100 Finest Insurance coverage Leaders within the USA | Sizzling 100

“Leaders have been pressured to make peace with chaos. To adapt sooner than regulation permits. To rebuild belief in an age when headlines journey sooner than assist,” says Jeff Arnold, founding father of RightSure. 

The Jacobson Group’s president, Corey Pinkham, paints a equally powerful image of the scenario dealing with trade leaders. 

“Organizations are being hammered by excessive prices, inflation, and huge payouts from latest catastrophes – seeing their margins and profitability constrained. On the identical time, there’s growing strain for leaders to make high-cost technological investments to remain aggressive, particularly in AI,” he says. 

Insurance coverage Enterprise America’s eleventh annual Sizzling 100 record honors those that have risen to the problem and overcome the hurdles on their path. The 2026 record was narrowed right down to those that have formed the insurance coverage trade over the previous 12 months and are the very best the trade has to supply. 

A commonality amongst IBA’s Sizzling 100 has been coping with employment points. 

Zippia analysis means that the common insurance coverage agent’s age is 46 years previous, whereas the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that just about half of the insurance coverage workforce may have retired by 2038. 

Some are impacted by a expertise hole and never seeing sufficient candidates with the mandatory expertise. Nonetheless, the prevailing scenario is leaders unlocking expertise sources with initiative options and coupling that with modern tech to completely leverage their crew’s expertise. 

Hitting $2 billion in premiums in 2025, up from $600 million simply three years in the past, is a testomony to the powerhouse efficiency of the agency’s finance crew. Together with enjoying his half within the rise, Mortimer has confronted retirements and addressed this by rebuilding the crew from the bottom up. 

“The way in which it labored earlier than was there’s a crew, everyone doing a little bit of every thing,” says Mortimer. “So, within the first 12 months, I actually wished to outline the roles and obligations and ensure individuals understood what they owned. While you give possession and accountability, there’s a way of empowerment that they will management what’s happening.” 

As CFO, Mortimer guides guides the enterprise in a fiscally accountable means but additionally makes some extent of understanding the place the agency goes.  

“If you happen to’re all the time going to say no, you’re not going to get a seat on the desk. You should be understanding and listen to different individuals’s perspective and talk at a degree that they perceive in the case of finance. You wish to just remember to’re speaking in a means that they really feel that after they have issues, they’re heard,” he says.
 

“I’ve to be myself on this function and produce my very own ability set, however I have to even have a crew round me that may actually assist with my shortcomings”
Philip MortimerHeffernan Insurance coverage Brokers

Mortimer has additionally shifted the view of the finance division’s function.

He explains, “After I got here in, my objective was to maneuver us from a back-office perform to a enterprise accomplice. The one means you possibly can actually do that’s to ensure that everybody feels empowered to carry their concepts to the desk.” 

Mortimer has inspired this apply from day one and steadily does one-on-one conferences to maintain his finger on the heartbeat. 

“I ask the crew, ‘The place do you wish to be in a 12 months or two years?’ I mix that with what the corporate goes to wish as we transfer ahead from a method perspective. I all the time wish to ensure that the individuals right here have the primary alternative when new roles come up and new asks are required from the enterprise.” 

Holding this pipeline of expertise alive is a precedence for Mortimer, however he by no means loses perspective on what the corporate wants. The technique is to align each initiatives. 

“We’re all the time speaking about, ‘What’s the plan? Who’s the subsequent individual up?’ And if the plan wants to alter for no matter purpose, we are able to pivot. We’ve recognized some high expertise right here at Heffernan who’re able to take that subsequent step of their profession,” he says. 

Crawford & Firm’s GTS crew has undergone 250 % progress over the past three years by specializing in addressing more and more advanced and bigger losses with specialised expertise and a team-based method, enabling sooner and more practical claims administration. 

To attain this and deal with the expertise hole, Crawford & Firm revamped its Protégé Program, which reduces the method to develop into an government basic adjuster from 10–15 years right down to round 5. This system attracts expertise of various backgrounds, a few of whom are straight out of faculty and others already working in different industries.  

Kottler says, “They aren’t mid-career as a result of it’s the youthful crowd that’s becoming a member of, however they’re very sensible, and we pair them with our government basic adjusters or managing government basic adjusters. They’re getting on-the-job coaching from day one.” 
 

“We particularly goal expertise and produce them in. We’ve got CPAs, funding bankers, typical Wall Avenue sorts, and lecturers becoming a member of our ranks”
Paul KottlerCrawford & Firm 

With three many years of expertise, he recollects when insurance coverage corporations didn’t prepare their very own individuals. 

“With the escalation of losses and the dimensions and complexity of the insurance policies, we’ve actually wanted to shut that hole. And the Protégé Program permits us to rapidly get individuals into higher-level positions,” he says. 

