Leader's Edge

In the midst of a pandemic, the demand for commercial goods has only increased. Chad Hoppenjan, assistant vice president of Cottingham & Butler’s Safety Management Services Company (CMS), explains how COVID-19 pushed the sector to adapt to new risks, and adopt new rules and practices. From extended hours and closed rest stops, to concern around driver-lounge sanitation, the demand for commercial truck drivers has only increased. As commercial auto rates rise exponentially, will the current practices lead to an increase in efficiency?

In the first episode of the Leader’s Edge Back to Work podcast series on how businesses from a variety of industries are approaching reopening, Rob Boyce, Market Intelligence & Insights director at The Council, interviews Terry McCann, managing director of RT Specialty – Chicago. As construction projects were deemed essential during the pandemic, the construction industry was quickly forced to change its practices to stay operational. Terry McCann delves into just how the pandemic has affected the construction industry and the forms of liability construction businesses may face now.

Leader’s Edge sat down with Wamberg Genomic Advisors’ (WGA) Chief Innovation Officer, Darren Rowe, to talk about the innovation propelling WGA and how genomics promotes a more holistic view of patient health.

In 2019, Brian Comerford and Nick Lozano began publicly discussing their insights and struggles within the ever-changing world of information technology. Their podcast, Lead.exe, centers on the importance of leadership from a technology perspective. Comerford and Lozano get together twice a month to interview a wide variety of professionals, from radio personalities and SEO strategists, to rock and roll photographers. Leader’s Edge staff writer Zach Ewell sat down with them both to discuss how their joint interest in insurance and technology helped launch their popular streaming venture.

Dr. Keith Smith, co-founder, Surgery Center of Oklahoma and John Kirke, EVP of Employee Benefits, CCIG sat down with us to discuss the role of the free market in creating competition among providers, how employers are evaluating centers of excellence for their populations, and what’s at stake for patients.

Ryan Rice and Garrett Jerue of Prism Health Strategists share their path to pharma consulting, how PBMs are reacting to their fiduciarily-aligned service model, and how data analytics are driving their client relationships.

Ben Miller, PsyD, the Chief Strategy Officer at Well Being Trust, gives his take on the state of mental healthcare in the workplace. We talk delivery and payment reform, the “skimpy” options permeating the commercial market, and how to apply the concept of social determinants of health to the work setting.

We had the opportunity to chat with Leo Bernstein and Kevin Rabinowitz, executives from LineSlip Solutions. LineSlip is a cloud-hosted software platform purpose-built for the insurance industry that helps commercial brokers streamline critical broking tasks, including quote comparison and placement process. LineSlip is currently focused on streamlining panel business, but its custom approach is built to automate “existing workflows,” not just limited to panels.

Q&A with Scott Robertson, Managing Partner, KPISoft

The Council Foundation’s 2018 Dave Oberkircher Future Leaders Scholar, Samantha Dever, shares her internship experience at the Marsh & McLennan Agency and what the scholarship meant to her at The Council’s 2019 Employee Benefits Leadership Forum.

Nick Bellanca, Executive VP, Sales & Business Development

Justin Oliver, Senior Director, Business Development for Employee Benefits, CyberScout Ann Barron-DiCamillo, Vice President of Cyber Threat Intelligence and Incident Response at American Express

Broker Buddha CEO Jason Keck discusses technology as a tool for solving administrative burdens for brokers and their clients.

Sandy Laycox, editor-in-chief of Leader’s Edge magazine, sat down with John Swigart of Pie Insurance and Jayant Lakshmikanthan of Clara Analytics to discuss their respective business models and their plans for the future. Pie Insurance is a small-business focused full-stack Managing General Agent (MGA) that has used digital advances to streamline the quote-bind process in an effort to confront the issues small businesses typically have in securing coverage. Clara Analytics also operates in the Workers’ Compensation space and uses AI and machine learning to attack inefficiencies and reduce operational claims costs for commercial Workers’ Compensation.

