ACORD names Top 10 Insurtech Leaders
December 20, 2018 5:56 AM
Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
Insurance industry association ACORD has released its list of Top 10 Insurtech Leaders for 2018. The second year for the list, CEO Bill Pieroni says the organization looked at "vision, execution, and impact" in assembling the list. "These are people truly driving meaningful, global change," he added.
Beth Maerz, Travelers
As VP of customer experience & innovation, ACORD notes that Maerz is "highly respected at Travelers and throughout the industry for continuously enabling transformative change within the business. She has a true commitment to driving growth through innovation at Travelers, by clearly formulating and articulating an innovation strategy and its impact on the business."
Yucel Yalim
Sastry Durvasula, Marsh
The broker's chief digital officer and chief data and analytics officer, leveraged blockchain and other cutting-edge technology to tackle problems as diverse as proof of insurance, pandemic risk, and social engineering fraud, in his first year on the job.
Sabine Vanderlinden, Startupbootcamp
The CEO for the insurtech business at the acclerator program is on the list for the second year. Running programs in London and Hartford, "VanderLinden and her team have demonstrated a keen ability to pick winners and enable their success," ACORD says, noting that 70% of participating startups since 2010 are still active - including 30% female-led companies.
Snejina Zacharia, Insurify
The insurtech founder and CEO has grown her company considerably, using AI, advanced analytics, and natural language processing, to optimize the online car insurance shopping experience.
Paul Meeusen, B3i
The former Head of Distributed Ledger Technology at Swiss Re is working to change the way insurance companies exchange data and trade risks in his new role at the insurance blockchain consortium B3i. Meeusen's leadership "has been critical to supporting blockchain's transformation potential across the entire insurance value chain," ACORD says.
Shaun Crawford, EY
The global vice chair and leader of EY's global insurance practice has been responsible for designing and delivering major transformation and start-up initiatives for several European insurers. His key role in launching Insurwave, the world's first blockchain marine insurance platform brought him to ACORD's list for the second year.
Michael Jackowski, Duck Creek Technologies
The CEO and director for the core systems company is recognized for leading and managing multiple innovative technology efforts simultaneously across the globe. "The insurance industry is fortunate to have his leadership and expertise," ACORD writes.
Tim Batten and Sourav Shah, MetLife Australie
Batten, the CIO, and Shah, the senior digital project manager, are recognized jointly to highlight the importance of teamwork in transformation. "At MetLife, they have proven adept at utilizing new technologies to fulfill customer needs, including groundbreaking work on API plugins for the Australian market," ACORD says.
John Taylor, DXC Technology
As account GM, Taylor founded Digital Minds, a program initiated by DXC Technology, to help enable needed digital transformation in the London market
Jeff To, Salesforce
The company's global head of insurance appears on the list for a second year. ACORD says To's efforts have enabled digitization of the customer experience and made a positive impact throughout the insurance value chain worldwide.