SCOR INNOVATION PODCAST

Beyond the Blueprint: Navigating Economic Signals in Construction and Insurance

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Innovation Podcast, we go beyond standard data points to explore the evolving landscape of recession indicators and their direct impact on the construction sector. Ta-Sian Litchfield (Responsible for EMEA Executive Risk) and Margaret Rose (Head of Professional Liability, North America) join host David Hurd to unpack the shift from traditional GDP metrics to high-frequency, unconventional signals like "frozen pizza sales" and subcontractor default rates.

The discussion provides a deep dive into the current regional dynamics of the US, the growing demand for "Knowledge Partnership" in insurance, and the four critical areas underwriters must monitor over the next 12 months to manage risk in a volatile economy.

Fueling the Future: The Rise of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF, is more than a buzzword, it’s a critical lever for decarbonizing air travel.

In this episode, Michel Krenzer, Head of Energy at SCOR Business Solutions, and Gerald Fahrenthold, SVP Energy Head for North America, unpack this fascinating topic. Together, they explore what SAF is, how it’s produced, and the different ways it can be used across the aviation sector.

Whether you’re new to the concept or looking to deepen your understanding, this episode offers a clear, accessible introduction to an innovation shaping the future of flight.

Captured! Inside the Business, Policy & Risks of CCS

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0000

In this second chapter of our CCS series, we shift from theory to action. After exploring the future of CO₂ capture, our experts, Michel Krenzer, SBS Energy Global Head, and Figen Lipley, Senior Onshore Energy Underwriter, dive into what comes next: safe and scalable CO₂ storage. Together, they unpack real‑world applications, emerging business models, the policy frameworks required for momentum, and the critical role of risk management in building a resilient CCS ecosystem.

The Risk Brief: Sept 2025 – Geopolitical Shifts & Insurance Implications

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 13:18:12 +0000

In this episode, Babak TAVASSOLIE, Head of Analytics for SBS on Political and Credit Risk, joins Renato SIVIERI, Head of Marketing for the Americas, to unpack the ripple effects of today’s political developments on the insurance industry.

AI in Professional Lines: Risk & Responsibility

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:33:20 +0000

In this episode of the SCOR Innovation Podcast, we explore the fast-evolving world of artificial intelligence. Ellie Howell, Senior Claims Analyst, joins Renato Sivieri, Head of Marketing Americas, to discuss how AI is transforming professional lines of business, highlighting both its benefits and its risks.

Whether you're just beginning to explore AI or already integrating it into your work, this episode offers valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of business.

Captured! The Future of CO₂

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 08:04:46 +0000

Dive into the world of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) with Michel Krenzer, Global Head of Energy, and Figen Lipley, Senior Onshore Energy Underwriter. In this insightful overview, they demystify CCS technology, explain how it differs from Direct Air Capture (DAC), and highlight its pivotal role in global decarbonization strategies. Whether you're new to the topic or looking to deepen your understanding, this session offers a clear and compelling look at one of the most promising solutions for reducing industrial emissions.

Soluciones Alternativas en Reaseguro: Profundizando en el Mercado Latinoamericano (Parte 3/3)

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 16:24:45 +0000

En el tercer episodio del SCOR Innovation Podcast, continuamos nuestra exploración de las soluciones alternativas en el mercado latinoamericano. Esta vez, nos sentamos con líderes de Gallagher Re y SCOR para analizar cómo el reaseguro estructurado está transformando la gestión de capital, la mitigación de riesgos y la solvencia en un entorno cada vez más volátil. Descubra ejemplos del mundo real y estrategias clave para el éxito. ¡Una conversación imperdible para todo profesional de seguros que busque impulsar el crecimiento de su empresa!

Reaseguro Estructurado: Desbloqueando el Crecimiento en Latinoamérica (Parte 2/3)

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:16:16 +0000

El SCOR Innovation Podcast le trae un nuevo episodio lleno de información clave para el éxito en el mercado de reaseguros. En esta ocasión, expertos de Guy Carpenter y SCOR nos guían a través del poder del reaseguro estructurado para las aseguradoras latinoamericanas. Exploramos cómo esta innovadora herramienta permite navegar las complejidades del mercado actual, optimizar el capital y fortalecer la solidez financiera. ¡No se pierda las estrategias y perspectivas que le ayudarán a llevar su negocio al siguiente nivel!

Innovación en Reaseguros: Una Inmersión Profunda en Soluciones Alternativas (Parte 1/3)

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 15:50:00 +0000

¡Bienvenido al Innovation Podcast de SCOR, el podcast donde exploramos las últimas tendencias en reaseguro en Latinoamérica! En este primer episodio, nos adentramos en el fascinante mundo de las soluciones alternativas. Acompáñenos a descubrir cómo el reaseguro estructurado está revolucionando la industria y brindando nuevas oportunidades a las reaseguradoras de la región. Expertos de AON y SCOR nos guían a través de los desafíos y oportunidades clave, con ejemplos concretos y estrategias innovadoras. ¡No se pierda este análisis profundo que le ayudará a mantenerse a la vanguardia!

SCORacle – Past, Present and Future

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 14:45:56 +0000

SCOR’s Life & Health Underwriting & Claims publication is celebrating its 10th birthday. Over the last decade, SCORacle has brought the latest innovation and change in underwriting and claims practice to SCOR’s UK & Irish market clients. From advances in medicine and healthcare to changes in legislation affecting the industry and technology advances to achieve improved customer outcomes, SCORacle has consistently delivered thought-provoking content. In this episode David Ferguson, Underwriting and Claims Development Manager interviews Phil Cleverley, Chief Underwriter and Paul Blyth, Head of Underwriting and Claims Proposition. Listen to them discuss the concept for SCORacle, the early editions, and how it has evolved over the last 10 years to produce more than 30 editions and 135 articles, as well as the challenges the industry has faced and their thoughts for the most important advances and challenges for the industry over the next 10 years.

BIOS:
David Ferguson, Underwriting & Claims Development Manager

David joined SCOR in December 2014 and has more than 25 years of experience in life and health reinsurance in the UK and Irish market. He has worked for different insurers across a range of roles including premium administration, underwriting and claims, research and development and automated rules development for claims engines.

His current role as Underwriting & Claims Development Manager is to support the implementation of SCOR’s underwriting and claims strategy and framework for Life underwriting and claims best practice. He has an interest in advances and innovations in medical tech and their impact on the Life and Health industry. He is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and holds both the Institute's Underwriting and Claims diplomas. He is currently Chair of the Digital Technology and Innovation Practitioner Group at the Investment & Life Assurance Group.

Paul Blyth, Head of Underwriting & Claims Proposition
Paul is Head of Underwriting & Claims Proposition in the UK and Ireland at SCOR. His key responsibilities are maintaining and enhancing relationships with SCOR’s key clients in both Underwriting and Claims in the UK and Irish markets. With 20+ years’ experience in claims, he develops and delivers training to clients on a regular basis, coordinates the UK team's webinars and newsletter, SCORacle, where he has contributed a number of articles over the years, some of which have been translated for other markets including Korea and Japan.

He has represented SCOR many times when presenting at various industry events such as FOCUS (where he was vice chair), Health Insurance Society, Select 74, Health Claims Forum, and the Health, Care and Protection Conference. He has a particular interest in cancer and neurology and has issued a number of publications over the years, which include topics such as Proton Beam Radiation Therapy, Immunotherapy, Rare Cancers, Neurodendocrine Tumours (NETs)/Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours (GISTs)/Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PM) and many more.

Phil Cleverley, Chief Underwriter
Phil has been working in the insurance industry for over 40 years with the majority of that time spent in underwriting. He joined SCOR Global Life as Chief Underwriter in December 2009 having previously worked at Swiss Re, GE Insurance Solutions and United Friendly Insurance. Phil was one of the first people to gain the Diploma in Medical Underwriting and has been a long-time member of the Educational Council for the Assurance Medical Underwriting Society that provides the material for the Chartered Insurance Institute subject Life and Disability Underwriting.

He has been a member of many working parties within the Association of British Insurers and has been heavily involved in the production of the Statements of Best Practice/Minimum Standards for Critical Illness, ABI Guidance on the Disability Discrimination Act and Application Form Design. He is also a past Chair of the ABI Genetics Working Party.

Fraud in Insurance: Innovative Solutions

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 13:33:28 +0000

In this second episode about Fraud in Insurance, Robyn Wallner, Underwriting Solutions in the US, and Paul Blyth, Head of Underwriting Claims & Propositions in the UK, discuss innovative solutions with host David Ferguson, Underwriting and Claims Development Manager from the UK. Innovative technology, trends analysis, databases, heat maps, artificial intelligence, and more are being used to identify fraud in underwriting and claims to stay ahead of the fraudsters using many of the same tools. Part 1 of this series discusses fraud risks and mitigation and is available here.

Host David Ferguson

Guest Paul Blyth

Paul is Head of Underwriting & Claims Proposition in the UK and Ireland at SCOR. His key responsibilities are maintaining and enhancing relationships with SCOR’s key clients in both Underwriting and Claims in the UK and Irish markets. With 20+ years’ experience in claims, he develops and delivers training to clients on a regular basis, coordinates the UK team's webinars and newsletter, SCORacle, where he has contributed a number of articles over the years, some of which have been translated for other markets including Korea and Japan.

Guest Robyn Wallner

Robyn Wallner works at SCOR in the role of Vice President, Underwriting|Partnerships. She has more than three decades of insurance and financial services experience including individual life and disability income underwriting, underwriting guideline development, compliance oversight, product development, reinsurance, technology development/underwriting rules/engines development, vendor negotiation, claims review and analysis, underwriting representation for litigation, quality oversight, co-creation of solutions with distributors, carriers, TPAs, and insurtechs, new business administration and underwriting leadership, and Chief Underwriter.

