Leader's Edge

In this episode of our personal lines podcast series, associate editor Chris Hann interviews Jack Butcher, Chairman and CEO of Vantage Insurance Partners. Butcher shares personal stories and reasons why he’s spent part of his career volunteering with fire and emergency rescue services, how his life of volunteering draws parallels to his career in insurance, lessons he’s learned from mentors, and s...

During the 2026 Employee Benefits Leadership Forum in May, the outgoing chair of The Council of Employee Benefits Executives (CEBE), Lisa Hawker, sat down with Kerry Finnegan, former senior partner at Mercer and also a past CEBE board chair, now a senior advisor at Oliver Wyman. CEBE is the executive committee that guides The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers government affairs team in benefit...

Eric Rentsch, Zywave’s chief product officer and head of emerging markets, talks with Leader’s Edge onsite at the 2026 Employee Benefits Leadership Forum. The conversation centers around AI use in insurance industry operations and covers issues including embedding AI more effectively into existing workflows, roadblocks to implementation and strategies for overcoming them, how to measure AI ROI, an...

Speaking with Leader’s Edge onsite at the 2026 Employee Benefits Leadership Forum, Jon Trevisan, vice president and head of distribution for group insurance at Prudential, shares takeaways from Prudential’s recently published research in its Benefits and Beyond series. The conversation covers employees’ financial strain and the trade-offs they make as a result, the effects on their mental and phys...

Recorded live at The Council's Employee Benefits Leadership Forum, Leader's Edge Podcast Producer Zach Ewell sits down with Massimo Nini, SVP of Consulting, Underwriting, and Actuarial at AGA Benefit Solutions. Nini maps out the Canadian healthcare landscape, by comparing and contrasting the American healthcare system with its northern neighbor. From the rise of GLP-1s to evolving healthcare legis...

A conversation with Dan Kueter, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Employer and Individual. One of the most crucial topics discussed in healthcare coverage today is the challenge of affordability. Diving right in, Dan Kueter discusses where employers are most focused in dealing with healthcare coverage affordability and how they see it affecting their workforces. Other issues like plan simplicity and transpa...

Q&A with the Jessica Jung, President of Oswald.

As life grows increasingly complex, exemplified today by the risk and promise of artificial intelligence, it can be easy to become frozen with overthinking about the next steps, says author Daniel Pink. But sometimes life demands more action and less analysis, he believes. Speaking to Leader’s Edge Editor in Chief Sandy Laycox and Podcast Producer Zach Ewell at The Council’s Operations Leadership...

In this episode, Leader’s Edge Editor in Chief Sandy Laycox sits down with David Glasgow, a leading legal expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion, to unpack the rapidly shifting legal landscape surrounding workplace DEI programs. Glasgow walks through the cases he’s watching most closely, explaining why they could have far-reaching implications for employers across industries, and how the curre...

A conversation with the President of Risk and Broking at WTW.

A candid conversation on influence, memes, and insurance with the admin behind The Hard Market. The Hard Market jokingly describes itself as a safe place for insurance professionals, and it’s not wrong. Where else would you find memes about additional endorsements? From its humble beginnings in 2019 as an Instagram page for memes about the industry, The Hard Market has grown to over 66,000 followe...

With the Artemis II crew completing the first crewed lunar flyby in 50 years, space is back in the spotlight, and so is the complex world of risk that surrounds it. In this episode of the Leader’s Edge Podcast, Denis Bensoussan, head of space at Beazley, discusses innovations from the maturing space insurance market. From satellite constellations circling the globe to the possibility of data cente...

In this episode of the Leader's Edge podcast John Jackovin, executive director of the BrokerTech Ventures Accelerator, shares what he's seeing on the front lines of insurance innovation. As artificial intelligence moves from buzzword to business tool, the startups inside the BTV Accelerator are finding sharper, more sophisticated ways to put it to work. Jackovin breaks down the trends defining thi...

After years as a leading independent acquirer, the Leavitt Group recently sold a 21% stake in its business, but it has remained near the top of the list of active buyers. Speaking with Leader’s Edge Editor in Chief Sandy Laycox, agency Executive Chairman and CEO Eric Leavitt discusses the reasoning behind the sale, why succession planning is central to its M&A approach, the two-year journey to gai...

Part two of our conversation with Chris Sparro, CEO of North America for Sompo Commercial P&C Insurance. In in this episode of the Leader's Edge podcast, Chris Sparro, CEO of North America for Sompo Commercial P&C Insurance, continues his discussion of talent and technology in the workplace. Sparro dives deep into the world of technology adoption. If you’re in the middle of a tech overhaul, or abo...

In this episode of the Leader's Edge podcast, Chris Sparro, CEO of North America for Sampo Commercial P&C Insurance, discusses talent and training in today's insurance industry. They explore the newest generation entering the workforce, the diverse backgrounds they bring, the tech skills they carry, and the areas where they’re eager to grow. The conversation opens with a look at how this influx of...

In this episode, Associate Editor Chris Hann sits down with Patrick Kinney, CEO of Keystone Agency Partners, for a wide-ranging conversation about his journey in the insurance industry. Kinney, a returning guest, traces his path from his early days in insurance after college, through more than thirty years at Travelers, to his current role leading Keystone Agency Partners. Along the way, he shares...

Against a backdrop of music, laughter, and clashing steel, Renaissance fairs create an atmosphere where history and imagination blur together. From their unconventional origins to their modern-day popularity, these events combine entertainment, entrepreneurship, and live performance in ways that introduce a wide range of exposures for organizers, vendors, and performers. Journey with market analys...

From the Today show to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and beyond, Meredith Vieira's career spans decades and many famous television brands. In this discussion moderated by Council Meetings and Culture Associate Samantha Willow at the Insurance Leadership Forum, Vieira takes us on a journey through her career’s most memorable moments, and shares how she’s been able to pivot jobs in the ever-changing...

Michele Sansone, chief underwriting officer of property and head of multinational solutions for the Americas for AXA XL, joins the Leader's Edge podcast to share key focus areas for 2026. Data centers continue to pop up across America. Their massive power needs and building requirements are impacting policyholders and the property market as a whole. Meanwhile, the industry is reevaluating the impa...

Journalist and author David Brooks sat down with Leader's Edge during the 2025 Insurance Leadership Forum. Having recently written his book, How to Know a Person, Brooks discusses why he set out to better understand others around him and what he gained from the experience, how leaders today can better support new graduates, and more.

In this episode of our personal lines podcast series, Andy Barker, CEO of Houchens Insurance Group, pulls back the curtain on what leadership looks like at his business. Additionally he shares why giving back to the Bowling Green Kentucky community is central to his mission, and what drives him to start every day at 4:40 a.m.

In this episode of The Politics & Risk Podcast, The Council’s senior vice president of government affairs, Joel Kopperud, and Audra Jackson, director of government affairs, are joined by Matt Kirk, head of North American retail placement at Acrisure. Jackson and Kirk both served in White House Office of Legislative Affairs, respectively during the Biden and George W. Bush administrations. They sha...

In this episode of The Politics & Risk Podcast, Republican Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District shares how his background as a McDonald’s franchisee owner influenced his outlook on employer-sponsored healthcare, expresses his support for individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, and discuses changes he wants to see to third-party litigation funding. Council Senior...

Joseph Schauer, President and CEO of Schauer Group, joins our personal lines podcast to share the 106-year history of his family's firm and discuss what gives him his competitive edge in business. He also touches upon how his hometown of Canton, Ohio, was vital to shaping his life.