Chief Operating Officer

Our client, a growing regional carrier rated A Excellent by A.M. Best, is seeking to hire a talented Chief Operating Officer (COO). The role, reporting to the CEO, will have significant impact across the entire P&L. The client is seeking an executive with a demonstrated track record of success in P&L ownership, bringing new products to market, and driving innovation throughout the business.

General Summary:

The COO is accountable for driving operational excellence, growing the company, improving profitability, and ensuring the company’s day-to-day operations run efficiently and effectively while maintaining compliance with laws and regulations to serve our policyholders and meet their evolving needs. To achieve this, the COO works closely with the other Executive Team policyholders and provides strategic leadership and operational oversight of Underwriting, Product Development, Claims, Sales, and agency and policyholder services.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Overall Leadership

• Guide the organization by consistently modeling our ICARE cultural values and continuously enhancing the soft skills of our leaders
• Lead and/or support company initiatives that drive cross-functional team collaboration and connection.
• Oversee strategic operations within the departments of responsibility with full accountability for team performance, including responsibility for financial results
• Evaluate and optimize workflow and process improvements to enhance agent and policyholder service capacity, quality, and cost efficiency
• Partner with HR to identify, recruit, hire, and onboard top-tier managers and associates where needs are identified in the organization to achieve the Company’s corporate goals and strategic objectives
• Partner with HR to identify opportunities to grow company’s internal talent to provide long-term career opportunities and plans to achieve upward mobility for high performers
• Mentor, coach, and guide operational leaders or potential leaders in the organization to develop strong succession throughout the organization
• Set and assign operational goals for all departments of responsibility consistent with the overall company budgets and long-term goals
• Collaborate with CFO and GC to evolve the audit and controls processes to align with model audit rule (MAR) and own risk solvency risk assessment (ORSA) requirements
• Ensure that all activities and operations are performed in compliance with local, state, and federal laws & insurance department statutes

Setting Strategic Direction

• Collaborate with the CEO and other Executive Team policyholders on strategic planning and the company’s long-term vision Drive prioritization of strategic initiatives and collaborate with the CFO, CIO and others to ensure execution
• Collaborate with the CEO to establish goals and guidelines for operational functions within the organization
• Collaborate with the CEO, CFO, and GC on mergers and acquisition evaluation, and potentially, analysis to integration

Managing Products

• Ensure products are managed to be market competitive and differentiated where appropriate
• Evaluate and optimize the product management process to manage products cost effectively and be more responsive to the market
• Collaborate with the CIO to streamline product implementation through IT using an Agile process
• Collaborate with the CFO and head of pricing to ensure rates and pricing align with the product initiatives

Managing Sales

• Work with Independent agencies to develop strong relationships, profitable growth opportunities, and ensure our distribution relationships remain our biggest competitive advantage
• Expand our distribution base to continue to grow the company while managing the impact on current relationships
• Ensure agency needs and issues are addressed through process, automation, product enhancements, people management, etc.
• Oversee and work through distribution issues including problem agents, and errors and omissions.

Managing Underwriting

• Oversee underwriting guidelines and ensure effective and efficient adherence to those guidelines
• Expand automated underwriting to improve agency experience while minimizing risk and exposure
• Identify and lead implementation of improved underwriting processes and process automation
• Improve use of data / analytics in the management of underwriting practices

Managing Claims

• Ensure our Claims operation delivers our envisioned policyholder experienced while balancing the long-term viability of the company Identify and lead implementation of improved claim processes and process automation
• Improve use of data / analytics in the management of claim practices

Managing Agency and Policyholder Services

• Lead the buildout and ongoing management of the agency service center
• Ensure the delivery of market-leading agency and policyholder services through processes, interactions, and call centers

Skills and Abilities:

• Leadership Skills: Leads effectively and influence others through communication, decision making, emotional intelligence, vision and strategy, delegation, team building and collaboration, adaptability and flexibility, integrity and ethics, coaching and development, and is results-oriented to inspire, guide, and manage teams to be high performing and cohesive
• Strategic Thinking: Identify strategies and tactics to leverage the company’s core competencies to enhance the value proposition to agents and policyholders while identifying areas for service delivery improvements, and process improvements to enhance the policyholder experience and drive more efficient and cost-effective operations.
• Innovation/Initiative/Creativity: Approaches problems with curiosity and an open mind; is willing to take appropriate risk and collaborate to solve problems.
• Collaboration/Teamwork: Demonstrates emotional intelligence and works with others to solve problems, respects other views and ideas, and appropriately giving and receiving feedback.
• Communication: Presents ideas and facts clearly and effectively, tailoring communication to the level and experience of the audience; keeps people accurately informed and up to date with both positive and potentially negative information.
• Executive presence: Able to inspire confidence in associates, peers and Board policyholders on strategic plans and achievements.
• Customer Orientation: Demonstrates customer focus by seeking out, understanding, and responding to the needs of both internal and external customers/agents/policyholders.
• Drive for Results: Handles multiple projects/initiatives at the same time, delivers by deadline dates, and adjusts work and resources accordingly to meet changing priorities.
• Analytical skills: Ability translate data insights into actionable strategies, guide team decisions and improve results.
• Technical Competence: Strong understanding of the insurance business functions across the value chain and supporting technology to guide strategy and manage operations.
• Distribution Management: Knowledge of Independent Agent distribution system and functions and ability to develop and manage agent relationships.
• Reinsurance: Knowledge of reinsurance structures and negotiations.

Ethics and Integrity

• Make decisions based on what's right for the greater good and sets an example for others to follow. Must be honest, fair, and caring, and consider the needs of their associates, agents, policyholders, and communities.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree is required and a Master’s degree (MBA) or equivalent is preferred
• 15 years of progressive leadership experience in a P&C organization
• CIC/CPCU designation a plus
• Proven experience managing profitability within a property and casualty insurance operation.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor other managers and leaders to drive team performance.
• Expertise in process improvement and leveraging technology to automate workflows and enhance operational efficiency.
• In-depth knowledge of insurance products and operations, with a specialized focus on workers' compensation.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a track record of collaborating effectively across diverse leadership teams.