Bob Kimmel the CEO of K2 insurance services came on my radar and that of most other London-based insurance folk when last year his US-based MGA group picked up the remnants of what had been the Pioneer group of MGAs to form K2 International.
K2 owns a major collection of MGAs in the US, writes over a billion dollars in premium and is highly acquisitive both of talent, new agencies and other ancillary insurance businesses
I didn’t know Bob personally and researching K2 ahead of our London meeting I suppose I came into this podcast with lots of preconceptions about what the CEO of such a fast-growing and aggressively expansive US-headquartered group would be like.
I was completely wrong.
Bob is clearly very ambitious for K2 but he is also very easygoing and charming as well as being disarming about how steep the learning curve has been for him, a former reinsurance broker, moving much closer to the end insurance customer in the decade since K2’s formation.
New MGA start-ups and acquisitions, a potential Lloyd’s syndicate in the offing and a conscious hunt for talent in specific classes – Bob’s in-tray is absolutely overflowing and in this interview he discusses all aspects of MGA management in a disarmingly open way.
I really enjoyed my time with Bob and I think you will too.
LINKS
We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo - enabling an enterprise view of exposure:
https://www.advantagego.com/
We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) and Free Partners for their support today:
https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/
https://freepartners.com/
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Ep 49 Tim Turner: This is not a re-run of 85-86
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Ep 48 D&O: The hardest market of all time with David Ritchie of Gallagher UK
Ep 47 Pat Ryan: Build a business people are proud to work for
Ep 46 The Best Market for a Decade: David Croom-Johnson MD Aegis London
Ep 45 Selling certainty, with Stefan Golling Chief Underwriter Munich Re
Ep 44 Juan Andrade of Everest Re: An Underwriter’s market
Ep 43 Swimming as the tide goes out, with Laurent Rousseau Deputy CEO of Scor Global P&C
Ep 42 Coverholders in a box: Stephen Card of Carbon Underwriting
Ep 41 A Great Time to be an Underwriter. With Tim Carter CUO of Argo Group
Ep 40 Rule your niche with Andrew Robinson of HIIG
Ep 39 Slaying the myths of Legacy with Tom Booth of Darag
Ep 38 The future of insurance is now, with Stephen Brittain of the Insurtech Gateway
Ep 37 Capital Masterclass with Vicky Carter of Guy Carpenter
Ep 36 Howden plans with José Manuel González and Barnaby Rugge-Price
Ep 35 Re-shaping Aspen with Mark Cloutier
Ep 34 Worldwide ambition with Mike Reynolds of Oneglobal
Ep 33 Seizing a golden opportunity with Franz-Josef Hahn of Peak Re
Ep 32 The mid-year renewals with James Vickers, Chair of Willis Re International
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