Q&A with Patrick Costello from Evolve MGA by A Council Platform - 868329

Keith VanderZanden of Advanced Professionals Insurance and Benefits Solutions sits down with The Council’s Katie Oberkircher to talk AHPs.

Interview with Mike Cormier, head of Sales and Business Development at Risk Match by A Council Platform - 868329

Andrew Robinson, co-CEO of Groundspeed Analytics, sat down with The Council’s Rob Boyce to examine what inspired Groundspeed Analytics. Through leveraging AI and machine learning, Groundspeed can turn unstructured data into structured data, allowing brokers to better understand their own book of business and offer clients tangible insights into their policies.

Indio provides a white label, open API platform to agents and brokers that seeks to streamline the application process by, for example, piping data across multiple policy applications so a client needs only to answer a question once.

The Council’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Resources & Initiatives, Cheryl Matochik, interviews Nick Shalek of Ribbit Capital. This podcast offers a unique view of insurtech investment through the fintech venture capital firm lens with a message brokers: get out in the action and engage; just monitoring won’t give you what you will need.

In this podcast, The Council’s Director of Market Intelligence & Insights Rob Boyce hosts Coalition’s CEO Josh Motta to discuss Coalition’s mission to solve cyber risk by drawing on the wealth of available data to provide cyber coverage to SMBs. Structured as a MGA, Coalition sells its product through brokers and offers free cyber risk management technologies and services. “There is more data available now than in all of human history,” Motta said. “Let’s take advantage of it.”

The Council’s Content Specialist, Market Intelligence & Insights, Katie Oberkircher, interviews Scott Sinder, partner at Steptoe & Johnson and chief legal officer for The Council, as he breaks down the new Association Health Plan (AHP) regulation and cites key items for brokers to understand.

The Council's Rob Boyce is interviewing a series of attendees at the 2018 InsureTech Connect Conference. Up first is Bold Penguin.

Sandy Laycox, editor in chief of Leader’s Edge magazine, and Rick Pullen, the publication’s founding editor, talk about what goes into publishing an award-winning magazine, following the six 2017 Association Media & Publishing EXCEL awards that Leader’s Edge recently received.

Updates and Insights from The Council’s government affairs team on technical implementation details for the tax bill, why ACA repeal is fading while Single Payer discussion increases, the possibility of an NFIP lapse, a roundup of recent primary elections and more.

Cyber regulation is under way in the U.S., and data protection is about to be implemented in the EU. Kevin Kalinich, global practice leader for cyber/network risk at Aon, discusses the financial impact of cyber events, the possibility of insuring against GDPR penalties, and why compliance with GDPR is ultimately beneficial.

Updates and insight on reauthorization efforts around the National Flood Insurance Program, data breach notification requirements, GDPR, the state of play for healthcare, DC politics and the midterms ahead. We’ve got it all covered.

The Council had the opportunity to sit down with Jonathan Pope, CEO of Corax, a cyber-risk analytics platform and broker tool for cyber insurance distribution. JP addresses some of struggles that brokers and carriers face when selling and pricing cyber coverage, the lack historical data in the cyber industry, and what needs to happen for the cyber insurance market to mature.

In the commercial auto industry, premiums are rising and so is claims severity. What’s driving these trends (no pun intended)? We sat down with Scott Fouts, vice president of the South Region for Hub International’s Risk Services division, to discuss the hardening market, the effects of new technologies in commercial auto, and what Hub is doing to recognize Distracted Driving Month in April.

The omnibus spending bill will impact the National Flood Insurance Program, the tax reform bill offers a lot of murkiness, and there’s a big push coming from the left on Single Payer. Could a big blue wave be coming this fall? Joel Wood, Joel Kopperud and Blaire Bartlett of The Council’s government affairs team, break it all down from their perch in DC.