Robyn has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Management from College of St Benedict. She also holds the Fellow, Academy of Life Underwriting (FALU); Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI); and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designations as well as Emergency Medical Technical (EMT) certification. In her free time, Robyn enjoys volunteering as an EMT and Alpine Ski Patroller, playing pickleball, golfing, hiking, and spending time with her husband, Steve, and three children, Paige, Megan, and Matthew.

Fraud in Insurance: Risks and Mitigation

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:33:32 +0000

How big is the global insurance fraud problem and how can we mitigate the fraud risk? The latest SCOR Innovation Podcast episode features David Ferguson, Underwriting and Claims Development Manager from the UK, interviewing Robyn Wallner, Underwriting Solutions in the US, and Paul Blyth, Head of Underwriting Claims & Propositions in the UK. Join us to hear a comparison between the fraud issues on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, as the experts discuss fraud trends, factors constituting fraud in different markets, and more.

Host David Ferguson

Guest Paul Blyth

Guest Robyn Wallner

Improving Life Application Disclosures with Behavioral Science

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 12:41:26 +0000

Behavioral economics research has shown that small details can have a large impact on how a person behaves. As life insurance transitions to using digital and streamlined processes, we must rely more on application form responses. However, traditional application forms can be complicated, confusing, and difficult for applicants to answer easily. Behavioral science concepts applied to redesigned application form questions create a better customer experience and improve the accuracy and honesty of information disclosed. Join us for this episode of the SCOR Innovation Podcast to hear how the research results support the business case for innovating policy application questions to promote better disclosures in life insurance applications. See the full research results in this report. Access the interactive dashboard to explore detailed results data.

Katherine McLaughlin
Katherine McLaughlin is VP, Pricing and Innovation. She works with clients to stay ahead of changing market conditions and new product developments while crafting solutions that achieve their business objectives. Prior to this, she has held various actuarial roles including Data Analytics, Client Solutions, Experience Analysis, and Pricing. She holds a BSBA in Actuarial Science and Finance from Drake University and has been with SCOR for 15 years.

Aisling Bradfield
As Head of Behavioral Science with SCOR’s global research function, Aisling focuses on improving our understanding of policyholder behavior and applying behavioral economics research to gain insights into customer interaction with insurance at all points of the customer journey. Aisling graduated from University College Dublin, receiving a bachelor’s degree in actuarial and financial Studies. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland, having qualified as an actuary in 2014. Aisling completed an executive education course in behavioral economics at London School of Economics in June 2019. Aisling is based in Ireland and started working in pricing with SCOR in 2010, later moving into policyholder behavior.

Introduction to Longevity Risk

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 22 May 2024 14:13:01 +0000

In this episode, SCOR longevity specialists, Ruth Damian and Phil Curtis, explore the threat posed by longevity risk and the reinsurance solutions available to insurers and pension schemes.

BIOS:
Phil Curtis, Head of Longevity Business Development

Phil is Head of Longevity Business Development for SCOR. Based in London, UK, he has 15 years’ experience working in pensions and life insurance. Since joining SCOR in 2021, Phil has helped secure multibillion-dollars’ of longevity risk for clients and insurers, and is responsible for developing longevity solutions and client relationships globally. Prior to joining SCOR, Phil was a specialist consultant at Aon, advising pension scheme stakeholders on how to secure their longevity risk in the Pensions Risk Transfer market.

Ruth Damian, AVP, Longevity

Ruth is an Assistant Vice President on the Longevity team in the Americas. She has been in Reinsurance for 26 years with the last 21 working on financial reinsurance solutions. She joined SCOR in 2022. Most recently, she has been working with the Longevity team in the UK as the adviser and contact person to SCOR Longevity clients in the United States. Prior to SCOR, she provided her expertise in different positions within reinsurance at RGA, MetLife and Brighthouse Financial. She earned her bachelor’s degree in actuarial science from Anahuac University in Mexico City.

There’s an App for That: Skin Cancer Prevention

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 12:52:57 +0000

There’s an App for That: Skin Cancer Prevention

Skin Screener, developed by Austrian startup medaia, is a mobile app that assesses the risk of skin cancer via photos. Easy to use, cost effective and widely available now in Europe, the app helps users detect skin cancer earlier, when intervention is likely to be more successful. Learn how the innovative, AI-supported algorithm is a new tool in the fight against cancer. SCOR Innovation Podcast host Thomas Trompetter interviews medaia CEO Albin Skasa about Skin Screener.

BIOS:

Albin Skasa
CEO medaia GmbH
After attending commercial school and a reserve officers training, Albin finished his master in law at University of Graz. He began his professional career as a legal trainee but soon he switched to auditing. After almost four years he was hired as an investment manager by the local state government providing Venture Capital and Private Equity to Styrian companies. During this work he got in touch with medaia, the company behind SkinScreener where he was asked by both founders to become the CEO.

Thomas Trompetter MBA

Head of Client Services&Portfolio Solutions/Central Europe

Thomas is Head of “Client Services & Portfolio Solutions” and responsible for Underwriting, Claims & Prevention and Portfolio Solutions for the Central Europe Region.
He started his career in a primary insurance company in Germany and entered the reinsurance business in 2000. He has more than 20 years of experience in different areas of the reinsurance business for different international markets, especially Europe and the Middle East.
Thomas and his teams also have been exploring in the past years innovative approaches for prevention of cancer and mental disorders.

Enduring Innovation: Sustaining a culture of innovation over time

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

SCOR Global Agile Coach Al Mele discusses the innovative mindset and the importance of courageous, open-minded collaboration within today's workplaces with Angela Bolduc, a Principal and Managing Director for the Milliman IntelliScript practice. This Life and Health episode of the SCOR Innovation Podcast explores why a culture of innovation requires employees feeling safe and unafraid to try new things, asking questions, and speaking their minds.

HOST:

Al Mele, CSPO, CSM

Senior Vice President, Global Agile Coach

SCOR.com

Al started his career in Information Technology, where he worked as a software engineer in life insurance illustration software. He joined SCOR in September 1999 as a programmer/analyst working on reinsurance administration systems. As the Global Head of Agility for SCOR, Al is using his previous experience leading Underwriting Innovation teams in the US Life market to help the organization deliver predictably, efficiently, and transparently. Al is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) and Certified Scrum Master (CSM).

GUEST:

Angela Bolduc, MBA

Principal and Managing Director

Milliman IntelliScript

rxhistories.com| milliman.com

Angela is a Principal and Managing Director for the IntelliScript practice. She has been with Milliman since 2007 and leads IntelliScript’s Relationship Management, Partnerships, Recruiting and Talent Management, IT and Operations teams. Angela gained her expertise by working with insurance carriers since 2001. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Vassar College and earned her MBA from Northeastern University. In her free time Angela loves spending time with her family and coaching youth field hockey.

Plastics: What do diamonds and plastics have in common? (Part 1/3)

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:21:18 +0000

In this episode, we welcome Michel Krenzer, Global Head of Energy, and Nicholas, a young 6th grader curious about his environment. They were both recently featured on our series on “Hydrogen” which you can also find on the channel.

Today, Michel will have a conversation with Nicholas to try and debunk its negative views on plastics. They will also go over the basics and origins of plastics, while answering the question “What do diamonds and plastics have in common?”

Michel Krenzer has over 25 years experience in the insurance sector. After working for Foster Wheeler in Paris as a Chemical Engineer, he joined UAP Large Corporate Risks as a Loss Prevention Engineer. He then moved to Oil & Gas underwriting at Sorema in 1995.

He moved to London in 1999 to start up a facultative branch office for Sorema before joining SCOR in 2001. He started at SCOR UK as Senior Energy Underwriter and has had various managerial positions within the Large Corporate Risks division of SCOR Global P&C.

He was appointed Onshore Energy Manager for Paris and London offices in 2009 and was then appointed Global Leader - Onshore Energy in 2018. He holds the position of Global Head of Energy since 2023.

Revolutionizing the claims experience ft. TAL, Australia's largest life insurer

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:27:57 +0000

TAL, Australia’s largest life insurer, offers life insurance, critical illness, total and permanent disability insurance, and income protection coverage. They are using SCOR’s award-winning VClaims solution, powered by technology partner Adviser Connect in Australia and New Zealand, to revolutionize their entire claims experience. Digitalization, automation, and simplification in their claims processes is helping eliminate human errors while enhancing the human touch across their life insurance portfolio with personalization, optimization and specification to each claimant’s unique journey and needs. Ryan Gailey interviews Jackie Pemberton in this episode.

NOTE: Vclaims received “Innovation of the Year” award during the 7th Annual ALUCA Life Insurance Excellence Awards in 2024.

BIOS:
Jackie Pemberton is currently serving as the Process Improvement and Automation Manager at TAL for Life Insurance Claims. Having worked in Life insurance for 6 years, she has experience in all areas of claims, proudly identifying as a "claims nerd." Jackie is an active member of YALUCA demonstrating a passion for industry growth and development.

Ryan Gailey is a technical specialist and the claims automation lead at SCOR. He has more than 20 years of experience in life insurance, over 15 of those in leadership roles across technical, operations, learning, compliance, data, and change.

Ifeel for Mental Health: Early Intervention, Improved Outcome

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 08:00:00 +0000

BIOS:

Olivier Armengaud is a Senior Manager in the SCOR Life & Health Digital Solutions team. He joined SCOR in 2015 as Investor Relations before pivoting to Life & Health Ventures in 2021. Before joining SCOR, Olivier was an Associate at Brunswick, a leading strategic consultancy working on various M&A and IPO transactions. Olivier is a graduate from EDHEC Business School, Paris IX Dauphine and the University of Texas-Pan America (UTPA).

