The Voice of Insurance

Ep279 Greg Hendrick, Vantage: A Labour of Love

It’s great to have a guest of the calibre of Greg Hendrick CEO of Vantage back on the show, not least because his relatively new and young businesses is still growing fast and there is a lot to catch up on.Now five years old Vantage is set to write around $1.6bn in gross insurance and specialty reinsurance premiums and is managing $1.5bn in ILS funds. But listening back it’s the quality and breadth of the discussion we have that I am really pleased with. Greg is hugely experienced and once he updates me on where Vantage is and how he sees the market and the firm’s strategy within it, the conversation quickly moves on and probably goes deeper into the art of underwriting and portfolio construction than I have with anyone on the podcast so far.We also dissect the best applications of AI and other major trends, such as the flow of business into Excess and Surplus lines, the boom in MGA and fronting and hybrid carrier formation and the phenomenon of algorithmic underwriting and facilitisation.Finally, as this is a business set up with a likely 5-7 or 8-year initial investor timeframe and the five-year threshold has now been crossed, we round off on where Vantage is in its development journey and the prospects for M&A to complete its platform as well as the chances of a possible future IPO for the business in the medium term. Greg doesn’t hold back on any of this. He’s a great communicator and knows exactly what he is doing. He speaks with the absolute confidence of someone completely on top of his brief.And I think you will be able to sense the big smile on his face coming through the audio recording. It’s rare to get an opportunity to put everything you have learned in a successful career into practice and Greg’s clearly been enjoying his time building Vantage. I really enjoyed talking to him and got a lot of this conversation. Listen on and I think you will too.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep278 Jeff Radke Accelerant: Speed matters

Today’s guest is someone who is running a business that is moving so fast that every time he comes back on the show we have an enormous amount to talk about and this time it is no different.Today Jeff Radke CEO of Accelerant is talking to me after a transformational 12 months that has seen his young business continue its heightened growth and IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.At the Voice of Insurance we have been lucky enough to follow Accelerant’s story at first hand since Jeff’s first appearance four years ago. The proposition is as tantalising as it has always been. Good MGAs need stable capital, strong underwriting insights and ultra-efficient processes, while insurers, reinsurers and other capital providers want access to stable, diversified portfolios of profitable insurance risk on a meaningful scale. Accelerant’s job is to connect everything and everyone up and make sure everybody in the chain can make money and be happy.It sounds simple but in a highly-competitive regulated industry this can be anything but simple in practice.As Accelerant’s platform grows and becomes the conduit for low single digit billions in premium volume via over 250 member MGAs, it’s more mature state is coming into view. The business is evolving to become something far more like a genuine intelligent insurance exchange and underwriting management platform than a mere fronting or hybrid carrier. This conversation is the best and most transparent I have had with Jeff so far. Talking to Jeff, it’s easy to see why so much business has flowed in Accelerant’s direction. Jeff has had huge tech-enabled trends on his side, but he also has charisma in abundance, but then so do many in our business. It’s only when that charisma is combined with the deep knowledge of someone who has sat at almost all points of the insurance and capital value chain in his career that it becomes such a powerful combination. Listen on – this is a very rich conversation that I can highly recommend to anyone interested in what large swathes of insurance market are going to look like over the next decade and beyondLINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep277 Andre Finn Intellegri: Applying the Big Hypothesis Model to insurance

Welcome to a really exciting re-encounter with someone who has been out of our industry for some years but is now back with a highly original new proposition. In my line of work I get to see an awful lot of new insurance ideas and so it takes a lot to fire up my imagination.And when I talk to people on this podcast about those new ideas – often the new product niche or service they are looking at might have a total addressable market of a few billion dollars. But today our guest has something that is applicable to the entire multi-trillion dollar capital base of the global P&C insurance industry. Andre Finn is the Chief Strategy Officer of Intellegri, a business looking to apply advanced mathematical and computational techniques to capital modelling.Now if that sounds a bit dry at first, please bear with me. At present our industry holds large amounts of excess capital to cover possible adverse development in reserves, based around wide probability ranges around what our tail risk is. If we could narrow that range down, even a tiny amount, we could release large amounts of capital, which would improve our returns and make our sector much more attractive to investors. But since this technology can also model scenarios to high new levels of detail and accuracy, it could also be applied to creating entirely new insurance products to cover perils that are currently uninsurable.Any surplus capital could then be applied to these new products and we could expand the insurance market, again making our sector far more attractive overall.The possibilities are genuinely exciting.I promise you that this is not going to be a maths podcast.Andre is authentic and incredibly down to earth and focused on the practical delivery of something new and genuinely revolutionary.Andre was also the founder and CEO of another advanced modelling and analytics firm called Sciemus for almost 15 years from 2001 and so has long industry experience, and possibly a few scars and lessons learned to show for it.Back then the insurtech phenomenon hadn’t yet come into being, so sitting here in 2025 the timing would appear to be far better than it was back after the turn of the millennium.NOTES: Highly recommended further reading on Intellegri is to be found here: https://www.intellegri.com/Andre rightly thanked Howden for the use of their London office for this recording. He also mentioned former collaborator Henry Sopher LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep276 Pina Albo CEO Hamilton: Leaning in and out