Bringing in any such expertise with different levels and trade expertise (e.g., finance, regulation, engineering, and expertise) has made the claims groups extra adaptable and succesful, with youthful professionals driving technological adoption and operational effectivity. 

One other of Kottler’s initiatives was the profitable relaunch of the Ocean Marine Division, facilitated by securing specialised expertise and a focused, expertise-driven method, recognizing the complexity and significance of marine and inland transport in international commerce. 

“It’s one thing that we’ve had our eye on, however you need to have the consultants to do it. It’s a really specialised ability set,” he says. 

The crew is conscious of worldwide implications, but additionally all of America’s home waterways transporting every thing from oil to grain provides. 

Kottler says, “Nearly all of items are transported by water out and in of the US, and now we have among the largest ports on the earth on each side of the nation.” 

McKenna has headed a crew that has seen exceptional progress in each earnings and expertise, with the purpose of servicing Fortune 3000-level corporations.  

MSIG USA’s latest product expansions have been pushed by leveraging its international community, monetary energy, and underwriting expertise to enter markets the place these differentiators matter, with a deal with considerate, long-term progress.
 

“We’re a company that’s been round for over 350 years. We wish to ensure that we’re going to be right here for the subsequent 100 years”
Peter McKennaMSIG USA

There was spectacular progress throughout the crew, as 180 individuals have been employed within the final 12 months, with 13 government leaders. Discovering this wave of latest expertise has allowed MSIG USA to be on the forefront of the trade’s digital revolution. 

“Modernizing the underwriting expertise has attracted us much more individuals, particularly the youthful people,” McKenna says. “It permits us to watch the enterprise extra effectively and alter course if we have to, if issues within the market are altering towards us.”  

A part of this modernization has seen the overwhelming majority of MSIG USA’s high leaders changed over the past 18 months. McKenna describes the atmosphere as “new blood in all places”. 

The brand new senior leaders have been chosen for expertise outdoors of their core insurance coverage roles, to allow them to make sure the agency has a expertise pipeline to allow it to proceed thriving for years to come back. 

“They’re all acknowledged throughout the trade as being very competent of their roles, but additionally have good reputations for working in creating crew environments,” says McKenna. “They’ve constructed companies earlier than, however what I’m most happy with is how they’re spending a number of time with these youthful people. They’re coaching them up and essentially the most spectacular factor is we’re altering the tradition at this group.” 

Main by instance and making certain his crew is ready to develop is a spotlight for Karlinsky. 

He says, “I would like my crew to work exhausting, and I would like them to be educated about points. I attempt to be the toughest working man on the crew.”  

He retains everybody sharp by ensuring they’re all the time within the loop on the most recent trade information and developments. Along with his dedication to fixed analysis and staying knowledgeable, Karlinsky ensures his crew is one step forward. 
 

“I imagine in main by instance in the case of expertise improvement. I try to set a regular for exhausting work, and I encourage my crew to remain always knowledgeable and engaged with the problems our purchasers face”
Fred KarlinskyGreenberg Traurig’s International Insurance coverage Regulatory and Transactions Follow Group

“It requires so much being on the high of your sport on a regular basis. That’s what I anticipate from myself and that’s what I anticipate from the crew, and when the crew will get to that time, they’re positioning themselves finest for skilled improvement in addition to for serving to our purchasers,” he says. 

One other level that Karlinsky advocates is specialization. He encourages staff to develop into greater than generalists to allow them to provide outlined worth. 

“We don’t see a number of circumstances of first impression, and even after we do, there’s some semblance of a number of issues we’ve completed earlier than,” he says. “Specializing to me is a crucial element of being the very best skilled you could be and being environment friendly for purchasers.” 

Expertise shortages are being solved not solely by modern recruitment however by tapping into tech. IBA’s Sizzling 100 are supporters of utilizing techniques and platforms to drive efficiencies and bridge the expertise hole. 

Pinkham lays out the advanced and evolving nature of the present market within the US. 

“There’s growing strain for leaders to make high-cost technological investments to remain aggressive, particularly in AI. Not all leaders should be AI consultants, however they should familiarize themselves with it and deal with constructing groups that possess the precise expertise,” he says. 

Arnold believes future leaders should be “half technologist, half humanist”. 

He explains, “An distinctive chief within the insurance coverage trade of 2026 isn’t measured by coverage counts or premium quantity. They’re measured by the human influence they create – in how they merge expertise with belief and information with empathy.” 

Arnold states that essentially the most urgent problem is integrating new AI-driven tech whereas remaining targeted on shopper outcomes.  

“We’re watching an trade as soon as outlined by paper and endurance remodel into one powered by prediction and personalization,” he says. “AI and automation are not buzzwords, they’re the spine of recent operations. It’s not about who has the most recent software – it’s about who can join the dots finest. Programs speaking to techniques. Leaders studying to steer by information and never simply round it.” 