Amir Kaplan is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at ifeel. Over the years Amir led the company strategy, go-to market, fundraising and commercial activity to position ifeel as a leading solution for global brands in 26 countries.
Prior to founding ifeel, Amir gained managerial experience as a combat commander in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) and worked with publicly traded companies as a senior consultant at KPMG.
Amir holds a certified public accountant certificate, studied economics and holds an MBA degree.
Today Amir is leading ifeel's global strategy through partnerships with insurance companies, healthcare and employee benefit organizations around the world and is vocal about mental health and technology as the driver of a better future.
In his private life Amir likes diving, surfing, skateboarding, motorbiking and traveling to new countries. He is a proud father of 2 kids and a dog.

It’s SMART to Monitor Accelerated Underwriting Programs

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 13:26:14 +0000

PODCAST SUMMARY:

During this second episode of our two-part series presented by SCOR’s U.S. Underwriting Solutions team, we introduce SCOR Monitoring & Acceleration Reporting Tool, or SMART. The SMART tool uses visualizations from our data analytics platform to provide rigorous monitoring of accelerated underwriting programs and to identify actions to improve programs quickly when needed. Moderator Michelle Spevak interviews James Atkins and Thomas Ballweg about SMART, its pricing implications, and its use as a benchmarking tool against peer companies and industry standards.

BIOS:

Michelle Spevak, Director, Underwriting Research, is responsible for assisting with proposals, answering client-related underwriting requests and monitoring accelerated underwriting programs. She advises the pricing process and works closely with SCOR’s Client Solutions teams. Michelle joined the company in 2015 in Underwriting. She obtained her bachelor of science degree in Business Administration from University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She is past president of the Nebraska Home Office Life Underwriting Association.

James Atkins, Vice President, Underwriting Data Innovation & AUW Analytics at SCOR, is based in Leawood, Kansas. James has 25 years of experience in the life insurance industry, having started his career working in customer service for Americo Life Insurance and later as a line underwriter for Transamerica in Kansas City.

In 2002 he moved from the direct side into the reinsurance side where he underwrote complex and large face amount risks for Generali USA, Transamerica Reinsurance and SCOR. James later transitioned into an auditor role within SCOR, conducting both internal and client audits.

James and his team are currently responsible for analysing and reporting on monitoring data obtained from the various accelerated underwriting programs that SCOR reinsures. James also served on the board of the Texas-Wide Underwriting Conference from 2015-2019.

James earned a bachelor of arts degree in mass communication at the University of Missouri Kansas City. He is a Fellow, Association of Life Underwriters and Fellow, Life Management Office.

Thomas Ballweg, Assistant Vice President, AUW Analytics, analyzes accelerated underwriting reporting provided from clients to monitor program performance.

Prior to this since 2017, he assisted Underwriting management in performing various internal and external reporting, evaluating client change requests and completing the underwriting review on requests for proposals (RFPs).

Before joining the company in 2014, Thomas worked as an underwriter for a number of life insurance companies since 1996.

He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, having earned a bachelor's degree in actuarial science and mathematics. He is a Fellow, Association of Life Underwriters and Fellow, Life Management Institute.

Towards Carbon Neutrality: Offshore Wind Insurance Aspect (Part 3/3)

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 09:30:00 +0000

In this last episode of the three-part series entitled “Towards Carbon Neutrality: Offshore Wind" GQ, Lionel, and Xingang will discuss around the role of insurance in offshore wind and their different perspectives on the topic. In this episode, among other topics they will highlight the role of insurance in offshore wind farms, claims trend, and design defect.
The first 2 parts of this series "Offshore Wind, the basics for the next generation” and “Offshore Wind Farms Market Conditions & Risk Exposures” are available on the channel and we encourage everyone to listen to them before this last part: it goes over the fundamentals and how the energy works and the key progress and development in this area in Europe, US & Asia.

GQ Xu is New Energy Practice Head, based in London. After obtained PhD degree in Geotechnics in 2007 from University of Nottingham, GQ started his career as an offshore engineer with various companies with different roles, from offshore geotechnical engineer, senior project manager, principal engineer to head of renewable within a leading certification body. He has worked on various offshore wind farm projects worldwide, including offshore Europe, Taiwan, mainland China, Japan and USA. GQ joined SCOR’s London office in April 2019 as an offshore wind underwriter with responsibility for SCOR’s portfolio of offshore wind farms, and he has recently been promoted as New Energy Practice Head, with overall responsibility to grow SCOR’s portforlio in low carbon sector. He has been elected as co-chair for JRNC Offshore Wind Committee and also member of LMC Renewable Energy Committee, actively involved in drafting the latest insurance clauses for renewable energy.

Lionel Kpoze is a Senior Onshore Construction & Offshore Wind Uderwriter, based in Houston. Lionel graduated from ENSEM (Nancy, France) in 2002 with a Master’s Degree in Engineering specializing in Fluid Mechanics. He also holds a business management degree at IAE-Sorbonne Business School and has completed the Advanced Diploma of the Chartered Insurance Institute. Lionel has 10 years’ experience in the offshore industry first as Field engineer (Schlumberger, Baker Hughes) on drilling rigs and then as Installation engineer (SAIPEM). He has worked in many places in Africa, the Middle East and the US. He joined SCOR in early 2012 as underwriter for the Energy entity.

Xingang Zhang is Offshore Renewable Energy Underwriter, based in Singapore. He obtained PhD in engineering. He has over 14 years’ experience in offshore wind industry, worked within a global leading turbine OEM in different roles from offshore wind turbine R&D to project management, holding 100+ patents in wind, and author of three books in offshore wind engineering. Xingang joined SCOR Singapore office in 2021 as underwriter for offshore renewables.

Instantly Assess Qualifying Medical Impairments with FAST

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

During this episode, representatives from SCOR’s U.S. Underwriting Solutions team explain the FAST (Facultative Assessment & Selection Tool) platform, which allows client underwriters to instantly assess qualifying medical impairments with rating of Table 4 or better, potentially improving the client rating on an underwriting case. Host James Atkins interviews Don Mayes to explain the tool and discuss recent enhancements, including simplified issue and preferred underwriting classification rating available on non-tobacco or tobacco classes. Email FAST@scor.com for more information.

BIOS

James earned a bachelor of arts degree in mass communication at the University of Missouri Kansas City. He is a Fellow, Association of Life Underwriters and Fellow, Life Management Office.

Don Mayes, Vice President, Underwriting Systems, began his career with the company in 1998 as a senior underwriter, but his responsibilities have progressively grown to include supervising the implementation and ongoing monitoring of various underwriting systems, assisting clients and vendors during numerous underwriting technology initiatives and supporting internal and telecommuting underwriting staff.

Prior to joining the company, Don worked as an underwriter at Nationwide Life Insurance Company and Midland Life Insurance Company as well as senior underwriter at Integon Life Insurance Company.

He holds a master of business administration degree with concentration in management information systems from the University of Dayton and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Ohio State University in Columbus.

Towards Carbon Neutrality: Offshore Wind Market Conditions & Risk Exposures (Part 2/3)

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 13:23:58 +0000

The first part of this series entitled “Towards Carbon Neutrality: Offshore Wind, the basics for the next generation” is available on the channel and we encourage everyone to listen to it, if you want to know more on the fundamentals and how offshore wind energy works.

On today’s discussion, GQ, Lionel and Xingang, our three SCOR experts, will discuss the differences of logistics, processes and legislation, but also will go over progress in each of their market (EMEA, APAC, Americas) and how they compare the markets progress. In this episode, they will highlight the different risk exposures including Nat Cat exposure among the three regions.

Towards Carbon Neutrality: Offshore wind, the basics for the next generation (Part 1/3)

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 02 May 2023 12:36:27 +0000

In this episode we are pleased to welcome back Nicholas, 10 years old today, this schoolboy curious about renewable energies who had already accompanied us in an episode dedicated to Hydrogen, which you can also find on this channel. Nicholas is telling us "I think that I’ve heard that one hour of collecting power is just enough to produce energy for one light, or maybe not one light, but one or two homes out of millions. So my thoughts are a little negative towards them and investing in them but I would really like to understand more about this and possibly convinced that they are a good solution for the future."
In this conversation today, GQ Xu & Lionel Kpoze will aim to convince Nicolas of the features and advantages of Offshore Wind, but also to understand its operation and its future, and how this energy is green and beneficial for the environment.

Lionel Kpoze is a Senior Onshore Construction & Offshore Wind Underwriter at SCOR, based in Houston. He graduated from ENSEM (Nancy, France) in 2002 with a Master’s Degree in Engineering specializing in Fluid Mechanics. He also holds a business management degree at IAE-Sorbonne Business School and has completed the Advanced Diploma of the Chartered Insurance Institute. Lionel has 10 years’ experience in the offshore industry first as Field engineer (Schlumberger, Baker Hughes) on drilling rigs and then as Installation engineer (SAIPEM). He has worked in many places in Africa, the Middle East and the US. He joined SCOR in early 2012 as underwriter for the Energy entity. He’s been underwriting offshore wind projects since 2015.

Building Life Insurance Products that Consumers Want

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 09:37:01 +0000

Jenny McDonnell hosts this episode of SCOR Innovation Podcast featuring Meglena Jeleva to discuss a research study that explored consumer purchasing behavior of life insurance. Jeleva shares how the team of three researchers used a discrete choice experiment to gain insights about which features of a life insurance product are most important to customers and to learn about how willing people are to pay for these features and how they make trade-offs between them. Understanding what is most important to which clients is fundamental to reducing the protection gap, identifying new markets and moving to direct-to-consumer marketing.

