People Moves: Former Lexington Exec Heads to FutureProof; Hourly.io Hires From Markel; Leisz Joins Nationwide E&S; New CIO at Ryan Specialty
San Diego-based FutureProof Technologies has hired Joseph Strickland as head of underwriting. He was previously senior vice president at AIG’s Lexington Specialty Isurance Agency.
FutureProof calls itself a “climate-smart property/casualty insurtech” and is backed by Axis Digital Ventures as well as MS&AD Ventures. The company has raised nearly $10 million in venture funding and will enter the market later this year, offering Florida E&S homeowners insurance quotes through its algorithmic underwriting and pricing platform.
At Lexington, Strickland led regional property teams across the United States.
“Joe’s unique combination of Florida knowledge, deep experience delivering E&S products through wholesale distribution, and passion for climate-smart underwriting make him a perfect fit for FutureProof,” said FutureProof co-founder and CEO, Alisa Valderrama.
Hourly.io Taps Markel’s Exec as Head of Underwriting
Workers’ compensation insurtech Hourly said it hired former Markel executive Jerico Vinsonhaler to serve as head of underwriting. Vinsonhaler spent 20 years leading underwriting strategy at Markel.
As head of underwriting, Vinsonhaler will oversee Hourly’s overall underwriting strategy, portfolio management and manage the underwriting team.
“Hourly is the only player in the industry that is integrating real-time data from the field, payroll, and workers’ comp,” said Vinsonhaler. “What really drew me to the company was the impact it could have on employers and employees. Because we have the opportunity to engage directly with both on a daily basis, we see labor costs in real time which means premiums are accurate, claims are reduced, and workers’ comp insurance ultimately becomes more affordable for everyone.”
Established in 2018, Hourly said it bridges the gap between workers’ comp, payroll, and time tracking and simplifies paying and insuring hourly workers for small and medium-sized businesses through its full-service platform.
In June 2022, Hourly announced that it raised $27 million in Series A funding led by Glilot Capital Partners with participation from S Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, and MS&AD. The company has raised a total of $34.2M in venture capital to date.
Leisz Joins Nationwide Alternative Ventures team
Chris Leisz has joined Nationwide’s E&S/Specialty Alternative Ventures leadership team to lead the Alternative Ventures Organization, reporting to John Lopes, senior vice president, Programs, Alternative Ventures and Innovation.
In this role, Leisz will be responsible for ensuring the successful growth of existing ventures and reviewing new opportunities.
“We’re continuing to invest in Alternative Ventures and grow business through implementing innovative solutions across product, distribution, and strategic partnerships,” said Lopes. “In a short amount of time, Alternative Ventures has been very successful in launching key growth initiatives. As we expand the organization, I am confident Chris will be a tremendous asset to the team.”
Leisz joins Nationwide from Risk Placement Services where he served as president of RPS Signature Programs Division, leading all operational activities including strategic planning, business, and corporate development, P&L, M&A, and Market Relationships since early 2018.
Ryan Specialty Hires New CIO
Ryan Specialty Holdings said insurance information technology veteran Bradley Bodell has joined the firm as chief information officer. In this role, Brad will lead Ryan Specialty’s technology and security teams and be
responsible for developing the vision, strategy and technology capabilities needed to enable and support revenue growth, drive operational excellence and mitigate risks across the enterprise.
Patrick G. Ryan, CEO, said: “We are thrilled to add Brad to the Ryan Specialty team. Brad has a long history of establishing information technology excellence at insurance organizations, and we expect that his outstanding abilities and pioneering vision will fit in well at Ryan Specialty. As CIO, we are confident that Brad will bring tremendous value to our firm.”