Awkward Insurance

Terrie Strain, CIC is an experienced seasoned underwriter. She has 25 plus years’ experience in commercial underwriting.  All 25 plus years have been in the Excess and Surplus lines as an underwriter. She is currently an underwriter at Med James, Inc.    She is always up for a challenge in underwriting a risk and specializing in all arenas connected to commercial lines. Focusing exclusively on ris...

Co-owner and Cofounder of Insurance Soup, the Collective Agency Council, Career Insurance Agents, Tacobot, Agency Elephant, The Insurance Content Project, Soup LIVE. Staunch Agent advocate. Industry and insuretech investor. www.facebook.com/groups/insurancesoup www.theinsurancesoup.com www.souplive2024.com Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk &am...

Richard McCathron, CIC, CPCU – President & CEO of Hippo , has served as a member of the Board of Directors since February 2017. Prior to Hippo, Mr. McCathron held senior executive positions at various insurance companies including First Connect Insurance as its President & CEO from October 2012 to February 2017, Superior Access Insurance as its President & CEO from June 2007 to October 2010 and Me...

Jacob Galecki is the Founder and Managing Principal of Galecki Search Associates , a professional and executive recruiting firm specializing in technical and analytical insurance talent. Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our participants and th...

Michael Koscielny, MBA, CPCU, CIC , is founder and chief executive officer of Born2Lead, LLC. He has more than 40 years of experience creating effective teams and innovative processes for underwriting and pricing. He serves as the Director of Field Marketing for The University of Olivet since July of 2023. He is an Instructor for The National Alliance and The Institutes. Koscielny has held many ro...

Chris Greene is the President and Owner of The Flood Insurance Guru. He is married to Stephani Greene, and they have one daughter Lydia Greene. He graduated with a master’s degree in emergency management with a focus in hazard mitigation from Jacksonville State University in 2007. He started his insurance career in 2009 and launched The Flood Insurance guru in 2018. The Flood Insurance Guru is a f...

Laurie Dawson – Dawson and Associates, Inc. Laurie Dawson is the principal of Treaster, Dawson and Associates, Inc., a Full-Service Group Insurance Consulting and Employee Benefits Brokerage Firm. With more than 30 years of experience in employee benefits and human resource administration, Laurie provides a wealth of knowledge and expertise. She and her staff strive to provide concierge-level serv...

Adam Rimmer first saw the potential of parametric insurance while working at RMS, the world’s largest catastrophe modeling firm. Whilst there, he and co-founder Ian Bartholomew structured and modeled triggers on over $2bn of parametric insurance products and catastrophe bonds to protect governments and large corporations in the US and around the world. They are now using those same principles on a...

We'd love to hear from you too! Share with us your favorite episode from this remarkable season over on our Awkward Insurance Facebook Group . Let's continue this dynamic conversation together! 🗣️💬 Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our partici...

Beth Benhart - Senior Director of Instructional Design - Beth began her career in secondary education and made the switch to the corporate world after earning her Master’s in Educational Technology from Michigan State University. She has spent the last six years of her career developing training programs for insurance and risk management professionals. Beth has experience with all facets of learni...

Elevate your risk management and finance expertise with the Risk Management Essentials publication. Published by the National Alliance Research Academy, this comprehensive resource offers practical insights and technical know-how to propel your career forward. Invest in your success today and order your copy now. Chelsea  Adler  is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) currently workin...

Learn more about HO4 by enrolling in the CISR Insuring Personal Residential Property Course Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our participants and their clients for confidence and success.  

In this episode, we hear from David Carothers from  Florida Risk Partners and the  Power Producer Podcast , Garrett Droege from  IMA Financial Group , Rick McCathron from  Hippo , Aviad Pinkovezky from  Hippo / First Connect , Denise Garth from  Majesco , Wesley Pergament from  Sola Insurance , Jeff Shi from Insurtech Group , and Adam Wacker . Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance...

Hear from Bobbie Collies, CIC from  Coterie Insurance , Anna Kupik and Jacob Galecki from  Galecki Search Associates , Adam Rimmer from  Floodflash , Susan Winkler from  CT IFS , Kevin Abramson from  Cover Whale , Brent Williams from  Benekiva , Katie Wade from  Dunraven Strategies , and Aaron Gordon from  Gordon Companies . Listen to even more exclusive Insurtech interviews in our Day 2 coverage...

Join the Awkward Insurance Facebook Group!  Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our participants and their clients for confidence and success.  

Sydney Hoffmans - iTrust Insurance Group -  Sydney Hoffmans is an Arkansas native and second-generation insurance agent. With over a decade of insurance experience, she has worked in various roles at small and large captive and independent agencies, as well as commercial insurance carriers. In 2017, she joined her family’s independent agency, iTrust Insurance Group, as an insurance advisor. Sydney...

Seth Marana, CIC, TRA, CRM- Member Experience Manager - Ohio Insurance Agents Association  Optimist, self-proclaimed IA hype-man, and insurance nerd, Seth Marana fell into the insurance industry and has been running full steam ahead to make his dent within the independent agency channel. Having served as both a Personal and Commercial Lines agent for nearly 6 years and while earning his CIC, CRM,...

Taylor Garcia, CIC : Taylor quickly fell in love with the insurance industry after starting work at his in-law's agency in 2015. Coming from a creative background, creating videos, marketing, and social media content has worked really well in his career as a producer. Taylor has earned the CIC designation and is currently the VP of Jackson and Jackson Insurance in San Dimas, CA. Need advice on pro...

GARRETT DROEGE, CIC, CPCU, CLCS, CBIA, CWCA, CRIS Garrett Droege serves as Senior Vice President and Director of Innovation and Digital Risk Practice Leader at IMA Financial. His role oversees IMA’s national focus in the technology, and digital risk verticals (collectively called the Advanced Industries Specialty). He also co-manages IMA Labs , IMA’s insurtech innovation, investment, and strategy...

Ms. Liljenberg , entered the insurance business in 2004 as she started her first agency from ground zero, growing the business to over $6 million in revenue in less than 12 years. Ms. Liljenberg holds a BA in Journalism/Public Relations and a MA in Political Science/Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is a Professional Financial Representative holding both Series 6...

Taylor quickly fell in love with the insurance industry after starting work at his in-laws agency in 2015. Coming from a creative background, creating videos, marketing and social media content has worked really well in his career as a producer. Taylor has earned the CIC designation and is currently the VP of Jackson and Jackson Insurance in San Dimas, CA. The Dynamics Series is renowned with agen...

Carey Wallace: Carey works with agencies all across the country to understand their value and leverage it to position themselves for growth and plan for the future. Realize your full producing potential with our Dynamics Producer Coaching program. Learn more: https://www.scic.com/dynamics-producer-coaching/ Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk &a...

In this episode, hosts Dustyne Bryant & Ashley Fitzsimmons hang out with Jordan Burns, CEO of Beyond Insurance Group in Michigan to discuss his fast-paced journey into the insurance industry. Jordan explains how he found the courage and confidence to go from P&C producer to agency owner in two short years by leveraging connections, community, and membership with the Big I Michigan to become succes...

Elisa Stampf CEO/Co-Founder of Insure Equality Elisa  “fell” into insurance over a decade ago. She spent most of her time on the carrier side with regional and national carriers; she was an underwriter for commercial lines and a marketing rep for the Chicagoland area. Throughout her insurance career, Elisa was a sales leader, a trainer, and an advocate for giving campaigns within her companies. Sh...

Awkward Insurance will be back in January but in the meantime be sure to check out our previous episodes, Join the Facebook Community, and check out all of our other insurance & risk management content!  Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our pa...