Meglena Jeleva is a full professor of economics at University Paris Nanterre where her research focus in behavioral economics explores the impact of risk perception on insurance behavior, specifically in environmental, health and natural disaster risks. Her research has been published in leading journals. She is a member of the Economics Laboratory Board of Directors, a member of the scientific committee of Journal Risk and a member of the steering committee of Prevention Horizon Share. In addition, she is a scientific expert for the French Red Cross and coordinates the master’s program in statistics and economics at University Paris Nanterre.

Jenny McDonnell is Acting Head of Behavioural Science with SCOR’s global research function, the Knowledge and Data team. She is also Head of Life Business Acceptance for SCOR Global Reinsurance Ireland. Jenny is keen to support SCOR’s clients through the use of behavioural economics research insights in product development, retention management and assumption setting. Jenny graduated from Dublin City University, receiving first class honours in her degree in Actuarial and Financial Mathematics. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland, having qualified as an actuary in 2007.

Promoting conscientious driving skills with DriveQuant: Part 2 – Eco Driving

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 11:55:00 +0000

What if just a few small changes in individual driving habits could snowball into significant emission reductions? In this second part of a series of two episodes dedicated to Telematics, our guest Philippe Moulin, CEO of DriveQuant, discusses the results of their eco-driving research. What are the implications of some of these changes in habits? How can insurers support their clients adapt to eco-driving?

Our host today is Graham Johnston, Program designer for mobility products at SCOR. He has over 30 years experience with global primary insurers developing personal lines strategy and products and he is a Motor underwriting specialist with 20 years experience in usage based insurance.

Promoting conscientious driving skills with DriveQuant: Part 1 – Distracted Driving

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 11:55:00 +0000

In this first part of a series of two episodes dedicated to Telematics, we are talking to Philippe Moulin, CEO of DriveQuant. Founded in 2017 by two French engineers, DriveQuant helps insurers deploy mobility measure solutions, and new mobility offers such as Pay-As-You-Drive and Pay-How-You-Drive insurance. During the conversation, Philippe discusses the results of their Driving Distraction Barometer, the identified drivers’ profiles, and what implication this data has for insurers.

Philippe Moulin, CEO of DriveQuant, is an engineer with a Ph.D. in applied mathematics. He worked for 15 years in a research institute for the automotive industry. He co-founded DriveQuant in 2017 to improve road safety and reduce the environmental footprint of mobility.

Our host today is Graham Johnston, Program designer for mobility products at SCOR. He has over 30 years experience with global primary insurers developing personal lines strategy and products and he is a Motor underwriting specialist with 20 years experience in usage based insurance.

Behavioural Insurance As A Sales Incentive

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 12:29:46 +0000

In this episode of SCOR Innovation Podcast, Torsten Hefer interviews Björn Zollenkop about an innovative collaboration to test behavioral insurance as a sales incentive. The program combined term life sales with incentives to encourage healthy behaviors of policyholders, using SCOR’s Biological Age Model (BAM) and an app developed by Fjuul to measure policyholder engagement. Four notable German term life insurance companies participated in the program with CHECK24, a leading insurance comparison portal and aggregator in Germany, and SCOR. Tune in to hear the results.

Dr. Björn Zollenkop is the managing director of CHECK24 comparison portal for life insurance. Before that he was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and primarily served insurance companies and banks. He studied Business Administration, Economics and Politics and is holding a PhD in Empirical Capital Market Science.

Dr. Torsten Hefer is Head of SCOR’s German Life & Health Market and Business Development.

Innovative Cancer Screening Solution

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 11:43:10 +0000

This episode hosted by Rebecca Zhang, Chief Partnership Officer for South Asia at SCOR Life, explores an innovative cancer screening solution and preventive healthcare concepts by Bowtie Life Insurance Company - Hong Kong’s very first virtual insurer. Our guest Jacky Lio, Chief Medical Officer at Bowtie, explains how they want to engage customers on preventive health programs to have a better long term health outcome.

In his role as Chief Medical Officer, Jacky Lio plays a crucial role in driving collaborative partnerships with healthcare providers and setting the vision for Bowtie's customer health experiences. Trained in the UK as a Specialist in Acute Medicine and with over 10 years of service in the NHS, Jacky passionately believes in the universal need for basic healthcare protection. Jacky brings his medical knowledge to shape Bowtie’s products to ensure they are relevant, affordable, and accessible – helping it achieve its mission to address the health protection gap in Hong Kong.

Rebecca Zhang is the Chief Partnership Officer for South Asia at SCOR Life, responsible for developing relationships with priority clients, generating new business opportunities and facilitating new product and solution development. Rebecca first joined SCOR Hong Kong in 2016 and has worked in both Pricing and Marketing roles, focusing on product development and client management. Prior to SCOR, Rebecca worked in Toronto with both traditional roles such as consultancies and insurance companies, and non-traditional roles such as being one of the first members of the NMG North American practice, and as a senior leader at a listed P2P insurtech startup. Rebecca is a frequent speaker at insurance events and has keen interest in developing partnership opportunities with insurtech and digital health companies.

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Innovating For Relevance

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:11:56 +0000

In this episode of SCOR Innovation Podcast, Richard De Sousa, SVP, Deputy Head of Growth & Development at SCOR Life & Health US, interviews Tim Ash, CEO, Ash Brokerage, to discuss how his 50-year-old company innovates their offerings with technology, research and development along with education to ensure they stay relevant in the Life & Health insurance industry. Richard De Sousa was named SVP, Deputy Head, Growth and Development in August 2021 for SCOR Life & Health in the U.S. The Growth and Development team encompasses SCOR’s Individual and Group Life client-facing teams and supporting functions (pricing, underwriting solutions, technology, marketing and insights) dedicated to new business. Prior to his promotion, Richard had served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships since early 2019, leading the team to develop new client solutions which are focused on helping end-consumers get relevant protection offerings. Prior to joining SCOR, Richard was the Managing Director of North America and Europe at ReMark International, an insurtech consultancy business wholly owned by SCOR Global Life. Richard holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Leicester. He has lived and worked in Canada, Netherlands, France and the U.S. He currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tim Ash is known as a visionary in the financial services community. He is an industry leader who envisions a future where insurance is easy, affordable and an essential part of a sound financial plan. As CEO of Ash Brokerage, Tim has fostered an environment of success with team-focused empowerment and client-centered service. He has built a culture where people not only believe in what they do, but more importantly, they understand the reason behind their efforts. Everyone at Ash Brokerage knows their work makes a difference — in the lives of their clients and their communities. Tim assumed leadership of the company in 1997. Since that time, the company has grown to become the largest independently owned insurance brokerage firm in the United States. It expanded from 50 employees in one location to more than 450 employees in offices across the country.

Ventures’ strategic approach in APAC with SCOR Ventures Team

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 15:45:48 +0000

SCOR is quite uniquely positioned to work with insurtech, not just as an investor, but also as an enabler, to help startups grow and navigate the complex world of insurance business. Will and Randy explain Ventures strategy for the APAC region is built upon the Ventures 2.0 global strategy that was announced in early 2021.

Randy Liu represents SCOR Ventures in the APAC region, based in Singapore. Randy has a background in catastrophe modelling and climate change. He is fluent in Mandarin.

Will Bird is a Senior Associate based in Chicago. Prior to joining SCOR Ventures, Will worked in venture capital and strategy at a leading U.S. personal lines insurer.

Habito Health: Driving personal health goals trough interactive coaching

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 09:25:14 +0000

In this episode of SCOR Innovation Podcast, David Ferguson hosts Jussi Räisänen, health entrepreneur and investor, based in Helsinki who co-founded Habito Health. They discuss digital health solutions that can energize different communities (public corporations, public service organizations and the military, for example). Jussi explains how activity-based data might be used to create personalized underwriting that’s easy to understand for life insurance applicants. Tune in to learn more about how the company’s global platform was paired with an insurance product in one market to successfully encourage participants with a wealth of daily wellbeing activities, health interventions and workout challenges.

Nat Cat series Part 2: modeling climate change & impact on agriculture

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 13:00:00 +0000

Agriculture is one of the most vulnerable economic activities to climate change. Atmospheric variables most relevant for agriculture include temperature and precipitation. Even moderate weather anomalies such as reduced sunshine, can lead to significant crop yield loss High temperatures are a problem because they accelerate plant development. When this happens there is less time for growth and therefore less yield. Moreover, extreme heat itself decreases crop yield. Climate change does not only affect temperature, but all atmospheric variables, including precipitation. More erratic precipitation will also decrease crop yields. The impact of climate change is not uniform across crops and geographies. Uncertainties about climate change are high, but it is about the resilience of our society, economy, and pragmatically speaking of our industry. This is the most material call for action since the establishment of NatCat modelling in late 80s early 90s. SCOR does and sponsor research in the space of climate chanfe, thanks to PhD programs focusing just on this. SCOR also designed and implemented a 5-step framework that allows our leadership to predict how the risk will mutate in time and space.