Today’s guest is making a highly welcome return to the show after a four-year absence. Since we last spoke the fortunes of the market have been transformed, her company has matured and floated successfully on the New York Stock Exchange and has had its Insurer Financial Strength rating upgraded to A by AM Best. All this means that CEO of Hamilton Insurance Group, Pina Albo and I had an awful lot to talk about.And our discussion doesn’t disappoint. Pina is crystal clear in her vision for Hamilton and how it is planning to make the most of the many opportunities it still sees available in today’s marketplace. There’s a refreshing directness and lack of ambiguity in Pina’s delivery that will leave you in no doubt as to what she thinks of the market issues of today, from the prospects for growth in US casualty reinsurance and the long-term trend to delegated and automated underwriting, all the way through to the best applications of AI.It’s a candid chat that’s also often fun.So check in for some valuable time in the company of a global insurance leader who is burnishing her credentials and making the wider market sit up and notice her achievements. LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep275 Christopher Croft, LIIBA: Where Innovation Happens

At first glance, today’s guest might have an unenviable job. That’s because that job entails trying to find the common ground between the hundreds of Lloyd’s brokers, some of whom are extremely large and very many of whom are very small and very specialist indeed.Christopher Croft, the CEO of the London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association (LIIBA)is someone who I see and meet constantly out in the marketplace, and is someone I have been meaning to get on the podcast for some time. That’s because he’s one of those people that if you didn’t already know, a mutual acquaintance would suggest that you meet.LIIBA is a unique trade body and lobbying group because its membership operates globally and so blends a core remit looking after broker interests in the London Market with an important role representing wholesale specialist brokers on the global stage. And Chris is a unique character – he is technically and intellectually very strong but combines this with a down-to-earth good humour and sense of fun that is infectious. In this podcast we focus on the key role that Lloyd’s brokers play in innovation and how this role is often under-appreciated and misunderstood by regulators across the globe.We also get up to speed with all the regulatory goings on and market reform programmes in the UK, Europe and beyond. After a listen you’ll have learned a lot but I think will also have found a friendly new voice banging the drum for the global insurance industry’s pivotal role in the global economy and London’s unique role within it.NOTES:Here’s a Link to obtain the Innovation Imperative Report we mention. The report was produced in association with Insurindex:https://theinsurindex.com/reports/the-innovation-imperative-why-brokers-matter-more-than-ever/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=LIIBAreport2025&utm_content=innovationLINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep274 Tim Ronda CEO Howden Re: The System is Working

Todays’ Episode was a joy to make. It was a face-to-face meeting that crackled from the moment my interviewee walked through the door and shook my hand all the way through to a swift exit to a pressing engagement. As I was tidying cables and packing away my microphones into their case, I already knew this was going to be a really strong Episode. Now that I’ve had a listen back for the final run-through I know it to be the case. They say the best leaders embody their businesses and if that is true Howden Re should be absolutely buzzing along because this encounter with that business’s CEO Tim Ronda highlights someone bursting with confidence, smarts, charisma, energy and something else that we don’t see so often – genuine happiness. Tim is clearly enjoying himself in his role. The podcast covers all the issues of the day in the reinsurance market and quite a lot more besides. Discussions about M&A, Casualty, AI and even the competitive reinsurance broking landscape all make an appearance. Also, despite running a reinsurance broker that has reached such a size and scale that it can no longer be referred to as a challenger and is still growing at pace, Tim doesn’t tend to engage that regularly with the media. Given what you are about to hear, I think that’s probably a mistake but I ‘m also grateful that Tim has given The Voice of Insurance an outsized allocation of his rare press time.As the nights draw in I can highly recommend this episode as a warming and energising tonic. It’ll bring you right up to date, put a smile on your face and a spring in your step.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep273 Andrew Robinson Skyward Specialty & David Ibeson Apollo: So many opportunities, we have to filter them

I really enjoyed recording today’s episode because both my guests have been on the show before and that always makes getting a conversation going much easier.And to make the session even more lively, we had something really interesting to discuss. Andrew Robinson’s Skyward Specialty has just entered into an agreement to buy David Ibeson’s Apollo. In M&A the parties often talk about a combined entity being more than the sum of its parts and I think that in podcasting terms this is definitely an episode where one CEO plus one CEO equals more than two. Both Andrew and David are strong and unambiguous business leaders and the level of energy, camaraderie and enthusiasm on display here is infectious. For Apollo the deal ends any lingering uncertainty about its long-term ownership and is another reminder of the enduring global attraction of the Lloyd’s platform and for Skyward the deal is a vindication of Andrew’s strategy since taking over what was then Houston International five years ago and transforming it into a premium rated specialty insurer, now quoted on the public markets.There’s a lot of cultural affinity between the two businesses and a similar rapport between these two executives and the next half an hour will absolutely fly by.NOTES: SOX = Sarbanes-Oxley, prominent US Corporate re-regulation of the early 2000’sLINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep272 Tony Ursano & Joe Plumeri: The M&A Continuum