The marijuana industry is quickly growing. As more states legalize, more businesses need insurance. But the industry is plagued by conflicting federal and state law. Scott Sinder, The Council’s chief legal officer and partner at Steptoe & Johnson, breaks it all down and shares his thoughts on what the DOJ’s latest moves mean. Read more: http://leadersedgemagazine.com/articles/2017/11/its-high-time-we-deal-with-pot/

Done right, social selling can open up a world of possibility. But if your producers aren’t engaged, they may be missing the boat. Our conversation with Steven Handmaker, CMO of Assurance Agency, uncovers the good, the bad and the opportunity of social selling.

Understanding data to improve the client experience, a spotlight on Insurtech and opportunities within the insurance value chain. Our conversation with Martha Notaras, Partner, XL Innovate.

The recent rise in extreme weather events puts a spotlight on catastrophic trends, the uninsured rate, economic effects and the NFIP. How can the insurance industry help address these issues? Tune into our conversation with Sean Kevelighan, President & CEO, Insurance Information Institute.

Focusing on both defense and offense when it comes to cyber exposure. Our conversation with Arvind Parthasarathi, CEO, Cyence.

What does a new leader need to know to help shape the future of their firm? Our conversation with Dr. Steven Stowell, Founder & President, Center for Management & Organization Effectiveness.

We want people to shop around for their healthcare, but we don’t necessarily arm them with all the tools to do so. Kim Buckey, vice president of client services at DirectPath, helps Fortune 1000 employers engage their staff in healthcare decisions. She’ll discuss where we are in terms of improving healthcare consumerism and where we still need to go.

InsurTech’s role in transforming the management of health benefits—from emerging technologies around accessing care and care delivery to predictive analytics and improving employee engagement. Our conversation with Derek Newell, President of Castlight Health.

What is the Leadership Challenge and its impact in the workplace? Our conversation with Roxanne Kaufman Elliot, President, ProLaureate.

The most pressing issues in cybersecurity and what role insurance brokers play. A discussion with Tom Kellerman, CEO, Strategic Cyber Ventures.

The Council's Joel Kopperud featured on The David Bach Show talking Colorado Amendment 69

Amendment 69, also known as “ColoradoCare,” is a ballot initiative in the State of Colorado which would completely dissolve employer-provided health benefits and the workers’ compensation insurance market in Colorado. The legislation aims to create a state-operated single-payer health regime and would be devastating to consumer choice, while almost doubling the current state budget. Educating individuals and businesses on what Amendment 69 could mean for cost, quality and access to healthcare was the main point of this podcast with Rob Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer of The IMA Financial Group Inc., in Denver, Colo. Listen to Cohen's conversation with The Council's Joel Kopperud.

Health Advocate is a leading U.S. health and patient advocacy and assistance company that helps more than 40 million employers and consumers navigate the health care system. Listen in to Begley’s conversation with The Council’s Cheryl Matochik.

MSH is one of the largest and most comprehensive suppliers of expatriate insurance services in the world with more than 330,000 insured participants covered worldwide from four regional head offices in Calgary, Paris, Dubai and Shanghai. Listen in to de Dreuzy’s conversation with The Council’s Chief Legal Officer, Scott Sinder.

COUNCILcast Episode 2 – Jon Picoult, Founder & Principal, Watermark Consulting What is customer experience and why does it matter? Jon Picoult, founder and principal of Watermark Consulting, explains the importance of customer experience in business terms: 1. People will pay more for a positive customer experience; 2. A great customer experience increases revenue and reduces (or at least controls) operating expenses; 3. Happy, loyal clients complain less. COUNCILcast is a podcast series brought to you by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.

COUNCILcast Episode 1 – Natalie Holder How do subtle biases interfere with engaging employees and innovating in the workplace? How do micro-inequities inadvertently erode the confidence of rising leaders? Is your company at risk? Natalie Holder, an employment lawyer and author of “Exclusion: Strategies for Increasing Diversity in Recruitment, Retention and Promotion” explains the difference between diversity and inclusion and how a company’s ability to recruit top talent increases dramatically when it improves its inclusive workplace culture. COUNCILcast is a podcast series brought to you by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.