Today’s guest is an insurance professional who has just completed forty years in the market.
Over that time he has built a reputation as the consummate underwriter’s underwriter.
But by some strange coincidence our paths hadn’t crossed – until now.
We can complain about Monte Carlo all we want but it never fails to throw up wonderful opportunities to meet the most senior and prestigious figures in the global insurance and reinsurance industry.
So it was that I finally met Jack Kuhn, President of Westfield Specialty at a meeting table in a conference hall in the bowels of the Fairmont Hotel.
At Monte Carlo everyone is in talking mode and so what follows is the classic fast-paced kind of conversation you have ten times a day when down at the Rendez-Vous.
But listening back in the cold light of day, it’s Jack’s underwriting leadership qualities that really stand out – even in such a frenetic environment.
He is calm and focused and has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve. Like all the best underwriters, he is never dismissive of new ideas, but weighs them carefully and leaves you in no doubt where he stands.
Westfield Specialty is in an enviable position, now writing around $2.4bn of gross premium, as part of a mutual group with a 178-year pedigree, it can evaluate and navigate the market on its merits, without pressure to grow.
And that’s where this conversation shines. It’s liberating to talk to an underwriter with such a long and successful career, being given the chance to design an underwriting shop that is applying the full benefit of all that experience.
Jack is clearly in his element and really enjoying this latest chapter in his career, and this conversation encompasses all the big themes:
The challenges of a highly competitive insurance and reinsurance market, emerging automatic digital underwriting and AI as an emerging casualty peril, all have a strong showing, among many other themes.
It’s always great to finally meet someone you have heard a lot about, but it can sometimes be a little anticlimactic. I am pleased to report that this meeting exceeded all expectations and my only regret is not having met Jack twenty years earlier.
LINKS:
We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:
https://www.advantagego.com
