October 20, 2021
Claude Wade
New York-based executive vice president, chief digital officer and global head of operations, American International Group Inc.
Atlanta- and New York-based global head of client experience and head of Atlanta innovation hub, BlackRock Inc.
I believe the insurance industry will soon be at an inflection point. Clients across the spectrum, direct and intermediated, are frustrated by the lack of simplicity, automation and digitization in our industry. I can buy a car from my phone and have it delivered to me anywhere in the world, but to purchase insurance remains a predominately paper-based process with multiple manual handoffs across a fragmented and disconnected ecosystem. At some point digital, disruptive innovation will usher in a new era for risk management through insurance risk transfer.
My goal is to implement a data foundation and digital strategy that makes it easier for our clients across the spectrum to do business with AIG, and to add incremental value during the risk transfer process at the moments that matter most to them.
A free-flowing, digitally enabled marketplace will require navigating a robust and complex regulatory landscape, various data frameworks and standards across the industry, and the many roles of insurance industry intermediaries.
My first experience in insurance was in 2011 when I had the pleasure of joining the Marsh insurance broking and risk management team.
Don’t be afraid to innovate, push boundaries, disrupt, and embrace diversity of thought. Many newcomers to the insurance industry are told that this business is far too complicated for anyone to comprehend that didn’t grow up in it. This coaching has had the unintended consequence of creating a barrier to entry for both age and ethnically diverse talent, or newcomers leaving their spirit of innovation at the door. The insurance industry is overlooked as an exciting career path, when in actuality the risk management business is one of the best destinations for data scientists and digital innovation. If you want a career where you draw insights from various data sources to predict the probability of outcomes, price risk transfer and help clients, then this is the industry for you.
Professional athlete
Finance and mathematics
Building the most diverse team in the industry and delivering differentiated digital solutions for our clients.
I eat clean the majority of the time. A stack of buttermilk pancakes from scratch and thick-cut bacon are my favorite cheat meal.
Top 3: “Lincoln on Leadership,” by Donald Phillips; “A Whole New Mind,” by Daniel Pink; and “Makes Me Wanna Holler,” by Nathan McCall.
Cooking, eating, weight training and Peloton. The latter two are a counterbalance to the first two.
“Billions”
Train and play with my two Doberman Pinschers.
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