A Modern Solution: From Generational Poverty to Financial Wellbeing

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 12:00:15 +0000

Manisha Dias, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships for SCOR in the U.S., hosts this episode of SCOR’s Innovation Podcast, interviewing Felix Ortiz, CEO and co-founder of Onuu. Onuu is the first of its kind, an all-in-one banking and insurance solution, built by and for Americans of modest means. Join us to hear how Ortiz's personal childhood experiences led him to harness the power of machine learning and digital technology to design an innovative solution for a long-standing problem: helping lower middle market consumers understand financial services and improve their financial wellbeing. • Felix W. Ortiz III is the CEO and co-founder of Onuu, the first-of-its-kind, all-in-one banking and insurance solution, built by and for Americans of modest means. Founded in late 2021 and inspired by Felix’s grandmother, Candi, Onuu merges financial and insurance products, empowering lower middle market consumers to understand and improve their financial wellbeing. Felix designed Onuu to be powered by machine learning, using Candi as a guide to ensure that each human being achieves financial security. Felix currently serves as an Advisor at Neowork Ventures alongside his duties on the Intersectionality, Culture & Diversity Advisory Council at Twitter and the Rework America Task Force. Previously, he has founded several successful, high-growth startups including EmPath. Ortiz was a member of the U.S. Army 18th Airborne Corps, JAG Corps and attended St. John's University. • Manisha Dias¸ FSA, FCIA, SPLP, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, is responsible for leading the charge and oversight of proprietary product development opportunities and new ecosystem partnerships. She also oversees the business, operations and underwriting functions of the Strategic Partnerships group. Manisha joined the SCOR Canada Business Development team in 2017. She was promoted and transitioned to the U.S. Strategic Partnerships team at its inception in 2019 and was promoted again in 2021 to her current role. Prior to SCOR, she served in different actuarial roles within John Hancock and Manulife globally. Manisha earned an Honors bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science with Finance from the University of Waterloo. She is also a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a Strategic Partner Leadership Professional.

Nat Cat series Part 1: North Atlantic Hurricane season review

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 10:00:00 +0000

It seems that every time a natural catastrophe happens it is unique, and something new is learned from each incident by the insurance industry. Newer thoughts on Wet-Hurricanes started to surface after Hurricane Harvey ran aground in 2017, modelling difficult frequency perils became more and more evident with the increasing losses year over year from Severe convective storms, and climate and its effect on individual perils like what happened with Winter Storm Uri in Texas in February of 2021 will also be explored. Our first episode is a review of the 2021 North Atlantic Hurricane season and its unique characteristics, effects of climate change, challenges, and projected impacts. Based on the most recent 30-year data from NOAA, the average number of named storms in a year is about 14. For the 2021 hurricane season, NOAA predicted that up to 20 named storms would form, with up to 10 hurricanes (compared to an average of 7), and up to 5 major hurricanes (compared to an average of 3).This discussion between three SCOR experts explores the lessons learned from it and how these lessons may lead to new ways of looking at this peril in the future. - Derek is SVP Natural Catastrophe Manager of The Americas, he is specialized in Catastrophe Modeling - RMS, AIR, Statistical Analysis, databases, software development, networks. He arrived in SCOR eight years ago. Prior to this, he spent 5 years at Ascot Group as VP Exposure Management. Derek has a Master degree in Management Information Systems from the Northern Illinois University, and is still based in Chicago. - Ken has over 40 years of Insurance/Reinsurance experience having begun his career in the claims dept of the Aviation and General Ins Co in 1978. He entered the world of Reinsurance in 1986 gaining independent Underwriting authority for a globally exposed Property Catastrophe Excess of Loss book in 1991. Ken primarily specialized on the US region and in 2003, after a number of years operating as a Catastrophe Underwriter in the London Market he took up a position outside Chicago, Illinois as the US Catastrophe Product lead for GE Insurance Solutions. GE Insurance Solutions was acquired by Swiss Re in 2005 and Ken was retained as a Catastrophe specialist within their US Product team until 2016 when he joined SCOR US, also in Chicago. Ken remains focused on the US Catastrophe arena and has also authored a number of published articles appertaining to US Catastrophe risk and participated in numerous industry events as a panel speaker. - Kelly is an Assistant Vice President on the Natural Catastrophe Pricing team at SCOR. She provides catastrophe expertise and risk quantification, including operational support for the pricing and accumulation of treaty business for North America. She joined SCOR in 2018 in the Chicago office and is now based in Toronto. Prior to joining SCOR, Kelly worked as a Catastrophe Risk Analyst for Aon. She is a graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and holds the CPCU and ARe designations. Kelly also serves on the committee for CatIQ, Canada’s insured loss and exposure indices provider.

Disruptive healthcare technologies: ClearSky Medical Diagnostics

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Fri, 27 May 2022 11:47:03 +0000

Today’s episode explores disruptive healthcare technologies in neurodegenerative diseases hosted by David Ferguson, Underwriting Development Manager in one of SCOR’s Innovation Teams. Our guest is Professor Stephen Smith, co-founder and director of ClearSky Medical Diagnostics and Professor of Electronic Engineering in the Department of Electronics at University of York. 1 in 4 people get a misdiagnosis in Parkinson’s disease which can lead to an overtreatment. Professor Smith highlights the importance of an accurate diagnosis in neurodegenerative diseases. ClearSky MD provides the PD-Monitor assisting specialists by measuring and identifying symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Finding a tolerable balance between unpleasant side effects of the medication and its benefits is another focus. The LID-Monitor (Levodopa-induced dyskinesia) offers a safe and simple way of monitoring dyskinesia in the patient’s own home. ClearSky MD’s solutions empower patients to have the tools track their own conditions remotely with clear implications for how life & health insurance products are sold and monitored.

Digitalization in Insurance: Perspective from a pioneer

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 03 May 2022 05:26:44 +0000

In our latest episode Dr. Torsten Hefer, Head of SCOR’s German Life & Health Market and Business Development Department, speaks on innovation with Dr. Stefan Knoll, co-founder and CEO of DFV Deutsche Familienversicherung. In the insurance industry Stefan Knoll is considered a pioneer in terms of digitalization. Both explore “how to digitalize” in insurtech companies from a pioneer’s point of view. They also touch-base on combining financial targets with ESG and CSR ambitions in the insurtech industry.

Will Hydrogen change your future? Part 3: (Re)insurance implications, Risks & Opportunities

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:11:39 +0000

This is the final podcast in a 3-part series on Hydrogen. Today, Michel Krenzer continues the discussion and looks at what hydrogen means for insurers and how insurance will play a key role in the energy transition. In this episode, Michel will interview three SCOR experts of Energy & Construction (re)insurance: David Cosserat, Eric Lenoir & Kevin Lumiste. In episode 1 we explained the basics of hydrogen. In episode 2, we looked at innovative future hydrogen applications. If you are interested, you can find the previous episodes on our channel. David is a chemical engineer with 20 years’ experience in risk management, including 15 years in reinsurance. David started his career as a safety engineer providing safety design reviews of heavy industry and oil and gas facilities. He joined the reinsurance industry via a major broking firm where he was a risk engineer and a client executive for oil and gas and power clients. He joined SCOR in Singapore in 2009 as APAC Energy Underwriter before relocating to Sydney to head up the P&C office, focusing on Pacific Treaties. Since August 2018, David has taken the role of Global Head of Energy within SCOR Business Solutions, based in Paris. Eric is a chemical engineer with 35 years’ experience in the insurance sector. He also holds an Associate in Risk management degree. He started his career with Industrial Risk Insurers in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He performed loss prevention surveys for large oil & chemical companies in the EMEA region. In 1989, he was transferred to Hartford, CT, USA and oversaw oil & chemical training and guidelines writing. He joined AIG in 1994 in Brussels as a senior chemical engineer and became the worldwide Energy engineering manager overseeing a team of 130 engineers specialized in oil & chemical, power generation, mining and construction. He joined SCOR in early 2015 as risk control practice leader for the Energy entity. Kevin is a Senior Construction Underwriter based in London and has over 30 years of experience in Engineering Insurance, including CAR, EAR and Operational Power. He has particular experience in EAR, with a focus on Energy and Power construction. Prior to joining SCOR he has worked at Starstone, Zurich, CV Starr, ACE and RSA. Kevin is an experienced market leader of energy construction project policies. He is an active member and contributor to the London Engineering Group, previously having acted as Chairman and Executive Committee member. Michel Krenzer has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance sector. After working for Foster Wheeler in Paris as a Chemical Engineer, he joined UAP Large Corporate Risks as a Loss Prevention Engineer. He then moved to Oil & Gas underwriting at Sorema in 1995. He moved to London in 1999 to start up a facultative branch office for Sorema before joining SCOR in 2001. He started at SCOR UK as Senior Energy Underwriter and has had various managerial positions within the Large Corporate Risks division of SCOR Global P&C. He was appointed Onshore Energy Manager for Paris and London offices in 2009 and was appointed Global Leader - Onshore Energy in 2018.

The power of health data in the actuarial profession

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 12:50:03 +0000

Would you share your health data to obtain Life & Health insurance? The profession of actuaries changed rapidly in the last years and so the challenges. The willingness and power of our health data gains importance. Hosted by David Ferguson, Underwriting Development Manager in one of SCOR’s Innovation Teams, we illuminate the challenges and changes of actuaries with respect to Life & Health insurance. Our Guest Mark Farrell, Founder of ProActuary (https://proactuary.com/) and Actuarial Science Senior Lecturer at Queen's University Belfast introduces in his research and profession as a lecturer. Founding ProActuary, he created a new way to help actuaries and actuarial students to optimize through networking, education and personal/professional development.

Will Hydrogen change your future? Part 2: Innovative applications, Sci Fi or Reality?