Kottler spoke of how expertise is necessary however isn’t as innovative as some anticipate. He says, “The efficiencies of expertise insurance coverage are nonetheless many years behind different industries, however I feel it’s catching up, and introducing these newer people into our enterprise is de facto going to make it excel.” 

He additionally notes that whereas the quicker and extra correct entry to info has elevated efficiencies, the technical expertise and human judgment essential to be a high-level adjuster stay the identical. 

One type of tech that has significantly improved Kottler and his crew’s capabilities is using drones and satellite tv for pc imagery to quickly assess claims. 

“If now we have a knowledge heart that’s a $100-million loss, we’re placing drones on it instantly to calculate the sq. footage. We’re asking, ‘What’s the harm? What consultants do we have to get on it?’” 

Mortimer additionally ensures his crew is well-versed within the newest instruments to reinforce their capabilities.  

“If the transactions are the identical, we should be AI, and we should be expertise to have the ability to do these faster,” he says. 

One AI-powered software is Comulate, which permits Heffernan to automate the reconciliation course of. It makes use of a mixture of OCR expertise, machine studying, and AI to carry ahead a course of that used to take days to an hour.  

“We’re attempting to try this to free the parents. We pose inquiries to account managers, business traces managers, and different executives, resembling, ‘What’s the info it’s good to see to make the very best choices?’ We wouldn’t have been ready to try this earlier than as a result of we simply wouldn’t have had the time,” he explains. 

Mortimer stresses how tech and folks can come collectively in an ideal storm. 

He says, “I see there’s a lot expertise on the crew and there’s a lot extra we are able to do. If we leverage some of these expertise, we are able to really carry the enterprise ahead as a accomplice and supply insights that perhaps we wouldn’t have had time beforehand to supply.” 

Mortimer’s crew can be utilizing Workday Adaptive Planning, an EPM software program that has allowed them to extend effectivity in monetary reporting, budgeting, planning, and income evaluation. 

Karlinsky highlights the chances for improved velocity and accuracy inside claims, fraud detection, and underwriting attributable to AI. He does, nevertheless, emphasize the significance of diligent use, with human oversight being a vital element of expertise adoption. 

“You definitely want to verify there isn’t any unintended bias or unintended penalties. And it’s good to ensure that human eyes are on issues after they should be on them,” he says.  

Whereas AI implementation has drastically modified many roles inside insurance coverage, McKenna explains that underwriting capabilities have seen a drastic shift, with underwriters now capable of assess danger by a sooner course of and extra full information. 

“What we’re attempting to do is construct a data-driven platform. Our underwriting workbench is one hundred percent digital, so the underwriter doesn’t need to look by troves of paperwork. It’s all AI ingested.” 

McKinsey’s “The way forward for AI within the insurance coverage trade” report highlights fraud detection by superior information analytics as a pertinent alternative for insurance coverage corporations to capitalize on. That is an space the place MSIG is lively, with McKenna noting the necessity to root out fraudulent claims to stay worthwhile.  

McKenna additionally highlights that MSIG USA just isn’t burdened with the legacy tech techniques that another corporations function beneath, which has allowed for clean implementation of latest expertise.  

He provides, “We’ve been ready, over the past 12 months, to break down a number of this into one element that we’re classifying as our enterprise information platform. That’s permitting us to have finance, operations, claims, and underwriting in a single ecosystem. Not separate ones coming collectively, however multi function, which permits for higher velocity and consistency.”  

McKenna believes there isn’t a lack of expertise, however concedes there’s a have to do extra with fewer individuals within the trendy trade. 

“It’s necessary to know who we’re attracting to fill our roles. After I discuss data-driven insurance coverage corporations, what we’re attempting to do is enabling the underwriting to happen in a way more considerate means.” 

The 2026 Sizzling 100 honorees have distinguished themselves by efficiently navigating a turbulent trade dealing with challenges from all instructions. These leaders have enabled their organizations to thrive beneath troublesome circumstances by discovering new expertise to allow larger efficiency, together with supercharging the prevailing expertise inside their ranks. 

• Integrating expertise and human expertise: merging expertise with belief and information with empathy whereas specializing in the human influence
   

• Accelerating expertise improvement packages: fast-tracking expertise by structured mentorship and coaching, permitting high-potential people to achieve management positions faster whereas additionally infusing the group with new views
   

• Modernizing techniques to draw and retain expertise: making corporations extra enticing to youthful professionals and permitting adaptation extra rapidly to market adjustments, supporting each operational effectivity and expertise retention
   

• Selling collaboration and enterprise partnership: empowering groups to contribute insights and drive firm technique, additional unlocking expertise potential