Catherine Myers is chief operating officer of reThought Flood, a data-driven flood insurtech MGA that deploys multiple data analytics and risk models to price flood risk.
Myers, who served as reThought Flood's engineering manager and then vice president of engineering prior to her current role, is responsible for ensuring the implementation and application of the insurtech's technology and strategic initiatives.
Though she started her career in the flood insurance industry in 2022, Myers' experience in technology and project leadership spans over nearly 30 years. Past roles included responsibilities and management of lifecycle project management, business and process development, information technology and system engineering.
"This was one of those amazing opportunities…I help run the technology team, but you also have to understand the business. That's one of the things I love to be able to do–that translation between the business and the technology," said Myers. "I'm still learning, and I will always say that I'm still learning, but the more I learn, the more it helps me make sure that the technology is going to match our needs and be here for the long term."
Myers' accomplishments with reThought Flood have been many: she developed and implemented a quality assurance and testing process throughout the insurtech's technology departments, restructured the tech team and documentation processes and also optimized the sales and marketing functions after assuming her current role.
She noted that working with digital transformation in the insurance industry has presented some challenges.
"One of the things that I keep running into is standardization. There is not a standard way to do anything. So one of the things that we're finding is trying to make sure that we have input processes and procedures in place so that we can make sure things are correct," Myers explained. "And when you work with different insurers, our communication is different and our reporting is different, because what one carrier wants from another one is very different."
"Working in a non-standardized environment is challenging. It's challenging, but it's also really rewarding, because I look at it as a puzzle. It's something that we get to figure out," she added. "So I look at that as a way of peeling apart the issue and trying to find the most simple way to get what we need done."
Though some parts of the insurance industry may be slower to adopt new technologies, Myers is excited to be part of the digital transformation with reThought Flood and its partners.
"[Insurance] is definitely an old industry… Being on the insurtech side of it, I've been able to work with some of the really new technology–taking this new technology and working with our carriers and partners to ensure we make that transformation of really cool insurtech technology and translate that into what a standard insurance business needs," stated Myers. "Again, one of the things that we're finding is that there isn't a lot of standardization which, I think, is a challenge for anyone."
From her own experience throughout her career, Myers advises others to never stop learning about new areas or developing new skills.
"Not just for insurance, but in general, be curious. I think that if you are curious, and you want to dig into a problem and not just take things at surface level, that's going to put you at a huge advantage..." said Myers. "Continue to be curious and always have that desire to learn. One of the things that I've really enjoyed with this job and being new here is that I've been able to learn every day. I come up with new things and new challenges, and that's what keeps me excited about my job and excited about what I'm doing. I always say to never stop learning."
