facilities. The conversation explores AI’s impact on the insurance value chain, emerging risks, MGAs, Lloyd’s and what comes next for his ambitious business.

Ståle Hansen, Norwegian insurance executive and CEO of marine P&I club Skuld, charts his rise from business controller to industry leader. He discusses the Dali-Baltimore Bridge claim, P&I consolidation, war risks, the shadow fleet and protecting crews. The conversation also explores AI in claims and underwriting, marine cyber threats, and how mutual insurers are adapting to turbulent global shipping.

Dave Walsh, CFC co-founder, and Graeme Newman, former CFC chief executive, discuss their new venture, Kantara Capital. They reveal how they back promising MGAs and brokers with personal capital, why founders should be pulled rather than pushed, and which investment fads they avoid. The conversation explores underwriting discipline, AI’s impact on insurance, evolving MGA models, realistic valuations, and what makes a business truly investable.

Mark Groenheide, insurance entrepreneur and LIRG’s CEO, brings contagious energy to a whirlwind tour of insurance innovation. He discusses parametric coverage for cyber, travel, satellites and data centers, plus Takaful insurance in America. He explores AI-native underwriting, systemic cyber threats, transformers, differentiated MGAs and LIRG’s ambitions to become a reinsurer and return to Lloyd’s.

Richard Brindle, CEO and Chairman of The Fidelis Partnership, and Richard Coulson, its Strategic Partnerships President, discuss insurance’s Darwinian reinsurance market. They explore why Fidelis refuses broker facilities, how diversification strengthens relationships, and the firm’s rocket-fuel expansion across high-growth markets. The conversation also covers local presence, technology versus underwriting judgment, and ESG dilemmas including forced labor and live animal exports.

Jack Kuhn, President of Westfield Specialty, is a four-decade insurance veteran and renowned underwriter. He discusses building Westfield’s global platform, navigating market cycles without chasing growth, and balancing casualty with short-tail exposure. The conversation explores digital trading, smart follow underwriting, delegated distribution, alternative capital, geopolitical uncertainty, and AI’s emerging liability and systemic risks.

James Slaughter, Apollo’s Executive Chair of Underwriting, draws on deep experience in insurance, reinsurance, and emerging risks. He explores why reinsurance is getting cheaper as the world grows riskier, the pressure of abundant capital, and whether demand can absorb excess supply. Topics include AI, cyber, renewables, data centers, casualty uncertainty, market discipline, and the outlook for the 2027 renewal.

Jason Keen, CEO of Global Wholesale and Specialty at Everest Insurance, brings deep Lloyd’s, property underwriting and facultative reinsurance experience. He explores shifting specialty markets, data-centre risks, political violence and disciplined portfolio growth. The conversation also dives into digital underwriting, fast follow models, AI’s impact on insurance and why explicit AI coverage matters.

Waleed Jabsheh, CEO of global insurer and reinsurer IGI, discusses challenging industry orthodoxy while building a diversified $700 million business. He explores navigating a softening market, disciplined growth, specialty opportunities, political violence, reinsurance expansion, US and India plans, and why flexible portfolios matter. Jabsheh also shares IGI’s measured approach to M&A, MGAs, AI, and preserving family culture as a public company.

Clemens Jungsthöfel, the calm and pragmatic CEO of Hannover Re, discusses a rapidly shifting reinsurance landscape shaped by geopolitics, climate change, inflation and competition. He explores disciplined growth, retrocession, emerging markets, cyber and casualty risks, plus AI’s evolving impact on underwriting, liability and accumulation. Human judgment and trusted relationships remain central.