Leader's Edge

Having previously served as chief futurist at Deloitte, global innovation director at Accenture, a venture capital co-founder, and an inventor, Mike Bechtel has more than 25 years of experience with technology and innovation. Starting with the basic tools developed by ancient ancestors, Mike explains how to view today’s advanced technology with the right perspective. Data centers, AI, and quantum...

In this episode of The Politics & Risk Podcast, Democratic Rep. Linda Sánchez of California’s 38th Congressional District discusses the impacts of the upcoming expiration of Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies and issues of affordability in America, and offers her thoughts on President Donald Trump's leadership. Council Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Joel Kopperud and Vice...

Bars and other alcohol-serving establishments have been rocked by high premium increases and liabilities, which have resulted in business closures and job losses across America. In this podcast, Leader’s Edge writer Russ Banham takes us on a journey through his reporting and shows how a hard market for a specific type of coverage can easily disrupt a centuries-old U.S. industry.

Trucordia’s COO Michael Moran open up about the process of integrating acquired companies. Being a substantial brokerage acquirer in recent years, Trucordia is undergoing the multi-pronged process of integrating those acquired companies into one. From the tech stack to the branding to the culture, integration is a complicated process. This conversation gets under the hood of that work.

During the 2025 Insurance Leadership Forum, Paul Kottler, president of U.S. Loss Adjusting for Crawford, discusses how claims adjusting has changed in recent years given the changing weather environment, and whether policyholder needs have changed as well. He also explains how advanced technology is being used in claims handling and what success looks like in this environment.

In this episode of the Leader's Edge podcast, recorded live at The Council’s 2025 Insurance Leadership Forum, Dan Fortin, president of specialty insurance at QBE North America, dives into the intricacies of relationships in the specialty business. He describes how key relationships early in his underwriting career helped him to grow and understand the industry in new ways. He also discusses the ch...

At last month’s Insurance Leadership Forum, Leader’s Edge podcast host Zach Ewell sat down with Jochen Körner, CEO of Ecclesia Group, and Warren Downey, Group Chief Executive Officer of Specialist Risk Group, for a candid and wide-ranging conversation. The two leaders unpack how a major deal between their firms came together, offer sharp insights on the surge of brokers entering the continental Eu...

In this episode of our personal lines podcast series, Eric Diamond, President and CEO of Marshall+Sterling, shares how joining the military helped bring structure to his life, the lessons he learned while serving our country, and who inspires his leadership style.

Talking with Leader’s Edge onsite at the 2025 Insurance Leadership Forum, Darren Tasker, Head of Construction and Tom Houlihan, Head of Alternative risk transfer at Allianz Commercial, take a deep dive into the construction line of business. They discuss the current risk landscape, the risks of labor shortages and tariffs on construction, the rise of data centers and the challenges of insuring the...

London & International Insurance Brokers' Association Chief Executive Chris Croft sat down with the Leader's Edge podcast during the latest Insurance Leadership Forum to share key findings from The Innovation Imperative, a report from LIIBA, Gracechurch, and Trimstone Partners laying out brokers' key role in today's insurance value chain.

In this episode, Cyber Product Lead for E-Risk Services John Butler talks third-party risk, AI exposure, and more middle market cyber risk. The conversation covers the overall cyber threat landscape for medium-sized businesses, the growth of third-party risk, and new exposures coming from AI. We also discuss threat actors’ use of AI and how underwriters are responding.

In this episode of The Politics & Risk Podcast, Democratic Representative Adam Gray of California’s 13th Congressional District shares how the ongoing government shutdown is affecting his constituents—and what can be done to end it. The Council’s senior vice president Joel Kopperud, vice president of government affairs Blaire Bartlett, and director of government affairs Audra Jackson also join the...

With the last day of the conference buzzing around us, the Leader’s Edge podcast caught up with Rob Newbold, president of extreme event solutions at Verisk. He shared takeaways from Verisk’s latest Global Modeled Catastrophe Losses report, discussed how modeling has evolved to use new data and technology and respond to modern climate risk, and offered suggestions for better integration and use of...

Speaking with the Leader’s Edge podcast at the Insurance Leadership Forum, Julie Wood, CEO of QBE North America, discusses the culture of dialogue, thoughtful listening, and transparency that she is fostering at QBE. She shares candid learning experiences from her personal history that are truly valuable lessons for leaders everywhere.

Sitting down with Leader’s Edge during at the Insurance Leadership Forum, Mike Victorson, CEO of M3 Insurance and co-CEO of BrokerTech Ventures, takes us back to his first real leadership experience and all the way through to what the next five years of innovation could look like in the insurance industry. Don’t miss this conversation live from ILF!

In this episode of the Personal Lines podcast, Chad King, CEO of King Risk Partners, shares how his career pursuits led him from professional baseball to insurance, what its like running a small business, and shares stories of leadership and innovation.

Every October, millions of Americans flock to haunted house attractions, or "haunts" as they are also called, to be entertained. From theme parks to mom-and-pop operations, over 1,200 haunted attractions open their doors to scare seekers each year, according to the organization America Haunts. The haunted house industry generates $500 million in ticket sales annually, with an average of 8,000 gues...

In this episode of the Personal Lines podcast, Curtis Barton, CEO of ALKEME, shares why he chose a career in insurance, what it was like building a business alongside his father, and the most valuable business lesson he’s learned along the way.

Nationwide’s John Anthony, SVP, Contract P&C and Excess, E&S Wholesale, discusses advanced data use in E&S underwriting. In this episode, we dive deep into advancements in data analysis in underwriting in excess and surplus lines. We discuss how the evolution of third-party data and the use of AI have helped turn raw data into usable information, change management and barriers to implementing adva...

AXA XL’s Head of Wholesale Solutions in the Americas Tim Whisler discusses growth, goals, and getting there. In our latest conversation with AXA XL, we discuss their focus on building out their wholesale solutions, including the programs segment, excess & surplus (E&S), and the wholesale underwriting unit. Topics include the value of the wholesale broker in complex risk markets, trends in E&S, and...

Lisa Hawker, Regional COO of people solutions at Lockton, and the current chair of the Council of Employee Benefits Executives, and Jenn Walsh, Founder and CEO of Genuine Shift, sat down with Leader’s Edge at the 2025 Employee Benefits Leadership Forum. They share stories drawn from over 30 years each of experience, muse on trends, and focus on the future of employee benefits.

Tom O’Neal's career has spanned over half a century. He made an early name for himself during the 1960s and ’70s, with photographs gracing the album covers of rock legends such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Steppenwolf, B.B. King, John Denver, and many, many more. In addition to photographing the musicians and songwriters who defined a generation, Tom has spent the past two decades photographin...

In this episode of the Personal Lines podcast, Ed Cha shares how his career path led to the insurance industry, says why he finds learning a reward for his job, and dives deep into the problem-solving intricacies of his role.

In this episode, Leader's Edge hosts its third conversation at The Council's Employee Benefits Leadership Forum, with Ahmed Marmoush, co-founder and CEO of Handl Health, an AI platform that aggregates and analyzes publicly available healthcare pricing data to aid insurance brokers. A world traveler, Marmoush discusses his life’s journey of immigrating to several countries, how he was inspired to s...

In this episode, FIRST Insurance Funding Vice President of Business Solutions Nolan Steenberg goes deep on agency payment processing system integration. Steenberg dives into detail around the current state of automation and the benefits agencies can reap when investing in integration. Later he shares what options suit different-size agencies. FIRST Insurance Funding is not endorsing any specific p...