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:06:25 +0000

"Aviation is the most challenging transport sector to decarbonise, but small hydrogen planes are already in operation. Airbus is developing a 200 passenger plane with hybrid liquid hydrogen combustion plus fuel cells, to be operational in 2035... This would have been classed as Science Fiction just a few years ago!" Michel explains to us. Transportation, energy power or industry... Which sectors will be the next to experience the Hydrogen transition? Discover concretely the business applications of this energy in a near future. Don't know anything about Hydrogen? No problem, find the first episode of the series "Hydrogen Basics for the next generation" on our channel, which explains everything you need to know about this energy! If a 9 year old can do it, so do you!! Michel Krenzer has over 25 years experience in the insurance sector. After working for Foster Wheeler in Paris as a Chemical Engineer, he joined UAP Large Corporate Risks as a Loss Prevention Engineer. He then moved to Oil & Gas underwriting at Sorema in 1995. He moved to London in 1999 to start up a facultative branch office for Sorema before joining SCOR in 2001. He started at SCOR UK as Senior Energy Underwriter and has had various managerial positions within the Large Corporate Risks division of SCOR Global P&C. He was appointed Onshore Energy Manager for Paris and London offices in 2009 and was appointed Global Leader - Onshore Energy in 2018.

Will Hydrogen change your future? Part 1: Hydrogen basics for the next generation

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 10:53:00 +0000

"I am not sure about how hydrogen works; I have heard about it a lot in school. But what I do know is that I am really interested about it and that is seems like a good solution for the environment and for our future." Nicholas, 9 years old, is wondering. In this episode, Michel Krenzer, Global Leader-Onshore Energy at SCOR P&C, will help us and Nicholas understand the basics of Hydrogen: its origin, its features, its production methods, and how this energy could be greener. Michel Krenzer has over 25 years experience in the insurance sector. After working for Foster Wheeler in Paris as a Chemical Engineer, he joined UAP Large Corporate Risks as a Loss Prevention Engineer. He then moved to Oil & Gas underwriting at Sorema in 1995. He moved to London in 1999 to start up a facultative branch office for Sorema before joining SCOR in 2001. He started at SCOR UK as Senior Energy Underwriter and has had various managerial positions within the Large Corporate Risks division of SCOR Global P&C. He was appointed Onshore Energy Manager for Paris and London offices in 2009 and was appointed Global Leader - Onshore Energy in 2018.

Cyber Insurance is growing up: a look at a changing landscape

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 15:00:00 +0000

The Cyber Insurance market is maturing before our eyes: pricing becomes more accurate as more data comes in, and overall structures move towards more sustainable models. Threats continue to grow and the product is more relevant than ever before, but how to balance the needs of insured, brokers and underwriters and reach common-good solutions? Let’s deep dive into this episode hosted by Margaret Rose and Adriana Garcia. Margaret is based in NYC. She began her career with SCOR as an underwriter for Professional Liability and Cyber in 2016. Previously, she worked as an underwriter for Axis and Tokyo Marine. She has also an MBA in Finance, from the New York University. Adriana is an Assistant Vice President and Senior Underwriter on the Financial Lines team. She started with SCOR in May and is based in the Chicago office. She handles a broad range of risks including Cyber, Technology E&O, and Professional Liability . Adriana joined from AXIS Capital, where she handled large complex risks on the Global Tech & Cyber team. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. If you are interested in these Cyber topics or if you want to have an introduction of main concepts, please check out our Liability focus episode “Cyber (re)insurance in the US: a market in transition” Bill Kaplan and Margaret Rose share their views on insurance and reinsurance cyber markets in the US.

The refinery of the future

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Like never before in their histories, petroleum companies and refineries are facing major challenges, but they are also facing opportunities. On the one hand, demand for oil and its derivatives is predicted to grow further over the coming years, before dropping due to the energy transition, while oil products, will still play a major role in the energy consumption mix for decades. On the other hand, refineries are carbon-intensive and the use of refining products produces large quantities of CO2. In the meantime, digitalisation and smart technologies are transforming our daily lives, and industrial applications are constantly being developed, adding another challenging transformation for refineries. Refineries are responding to these disruptions by innovating. Onshore energy insurers are adapting too, to be able to support their clients. DISCOVER OUR TECHNICAL NEWSLETTER ABOUT THE REFINERY OF THE FUTURE Today our guest, Michel Krenzer has over 25 years experience in the insurance sector. After working for Foster Wheeler in Paris as a Chemical Engineer, he joined UAP Large Corporate Risks as a Loss Prevention Engineer. He then moved to Oil & Gas underwriting at Sorema in 1995. He moved to London in 1999 to start up a facultative branch office for Sorema before joining SCOR in 2001. He started at SCOR UK as Senior Energy Underwriter and has had various managerial positions within the Large Corporate Risks division of SCOR Global P&C. He was appointed Onshore Energy Manager for Paris and London offices in 2009 and was appointed Global Leader - Onshore Leader in 2018.

Claims Innovation with Snapsheet CEO Brad Weisberg

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Will Bird (AVP & Senior Associate, SCOR P&C Ventures) and Amy Parker (VP, Americas Treaty Claims) discuss ways that SCOR Global P&C is partnering with insurtechs to address claims pain points among its carrier client base, then chat with Brad Weisberg, CEO of Snapsheet, about Snapsheet’s origins and suite of claims software for insurers, including an end-to-end claims management platform, digital payments platform, and motor virtual appraisal offering. • Brad Weisberg is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board at Snapsheet. He founded Snapsheet in 2011 and has led the company through multiple hyper-growth stages. He is also a champion for the Chicago tech community and regularly mentors leaders at emerging tech companies. • Will Bird is an Assistant Vice President & Senior Associate, SCOR P&C Ventures, based in Chicago. Will focuses primarily on insurtech investment & partnership opportunities in the Americas. His previous experience includes corporate venture capital and strategy at a leading U.S. personal lines insurer. • Amy Parker is Vice President of Americas Treaty Claims based in Chicago. Her areas of responsibility include global claims client management initiatives and engagement with SCOR P&C Ventures. Her previous experience includes 20+ years in Claims & Liability Management at leading (re)insurance organizations.

Democratizing access to mental healthcare with ifeel

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 13:25:32 +0000

A study from Oxford University found that mental illnesses can reduce life expectancy by up to 20 years, which is the equivalent of heavy smoking. In the life and health insurance industry, mental health has been placed as a high priority on the agendas of all players. In this episode, we talk to Pilar Santamaria, SCOR Head of Western Europe and LatAm and Amir Kaplan, CEO of ifeel, on why both companies are joining forces in the mental healthcare space to innovate together in Iberia. Ifeel is a Madrid based startup focused on democratizing access to mental healthcare. Their approach is fully aligned with SCOR Global Life’s purpose of helping people to live longer and healthier lives. For SCOR, this is a unique opportunity to work closely with a company that has a distinguished value proposition which complements our business and our client’s activities. The ifeel platform and related app provides users with peace of mind by offering a convenient solution to the pressing issue of mental illness that has been accelerated by the pandemic. Mental health problems are among the ten leading causes of disability in both developed and developing countries.

Smart grid in the US: to reliable and sustainable powers

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 13:33:15 +0000

The main areas of technological advancement, such as 5G, do not seem to be synonymous with green energy and can even frighten the most resistant. However, it is now possible to reconcile reliable and sustainable power with the increasingly strong demand for energy. How do we balance the various loads to grid and the amount of available power to maximize efficiencies? How will industries and households meet these expectations? Our Construction & Energy teams support the future of new energies in the US: net zero emissions, investments in solar and battery equipment storage, wind farms or local production of individual electricity. Isabelle has worked 25 years in the Construction world. She has en Engineering degrees obtained from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. She joined the insurance industry in 2001 as Construction Facultative underwriter with SCOR Business Solutions, managing strong lead placements around the world and developing the Engineering portfolio. She then developed in depth knowledge and practice of direct insurance through 8 years as Senior Underwriter and Practice leader at AXA Corporate Solutions in Paris. She is now back to SCOR Specialty Insurance as Global Head of Construction based in Zürich. Matthew is based in NYC. He arrived at SCOR six years ago as Manager for the North America Construction team. Prior to this, he was Vice-President for the Underwriting Energy & Construction team at Liberty and for the Property Facultative team at Swiss Re. He has a Bachelor degree in Finance from the Xavier University - William College of Business, Cincinnati. John Torres joined the SCOR Power & Energy Underwriting Team in Houston last January 2021. John started his career at Starr Insurance Companies as an Energy, Power Gen, and Construction Underwriter for over 6 years, his last position was Senior Underwriter for Latin America. He graduated with a Master's in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Data driven systems in the P&C industry

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:27:09 +0000

With the rise of Big Data and the proliferation of data sources, companies have more and more data at their disposal. IoT and all the new technologies make it possible to collect a large amount of data. How to sort, classify and exploit them? Analytical technologies are more and more accessible and make it possible to take advantage of this data in order to create the most precise modeling solutions. Avoca Insurance Holdings is a privately held, independent company founded in Bermuda in January 2009. The company was established to start up, own, and operate highly specialized underwriting management companies. SCOR works jointly with Avoca to combine highly experienced underwriting talent with purpose-built technology and strong portfolio management controls. Danny joined Avoca at its foundation in January 2009 as CTO and has driven the development of ground breaking insurtech since then. In 2014, Danny joined the Avoca Holding Company board and with effect from Jan 1st 2018, Danny was appointed group COO in addition to his CTO role with responsibility for all group operations as well as technology development. In March 2021, Danny was appointed President of Avondale (a Avoca subsidiary) while maintaining his other duties for the Avoca Group. Derek is SVP Natural Catastrophe Manager of The Americas, he is specialized in Catastrophe Modeling - RMS, AIR, Statistical Analysis, databases, software development, networks. He arrived in SCOR seven years ago. Prior to this, he spent 5 years at Ascot Group as VP Exposure Management. Derek has a Master degree in Management Information Systems from the Northern Illinois University, and is still based in Chicago. Rob is also based in Chicago. He began his career with SCOR as Senior Vice President, Chief Pricing Actuary - Americas in 2015. He is today Senior Vice President Head of Innovation for SCOR’s Pricing & Modeling team. Prior to SCOR, he worked as Vice President Chief Pricing Actuary / Head of Agriculture Practice for Navigators Re. He graduated with a Bachelor in Mathematics and Political Science from the Northwestern University.

