The Leadership in Insurance Podcast - Insurtech & Innovation

On this week’s episode of The Leadership in Insurance Podcast, I sat down with James Fairgrieve, Head of Innovation at Aventum to explore how their Innovation Lab has designed award winning technology to fit their unique business requirements.From James’ 25 years’ experience in technology, all the way from Y2K testing to UK FinTech innovator of the year 2025, this episode dives deep into the formula for creating an innovation space that delivers.In this episode, we cover: 💡How innovation isn't about lack of ideas - it's about needing structure. Before James had a dedicated innovation team, he kept a running list of ideas that he had no time to implement. Now it’s his primary focus.🔧 How choosing to build their own tech platform rather than buy off-the-shelf solutions has become a success story at Aventum.  ⚖️ The challenges that businesses face when buying in systems that can’t be easily changed to fit business needs🔗 How you take something from proof of concept to becoming fully embedded across a business.⚡ How Aventum have created a culture of innovation throughout their whole business which enables ideas to be pitched from anyone  💻 The importance of making it fun. Activities that spark curiosity and gain employee buy in including game coding on lunchbreaks 🚀 Looking to the future and pushing the boundaries of what Agentic AI can achieve   This episode is packed with insights for anyone passionate about innovation, technology, and creating a team culture where ideas are encouraged -and pushed through to completion. Give it a listen via the links in the comments below 👇👇 👇 👇 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Leadership In Insurance Podcast, I sat down with Ibrahim Sarwar, Co-founder & COO of Artio, to talk about how they’re building the world’s first early-stage carbon credit insurance business — and why the timing has never been better.Artio was founded to address one of the biggest barriers in climate finance: risk. By insuring carbon projects from the very beginning, they’re enabling capital to flow into reforestation and nature-based solutions with greater confidence. Backed by data, science, and insurance expertise, Artio is helping to unlock the scalability the carbon market desperately needs.✨ Highlights from the conversation:🌱 How Artio insures carbon projects from inception — filling a critical gap left by traditional solutions that only step in later.📊 The science behind their approach: a proprietary database of 8,000 tree species + growth models for real-time risk assessment and pricing.🛡️ Why robust structures like insurance are essential to protect against fraud, build trust, and accelerate adoption of carbon credits.👥 The team’s journey — from identifying gaps in financial analysis and governance to bringing on Lindene Patton (ex-Zurich Chief Climate Product Officer) to strengthen their insurance expertise.🔮 How proactive risk management and free insurability assessments are helping developers and investors deploy capital more confidently.🌍 Why today’s market conditions — institutional capital, insurer involvement, and global demand for credible carbon solutions — make this the perfect moment for Artio.This was a powerful discussion about innovation, trust, and climate finance — and how insurance can be the bridge to a more sustainable carbon market. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Leadership In Insurance Podcast, I sat down with Wardah Inam, CEO of Overjet, to discuss the dental industry challenges she aims to solve.In 2018, a team of dentists and scientists from MIT and Harvard came together to revolutionise dentistry. Overjet was born to help the dental industry provide better care, using AI to reduce administrative overheads with precision, consistency, and speed. From clinical to operations, Overjet focuses on the patient journey end-to-end, improving systems and allowing dental workers to focus on what they do best.Overjet is now a world-leader in dental AI, raising more than $130m in funding and lauded as a top AI startup by the likes of Forbes and LinkedIn.In this episode, we covered:How one bad experience switching dentists led to building the #1 dental AI company.Different ways AI is applied to improve the patient-carer experience.Real-life examples of how data processing impacts scale.The main reasons Overjet has become the ‘no-brainer’ choice in dentistry.This episode is an inspiring story that highlights how keen problem-solvers turn experiences into entrepreneurship. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Leadership In Insurance Podcast, I sat down with Tarun Mathur, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer of Policybazaar.com, to explore their journey from pioneering digital insurance in India to building out an ambitious global reinsurance strategy.Founded in 2008, PolicyBazaar has grown into India’s largest insurance broker, managing $3B in annual premiums across life and general insurance. Built on a unique digital + human model, their mission has always been clear: protecting India’s middle class through affordable, accessible insurance.In this episode, Tarun shares the story behind their growth, their push into reinsurance and surety bonds, and their vision to expand into Europe, the US, and beyond.✨ Highlights from the conversation:🌍 How PolicyBazaar grew from a small tech-driven startup in 2008 to India’s largest insurance broker, helping millions access affordable protection.🤝 Why blending digital platforms with human customer support was the game-changer that unlocked consumer trust and adoption in a market hesitant to buy insurance online.🏥 The company’s sharp focus on term life and health insurance as the cornerstone of protecting India’s middle class — and why this demographic remains at the heart of their strategy.🔄 Tarun’s vision for a reinsurance marketplace: simplifying complex transactions, reducing inefficiencies, and building a transparent, global risk-sharing ecosystem.💡 Lessons learned from digitising direct insurance that can now be applied to modernise and streamline reinsurance, an industry still reliant on traditional processes.🌐 Ambitious plans for geographic expansion — with Tarun outlining how PolicyBazaar aims to build a truly international footprint across the Middle East, Europe, and the US within the next 12–18 months.This was a fascinating conversation about innovation, trust, and global growth in insurance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of The Leadership In Insurance Podcast, I sat down with Samuel Broomer, President of NormanMax Insurance Solutions, to explore how parametric insurance is reshaping the industry and what it means for carriers, agents, and customers alike.From its early applications in Sub-Saharan Africa to its role today in addressing protection gaps across the U.S., this episode dives deep into how parametric solutions are transforming the insurance landscape.