This episode is a very special one because, thanks to one of my guests, we are going to hear from somebody who I assumed I had missed my chance of getting to appear on this podcast.Let me explain. Tony Ursano of Insurance Advisory Partners is someone I have interviewed many times over the past 20 years. In fact I first met Tony when he was working at Willis during the thirteen-year reign of our second guest. Tony has recently executed quite a coup – that’s because he has managed to convince industry legend and former Willis CEO Joe Plumeri to come and work with him at Insurance Advisory Partners. I’ll let Joe and Tony do the talking, but I’ll just say you are in for a treat.Many of us in the insurance industry, particularly when we get to a certain age, tend to get nostalgic about an unspecified past era when there were so many more strong characters working in the sector than there are now and then we complain that these days things aren’t quite the same. Well, Joe Plumeri is exactly the kind of person that people my age tend to think of when they make that complaint Of course Joe is a senior executive with a glittering multi-decade career, spanning a broad spectrum of financial services, but he is also a complete original and a natural speaker and great motivator. One of his strongest skills is the ability to express often very complex ideas in simple terms that large numbers of people can quickly comprehend and get behind. He is always original and he is always direct. There are no grey areas. This discussion examines the prospects for M&A and consolidation all the way through the insurance value chain, from carriers of all sizes and specialisms to mega brokers, MGAs and even hybrid carriers.You'll leave this discussion incredibly well informed and in no doubt what Tony and Joe think are going to happen – but there’ll be a little bit extra – you will have met an industry legend and heard his unique perspective along the way.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep271 Dave Paulsson MS Transverse: Fulfilling demand for outperformance

The growth in Hybrid Fronting carriers has been explosive in the past seven years and this growth has both been fuelled by, and has helped feed, a parallel explosion in the formation of MGAs and the rise in commercial insurance distribution outside the Admitted Lines market.Today’s guest is one of the first movers in this relatively novel insurance carrier type and co-founded the business that is now MS Transverse. As such Dave Paulsson is a guest with a unique perspective. Now that the sector is beginning to mature and MS Transverse itself is part of a top 10 global insurance group, this podcast examines what is going to come next in this remarkable growth and transformation story. Unlike most of us, who just one day found ourselves doing insurance in one way or another, Dave came to the sector by looking at it from the outside, spotting a golden opportunity and executing a plan to make the most of that opportunity. That’s what makes him such a refreshing insurance entrepreneur and this podcast a little out of the ordinary. Dave is very smart and is laser-focused on the job in hand, so if you want a clear idea of where the multi-billion-dollar Hybrid carrier boom is heading, then listen on, one of the industry’s best-qualified executives is on hand to guide the way.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Sp Ep Matt Hicks Co-Founder Recorder: The Best People want the Best Tools

I often wonder if we in the insurance industry have any idea how lucky we are that there are so many smart people out there looking to help make the way we do business easier, more efficient, more productive and ultimately, more profitable. Today’s guest, Matt Hicks, is one of these people. Matt is the co-founder of Recorder, a next-generation broker management system that connects producers directly with underwriters and gives those underwriters instant quote and bind capabilities. Matt is a serial entrepreneur who has already been involved in two successful fintech ventures and now has some very well-known insurance investors on board this one. The product Matt and his team have produced is laser-focused on what adds the most value in the commercial insurance value chain. It’s all about reducing admin and freeing producers, whether they are brokers, coverholders or frontline underwriters, up to do what they do best. The initial productivity gains claimed are eye-opening.The term serial entrepreneur may give you a misleading impression, so I’d say the best way of describing Matt would be that he would always be the most investable guest on an episode of Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank. By the time he had finished with them, he would have all the investors fighting to be involved. The key I think is that special humility and empathy you get with really successful entrepreneurs. In my time as an insurance journalist I have lost count of the number of entrepreneurs I have met with who have undoubtedly superb technology, but who ultimately failed because they had zero empathy or understanding of how insurance professionals actually work and therefore what help they really need.Matt and his team are in insurance for the long run and know that the sort of API-lead revolution they are proposing will take time. But at the same time they know that history is on their side if they are patient enough. So I can highly recommend a listen. Matt is incredibly easy to talk to and his experienced and down-to-earth approach means he knows exactly how to go about making Recorder the sort of tool that over time the best producers are going to be clamouring for.  LINKS: https://www.recorder.tech/https://www.recorder.tech/contact