Testing Alzheimer's risks with Neotiv

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:12:21 +0000

In this episode, we are talking to Chris Rehse, founder and and CEO of Neotiv. Founded in 2017, neotiv has developed a digital assistant to monitor and aid the memory of patients with Dementia and Alzheimer's and focuses on improving the early detection of these conditions to facilitate efficacy monitoring, new therapies, and early intervention and prevention of brain health. Relevant for medical underwriting and post-purchase prevention and intervention measures, neotiv's medical platform presents cognitive tests to track cognitive changes in memory and visual information over time. The company also focuses on research, diagnostics and drug development for these conditions.

Forecast and identify the emerging risks with Praedicat

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 10 May 2021 14:27:41 +0000

What if AI and Big Data meet foresight? Praedicat in partnership with SCOR, offers a forward looking emerging risk model. Through this podcast we are going to understand how this tool works and how it can help our Casualty team to develop their relationship with the clients. Why is there a lag in the casualty catastrophe models compared to the property market? What are the main advantages from a casualty underwriting perspective but also from a claim perspective? The time savings and risk reduction enabled by Praedicat also make it possible to start new conversations and projects with clients. Maura Haynes, a US citizen and Argentinian, joined SCOR in 2016 and was promoted to US GL Team Leader in 2019. She has over 20 years of experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Prior to SCOR, Maura worked at Swiss Re in various underwriting capacities. Maura graduated from Central Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She has also achieved an MBA from Northwood University. Steven Strauss has been appointed as US Deputy Team Leader for Casualty. Before 2014, Steven was the Vice President of Business Development at Berkley Program Specialists. He was responsible for the generation of new business and the continuing development of existing relationships with a growing portfolio of Program Administrators. Steven is gaduated from Lake Forest College, in Illinois. Emale Laurant is Vice President, Accumulation Team Lead for the Global Casualty lines related to the processes ranging from supporting the Global and Legal Entity accumulations of risks. He has been working at SCOR for 5 years, before he was Risk Actuary at AIG and XL Group. Emale is graduated from Trinity College-Hartford, Connectitut, with a BS Degree option Mathematics and Chemistry.

Tackling fertility with femtech Ava

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 07:49:42 +0000

Global fertility has been declining at a fast pace. From 1990 to 2019, the fertility rate fell from 3.2 to 2.5 live births per woman. We are talking to Pascal Koenig, co-founder and board member of Ava about tackling infertility with science. Ava is clinically proven to identify both the opening and closing of the fertile window, letting you know your five best days to try for a baby. In a world where fertility is falling due to lower childhood mortality rates, access to birth control, and focus on career development for women and men, one in seven couples may have difficulties conceiving. With medical treatments being considerably expensive, Swiss startup Ava has created a wearable to identify a woman’s fertile window based on 3 million biomarkers.

1DOC3, the startup replacing Dr. Google

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:12:47 +0000

Did you know that in Latin America, for every thousand individuals, there are only two physicians? Imagine you are at home, feeling terribly sick but having no access to medical care. Colombian startup 1DOC3 is tackling this exact situation as the largest telemedicine provider in Latin America. There is no more Doctor Google. Today we are talking to Javier Cardona, co-founder, and CEO of 1DOC3. How does it work? 1DOC3 is connecting doctors with people who have health related questions with their AI-driven symptom checker and chat. With over 1.5 million users and 300.000 consults every month, 1DOC3's digital health platform providers individualised medical information to Spanish speakers in countries like Colombia and Mexico.

Introduction to ESG & focus on the (re)insurance industry

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 16:44:35 +0000

ESG, CSR, two terms that we hear more and more in our personal and professional lives. What do they stand for and why are they so important today in business strategies? Paul Nunn, Senior Advisor in charge of ESG strategy for SCOR P&C, introduces and differentiates these themes, with examples and use cases. He then explains the various innovations and trends that we will face in the near future from sustainable and social aspects, and with a focus on the (re)insurance industry. Green hydrogen, wind farms, energy efficiency, carbon capture, etc. If you are not yet comfortable with these topics, find out what they could bring to your business in this 15min podcast. Before his current position, Paul was responsible for pricing catastrophe risk on inwards business, and accumulation of catastrophe loss potential for natural hazard perils globally. Alongside his role at SCOR P&C, Paul is a director of the non-profit Oasis Loss Modelling Framework company, an open source platform for developing, deploying and executing catastrophe models. He is also actively participating in the Insurance Development Forum working group on Risk Modelling & Mapping, which seeks to improve global understanding and quantification of disaster risk, particularly in developing countries.

Making healthcare human with an operating system with The CareVoice

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 10:01:35 +0000

With a population of 1.4 billion people, China has seen half a century of rapid growth as the second largest economy in the world. Despite 95% of the population has basic health insurance coverage, many are turning to private health insurance, a market estimated to exceed spending of one trillion dollars in 2020. Today we are talking to Sebastien Gaudin, co-founder, and CEO of The Carevoice, a tech-driven startup which has created a healthcare operating system which connects insurers, pharmacies, physicians, hospitals and care providers, and the pharma industry to care and cure patients. As you will hear, Sebastian and I faced the challenges of working from home, so the quality of the call reflects this. We hope you enjoy the episode.

P&C Ventures: SCOR Global P&C’s Approach to Insurtech Investments & Partnerships

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 20:56:37 +0000

Will Thorne, Will Bird and Dana Cullen of P&C Ventures host this week’s SCOR Innovation Podcast, discussing the team’s origins, investment theses, activities and the launch of their new three year strategy: Ventures 2.0. Will Thorne is the Head of P&C Ventures. Will has a background in both (re)insurance underwriting and start-ups. He is a frequent advisor & angel investor in his personal capacity and was the founding chair of the UK Insurtech Board. Will Bird is an Associate based in Chicago. Will focuses on investment & partnership opportunities in the Americas. His previous experience includes corporate venture capital and strategy at a leading U.S. personal lines insurer. Dana Cullen is an Innovation Associate based in London. Dana has a background in actuarial pricing and epidemiology, having previously worked for SCOR Global Life, and focuses on the development and execution of Insurtech MGA/carrier partnerships.

Transforming the biopharma industry with quantum computing with Menten AI

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 08:27:44 +0000

The mean cost of developing a new drug has been the subject of debate for many years. A recent study conducted by the London School of Economics estimates a range from 314 million USD to 2.8 billion. And despite the costs varying across different disease areas, it is still a pricey and very lengthy process. In today's episode, we are talking to Tamás Görbe, co-founder and CSO of Menten.AI. Known as one of the most notorious startups using quantum computing in drug research and development. Backed by Y Combinator in 2020, the American startup accelerator which launched Airbnb or Dropbox. The startup uses machine learning and quantum computing to create the next generation of protein-based drugs and enzymes focused on rare diseases, neurological disorders, or viruses.

Building bridges with the Google Healthcare API

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 16:53:34 +0000

How is the cloud changing the face of healthcare? Launched in 2020, Google Cloud’s healthcare solutions tackle some of the biggest pain points such as interoperability and security to support data-driven decision-making and ultimately, deliver better care. In this podcast episode, we are talking to Aashima Gupta, director of Global healthcare solutions at Google Cloud. In her current position as director of Global Healthcare solutions, she is accountable for driving healthcare strategy and solutions using AI, cloud services, APIs and mobile solutions. During her career, Aashima has focused on transformational healthcare in complex enterprise environments.

Cyber (re)insurance in the US: a market in transition

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 17:04:59 +0000

2020 has been a challenging year for cyber (re)insurance. Rise in ransomware claims and swelling loss ratios caused (re)insurers to review their cyber appetite, triggering correction in rates and reduction in available capacity. What have been the most notable developments in 2020 and where are we headed in 2021? To find out, listen to our 3rd Property & Casualty episode, where Bill Kaplan, Global Casualty Chief Underwriting Officer for Cyber Liability and Margaret Rose, Head of Financial Lines Americas for Specialty Insurance, share their views on insurance and reinsurance cyber markets in the US. Bill joined SCOR six years ago as the Professional Liability Team Leader. Prior to this, he spent 3 years at Protective Re as Director of Professional Liability Treaty. Bill has an MBA in Finance from the Loyola University of Chicago, and is still based in Chicago. Margaret is based in NYC. She began her career with SCOR as an underwriter for Professional Liability and Cyber in 2017. Previously, she worked as an underwriter for Axis and Tokyo Marine. She has also an MBA in Finance, from the New York University.

Harnessing AI and tech against diabetes with One Drop

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 16:52:16 +0000

Diabetes is rising worldwide. Today, over 425 million people have diabetes and projections predict that by 2045, there will be 700 million people with this condition. And despite diabetes can be treated, prevented or delayed with diet, physicial activity, medication and regular screening, every year more than 1.6 million deaths are attributed to the condition. Today we are talking to Jeff Dachis, founder, chairman and CEO of One Drop, a company taking a data approach to help people with diabetes to manage and improve their blood-sugar levels through actionable insights. One Drop combines clinical science, advanced AI, and data points to give those with diabetes, high cholesterol, prediabetes, and high blood pressure the opportunity to make changes that last.

