Building a data-forward insurance culture

Written By Ann Boger

Last night, a diverse group of insurance leaders met to share their experience, mingle and talk change in the insurance industry. Featuring Christyn Yoast and Xu Cheng, we started off with a few stories about developing a growth mindset, leading from a service mindset and creating a breadcrumb trail to behavior change. As the circle of conversation expanded, here are some of my favorite take-aways:

  • Doing something is better than nothing. Challenge your team to interact with data or AI in a way they choose - as long as they start.

  • For small startups and new MGAs working with larger incumbents, find the mid-level decision maker who can approve your partnership without running it up the flagpole. If that means starting smaller, pare down - it’s more likely to succeed than going for that moonshot.

  • Climate, climate, climate. We HAVE to explore new ways of addressing multi-peril risk in this country and there are great examples from around the globe.

  • Are we a relationship business or a data business? BOTH. We must find ways to use data to foster relationships and must have the relationships to leverage the data.

Ann Boger

Ann Boger is the founder of Bramble & Bird Consulting and Managing Director of Velarium Labs, a new benefits incubator launching in 2026. She is a fractional executive across multiple healthcare and insurance startups; was previously VP of Scaling for Coterie Insurance and Chief Operating Officer of Freelancers Union and Insurance Company before health reform. She splits her time between New York City and coastal Maine.

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