💡 In this episode, we cover... ✨ The evolution of business meetings & podcasting – how virtual formats and informal storytelling can help build stronger industry connections. 🏢 The NormanMax journey – how an MGA backed by Lloyd’s Syndicate 3939 is delivering innovative parametric products for flood, earthquake, and hurricane risk. ⚖️ Challenges in the middle market – why homeowners and SMBs remain underserved, and how rising deductibles and complexity create barriers to adoption. 🔗 Embedding parametric into traditional cover – the opportunity to integrate parametric triggers with indemnity policies to enhance protection and scale adoption. 💻 Tech vs. fundamentals – why technology should serve the customer experience and efficiency, without overshadowing core insurance principles. ⚡ Transforming the claims experience – how parametric features can deliver clarity, speed, and transparency when customers need it most. 🌍 Strategic advantage of Lloyd’s – how global reach, capital strength, and brand credibility enable innovation and market entry. 📚 Consumer education – the need to simplify messaging and distribution to drive broader adoption of parametric solutions.This episode is packed with insights for anyone passionate about innovation, customer experience, and the future of insurance. Give it a listen via the links in the comments below 👇👇 👇 👇 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Distribution, Digitized: How Foxquilt is Reshaping Small Business InsuranceIn this week’s podcast, I sat down with Josh Reznick, Foxquilt's Chief Distribution Officer, to unpack how the insurtech is redefining distribution in commercial insurance.Foxquilt is a digital MGA focused on serving underserved small business markets across North America. By leveraging its proprietary technology platform, Foxden, the company has streamlined what was once a heavily manual process at traditional carriers — delivering a faster, more efficient quote-to-bind experience.But Fox Quilt’s real differentiator is its multi-channel distribution model. By balancing wholesale and enterprise partnerships, they have built a scalable approach that expands reach without losing control of the customer relationship. Josh brings over a decade of carrier experience from Aviva to Fox Quilt, applying partnership-driven strategies in a modern digital context.Here are some of the key insights from our conversation:🔹 Evolving Distribution Models – How Foxquilt achieved a near 50-50 split between wholesale and enterprise, and grew its agent network from 100 to 10,000 through just 7 wholesaler partnerships.🔹 The Insurtech Journey – The rewards (and “battle scars”) of building programs from policy zero, and why Foxquilt has thrived thanks to a stable leadership team and startup adaptability.🔹 Product Development for Underserved Markets – Why Foxquilt zeroed in on contractors and independent professionals, where contractual insurance requirements make digital solutions especially valuable.🔹 Dual Strategy Benefits – Enterprise partnerships allow for higher revenue per customer and co-branded solutions, while wholesale drives daily scale with hundreds of new policies issued.🔹 US Expansion & Growth Goals – Tackling state-by-state regulatory challenges, targeting key growth states like Florida, Texas, and New York, and looking ahead to a $200M GWP target within 3-5 years — with international expansion on the horizon.Thanks Josh for joining me this week - loved the opportunity to chat all things distribution - be sure to catch this one via the links in the comments below 👇 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Leadership In Insurance Podcast podcast, I had a brilliant conversation with Rohit Mittal, all about just that. We covered why he chose to buy and operate an insurance tech company and how he’s helping agents reclaim their time and boost productivity through AI.Here’s a few highlights from what we covered...⚙️ “From 45 minutes to 5 minutes” – Solving the data bottleneck with AI Rohit explained how InsurGrid uses AI to extract declaration pages and policy data by connecting directly to carrier websites. 🏢 Tech lags in insurance—and it’s costing us I shared my own frustration of being sent a fillable PDF by a large broker, which sparked a discussion on the gap between modern digital expectations and outdated insurance workflows. “We have self-driving cars,” Rohit noted, “but insurance still runs on paper.”🤝 Equipping small agencies to compete—with a personal touchRohit emphasized that InsurGrid helps smaller, independent agents offer a tech-enabled experience without sacrificing human relationships. “It’s not about removing people from the process—it’s about removing the repetitive tasks,” he said.🧠 Why Rohit chose operating over investing“I didn’t want to just deploy capital. I wanted to build,” he said. We touch on the serial founder mindset and much more... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I was joined by Grace Hanson, CEO of Elysian, who’s on a mission to fix one of the most overlooked parts of insurance: claims handling.“People underestimate how much profit lives in the claims department — and how much value is wasted when it’s not run well,”Grace calls Elysian an AI-native outsourced claims service — but what that really means is her team uses their own technology to handle commercial claims better than traditional models allow. Faster answers. Better data. Fewer inconsistencies. All designed by people who’ve actually sat in the adjuster’s chair.Some highlights from our chat...📚 From Courtrooms to Claims:Grace shared how she went from practicing law to leading claims teams — a move she made after having a baby and realizing, “I needed balance — but I also needed work that challenged me.” Turns out the strategic, big-picture thinking she honed as a lawyer was exactly what complex claims needed.📊 Claims: Insurance’s Hidden Profit Engine:We talked about why claims teams rarely get the spotlight — despite being the lever for an insurer’s profit and reputation. As Grace put it, “If you don’t run claims well, you don’t make money. Full stop.”🤖 What AI Actually Fixes:Grace told a great story about her time at Homeside — rolling out AI and machine learning to detect fraud and speed up everyday decisions. “You can’t fix just one piece. If the rest of the process is clunky, the tech is wasted,” she said.⚙️ Why Elysian Exists:How five years of tech advancements made Grace’s vision of an AI-native claims solution finally possible — and why now is the time to fix an industry pain point that’s too costly to ignore.🔥 Protecting People, Not Just Automating Jobs:Why better tech should empower adjusters to focus on high-value work — and how Grace’s team is tackling burnout by design. I loved Grace’s honesty when she said, “Adjusters burn out because they’re stuck doing repetitive tasks — our tech frees them up to do the hard thinking, the negotiation, the human work that actually matters.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.