Chasing unicorns with Baloise

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 08:20:29 +0000

Today we are talking to Sibylle Fischer, Director of Strategic Venturing and Startup Scouting of Baloise. The Swiss insurer, which is known in the market for its insurance and banking products, also chasing unicorns in the insurtech space. Despite having a tradition of 150 years, the insurer has worked intensely on its digital agenda for the past years, with activities ranging to traditional venture capital investment to venture building, ecosystem development, and partnerships with startups beyond the life and health scope. Let’s explore their experience in the past years and the direction ahead with Sibylle Fischer.

2021 Renewal Season in the P&C Reinsurance US Market

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:49:30 +0000

In the 2nd Property and Casualty episode, Nick Nudo, CUO for North America Property & Casualty Reinsurance @ SCOR shares some thoughts on the January 2021 renewal season.

Nick was previously Team Leader and Casualty Treaty Reinsurance Underwriter and subsequently Chief Underwriting Officer of US Treaty Operations. Before joining SCOR in 2009, he spent three years as an underwriter at XL Reinsurance America. He graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science in Insurance in 2000. He is based in Chicago.

2020 in Review - Key Trends in the US P&C Reinsurance Market

SCOR Innovation Podcast — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:44:35 +0000

In this 1st Property and Casualty episode, John Jenkins, Head of the Americas offers an overview of the state of the reinsurance market at the end of a challenging year 2020 and discusses the impact on the business.

John began his career with SCOR in 2007 as a Senior Vice President with responsibility for the underwriting of the US treaty portfolio. He then became Chief Executive Officer, P&C Treaty for the Americas. Prior to this, he worked as a Vice President for Swiss Re. John graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and has a CPCU Designation.

Using data to fight mental and chronic conditions in Asia with Holmusk

SGL Innovation Podcast — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 10:58:16 +0000

As we share our last episode of 2021 and prepare for an exciting new year, we are talking to Bernd Müller, creator of this podcast and head of SCOR Life and Health ventures about the our podcast, his favorite episodes, and the biggest lessons learned this year. After this, we tackle mental health. According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. On average, mental disorders reduce life expectancy by 10 to 25 years in patients with severe mental disorders, as most of these deaths are due to chronic physical medical conditions including cardiovascular problems, diabetes, or infection diseases. Today we are talking to Paul Feldhausen from Holmusk, a tech driven Singapore-based startup focused on reversing chronic disease and behavioral health issues through EHR, data analytics and digital therapeutics.

Applying language intelligence to insurance data with Sorcero

SGL Innovation Podcast — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 11:15:25 +0000

During 2020, we have gone through an immense amount of change, uncertainty, and disruption. The current pandemic has shown us the accelerated pace of scientific discovery; from vaccines to long term health consequences after Covid-19, every day there are new revelations impacting directly and indirectly our industry. In this episode we talked to Dipanwita Das, co-founder and CEO of Sorcero, a company ususing cognitive technology to interpret language and consider the meaning and context of information from its origin to its cross-industry applications. Instead of fully automating processes and workflows, Sorcero uses AI to build knowledge based on their clients' knowledge systems and ontologies, and to integrate new information into these existing systems.

Outcome + Price + Experience: the mix to find the right doctors with DocDoc

SGL Innovation Podcast — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:13:44 +0000

Have you ever wondered if the physician you are meeting is the most qualified? What about having the right experience precisely for the condition you have, if the previous patients recovered successfully, or had a positive experience?

Choosing a care doctor is one of the most important decisions we make when it comes to our health. Our complex healthcare systems evolve. But who is helping patients and policyholders to navigate them? We are talking to Grace Park, co-founder and president of DocDoc, who inspired by her own personal story created the largest doctor discovery company in Asia. DocDoc empowers patients to make the best healthcare decisions through data, with transparency and fairness.

You can subcribe to the SCOR Life and Health Innovation podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our conversations to be the first one to list to our new episodes. Have a speaker in mind or want to share your insights with us? Send us a message to lhventures@scor.com wth your thoughts.

From paying procedures to outcomes: the insurance approach of Sami

SGL Innovation Podcast — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 11:02:00 +0000

End of October 2020 marked a milestone for the Brazilian startup ecosystem: Sami became the most funded Series A startup after raising $15.5 million USD from international investors including Valor, Redpoint, and Monashees. In the latest episode of the SCOR Life and Health Innovation Podcast, we are talking to Luiz Guilherme Berardo, co-founder and CEO of Sami. The start-up aims to redesign the health care industry in Brazil with technology by driving payments through patient outcome. In Sami’s model, data exchange allows us to realign care incentives and pay providers based on the health of patients and not on a fee-for-service. With over 200 thousand users, Sami is challenging their status quo and putting patients in the center.

Getting paid to take your pills? The Wellth Approach with Matthew Loper

SGL Innovation Podcast — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 08:00:30 +0000

Around 75% of Americans have trouble taking their medication as directed according to the New England Health Care Institute. Today we’re talking to Matthew Loper.co-founder and CEO of Wellth, an American startup based in Los Angeles, which is using behavioural economics to inspire positive behaviour change for patients with chronic health conditions. In their app, Wellth uses financial incentives to overcome present bias and motivate patients to adhere to their daily care plans and improve their health. The impact on the insurance industry? Saving health plans and providers billions on avoidable costs in high risk populations, including those in Medicare and Medicaid.

Investing in Building Business with Transamerica

SGL Innovation Podcast — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 15:50:12 +0000

After more than 20 years in the innovation ecosystem, Georg Schwegler, CEO of Transamerica Ventures, has been in the venture capital industry in telecommunications, R&D, marketing and innovation research. How is this experience relevant to investing in startups and what’s the strategy behind Transamerica ventures?

Insurtech Israel - discovering a new hot spot for health with Gil Arazi

SGL Innovation Podcast — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 12:06:18 +0000

Tel Aviv is a hotspot for innovation and more than ever also for health. We had an exciting conversation with Gil Arazi, co-founder and partner of FinTLV. Investor and connector, Gil is has over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry and is behind deals like the latest $150M investment round of insurtech, Hippo.

Digital Transformation, an assessment by Bitkom

SGL Innovation Podcast — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:35:10 +0000

In this episode, we’re talking to Fabian Nadler, head of digital insurance and insurtech at Bitkom, Germany’s largest digital association bringing together SMEs, startups, and virtually all global players. We explore the German startup ecosystem, how cross-industry cooperations are enriching customer journeys in established worlds, and how data can be a turning point for privacy-driven German customers.

Mental health with Sentio Solutions

SGL Innovation Podcast — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 13:13:43 +0000

In this episode, we talk to George Eleftheriou, co-founder abd CEO of Sentio Solutions. Sentio partners with SCOR in Germany to offers clients of disability insurance portfolios to build better and lasting emotional health. Based in San Francisco, the company developed its own propritary sensor to quantify emotional states and combine it with evidence-based techniques to deliver mental health support 24/7.

Can we fight Alzheimer's disease today? with Dr. John Harrison

SGL Innovation Podcast — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 10:48:23 +0000

We take care of our bodies by going to the gym, we tweak and carefully monitor out diets, we go to the doctor for annual check-ups and take medication when to prevent disease or when we're sick to recover promptly. However, it seems like the same approach we have for our bodies is not consistent with the approach we have with our minds or our brain. Today we're talking to Dr. John Harrison, associate professor at the Alzheimer's Center at the VUmc in the Netherlands. John has over 20 years' experience understanding Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegeneative conditions and has worked with pharmaceutical and biotech companies with the selection and successful integration of cognitive testing into drug development programs. An Alzheimer's disease advocate, he has over 60 books and scientific articles on the topic, including depression, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease.

An insurtech trip around Europe with Florian Graillot

SGL Innovation Podcast — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 15:47:07 +0000

Did you know there are over 3.100 early-stage European startups focused on disrupting the insurance industry? How do we know this? We’re talking to Florian Graillot, co-founding partner of Astorya VC, an early-stage venture capital fund in Paris focused on insurtechs. Florian Graillot is known as one of the leading voices in the insurance innovation space. With a decade of experience in the insurance industry, we’re exploring the startups ecosystem in Europe and how to find the most relevant startups before they are known in their own markets.

Democratizing access to state of the art surgery VR with Justin Barad

SGL Innovation Podcast — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 13:10:31 +0000

From videogame developer to pediatric orthopedic surgeon to founder, we're talking to Justin Barad, founder and CEO of Osso VR. This American startup is transforming surgical training and assessment with their virtual reality medical platform. Despite we're living on a rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem, traditional training and education modalities in medicine have struggled to keep up with new technologies to deliver higher value of treatment, prevention, and intervention. Let's explore how Osso VR is improving patient safety and democratizing access to modern surgical techniques.

The next level of Digital Health Coaching: meet YourCoach Health with Eugene Borukhovich

SGL Innovation Podcast — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:43:41 +0000

Investor, corporate innovator, exited founder, consultant, and runner. Innovators can wear many hats throughout their career. As proof, today we're talking to Eugene Borukhovick. Serial intra and entrepreneur, executive, venture builder, and board advisor with a focus in digital health and many years of experience in both the corporate and entrepreneurial world. Eugene is a chairman and founding board member of YourCoach Health, a startup focused on empowering health coaching with an enriched approached on individuals and groups.

Enhancing medical diagnostics with AI with Arterys

SGL Innovation Podcast — Tue, 12 May 2020 07:10:02 +0000

What if AI could say you don't need a risky heart surgery like the doctor prescribed? Or what if it could help identifying cancer in an X-ray with higher accuracy at an earlier stage? Sounds like the future, but American startup Arterys is doing this already in 28 countries. Want to know how? In our SCOR Life and Health Innovation Podcast we're exploring medical imaging, cancer, Covid-19, and how doctors can get some little help from their AI friend to improve patient journey and get the best treatments and diagnosis faster than ever.