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The 2024 Most Dynamic Metropolitans Report from Heartland Forward, a think tank, highlights the diverse economic trajectories of metropolitan statistical areas across the U.S., those with populations of more than 50,000. It focuses on employment growth, average annual pay, real GDP, per capita income and entrepreneurial activity.
Article 0 Comments The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping communities and enriching lives, recently announced the establishment of the IICF Minnesota Chapter, part of the IICF Midwest Division. Based in Minneapolis and serving the Twin Cities region, this new Chapter will broaden the Midwest Division’s support in local communities and grant focus on education, health and safety. The IICF Minnesota Chapter is led by a board of senior industry leaders from prominent insurance companies and businesses across the region. Jennifer Gentry, Senior Vice President and Minneapolis Branch Manager at Chubb, will serve as the Founding Chair of the IICF Minnesota Chapter Board of Directors. The IICF Minnesota Chapter Board of Directors recently hosted its inaugural meeting where they determined charitable grant focus areas and elected an Executive Committee in addition to Board Chair Jennifer Gentry, including Vice Chair Michael Koelbl of Liberty Mutual, Development Co-Chairs Jamie Drugg of HUB International and Tom O’Donnell, and Grants Chair Jon Bauman of The Hanover. The Founding Board Companies of the IICF Minnesota Chapter include Aon, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, Burns & Wilcox, Chubb, CNA, HUB International, Integrity Insurance, Liberty Mutual, Marsh McLennan Agency, The Hanover, The Hartford and...
CEOs Are Relying on Employee Productivity to Fuel Organizational Growth in 2025 and Beyond A November 2024 survey of more than 450 actively employed CEOs and other senior executive business leaders revealed that their most critical challenges to leading and growing their enterprise are talent and workforce (23%) and culture and people management (13%). “As traditional avenues of growth like market consolidation, labor arbitrage and cheap financing show signs of diminishing returns, CEOs are looking to employee productivity to fuel their growth ambitions in 2025 and beyond,” said Brent Cassell, Vice President, Advisory in the Gartner HR practice. “However, productivity remains difficult for most employers to define, measure and impact.” Gartner has identified a working measure of productivity for knowledge workers that significantly improves business outcomes, such as revenue, profitability and brand reputation: employees doing quality work consistently and on time – employee efficiency – and employees devoting their time and skills to work that is results oriented and focused on organizational priorities – employee value creation. The four emerging productivity myths that HR must address to drive their organizations desired business outcomes include: Myth No. 1: Productivity Is Not HR’s Job “Employees, managers, and business leaders view productivity...
Sun Life and Empathy partner to offer innovative bereavement support, providing personalized guidance through one of life’s toughest moments Toronto, ON (Apr. 13, 2025) – Nearly 9 in 10 Canadians have experienced the loss of a loved one, yet a new survey conducted by Ipsos for Sun Life reveals that half of Canadians have no idea where to start when loss happens. To better support those navigating a loss, Sun Life is launching bereavement support with Empathy. This innovative solution combines technology with human care to provide comprehensive support and guidance. Loss can be complicated. Grief is just one of the many challenges that people are faced with following the death of someone close to them. Grappling with a variety of feelings and responsibilities, surveyed Canadians who have experienced a loss say they feel unprepared to navigate the bereavement process. Almost 40% struggle to manage the deceased’s personal affairs and belongings. 1 in 3 are overwhelmed when navigating the legal process and administrative matters, like probate and estate management. 1 in 4 face financial difficulties, for example, dealing with funeral costs and loss of income. 1 in 4 struggle to balance their work responsibilities with their feelings of grief. “Managing...
Article 0 Comments United Kingdom’s Admiral Group has agreed to sell its U.S. auto insurance business — Elephant Insurance Co. and Elephant Insurance Services— to the private investment firm J.C. Flowers & Co. for an undisclosed cash consideration representing approximately the net asset value of Elephant. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Elephant is a property/casualty insurance that offers auto as well as home, motorcycle, and life insurance direct to customers through an online application process. It sells in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Admiral indicated it is selling Elephant in order to focus on its core business. “This is a good outcome not only for Elephant and its employees, but also the Group and our shareholders. This transaction will enable us to focus on the opportunities we see for delivering long-term sustainable growth in our businesses in the UK and Mainland Europe,” commented Costantino Moretti, head of International Insurance for Admiral Group. Eric Rahe, managing director and co-president of J.C. Flowers, noted that Flowers has a long history of investing in the insurance industry. Rahe said Flowers will leverage its experience to “help Elephant Insurance generate new opportunities as a standalone company.” The move by Admiral was...
Article 0 Comments The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s governing committee on Wednesday voted to authorize the WCIRB to submit a September 1, 2025 Pure premium rate filing on average 11.2% percent above the average approved September 1, 2024 advisory pure premium rates. The proposed advisory pure premium rates are based on insurer losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred during accident years 2024 and prior valued as of December 31, 2024. Related: Claim Frequency in California Workers’ Comp Higher in L.A. Area, Study Shows WCIRB Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary Tony Milano noted that on average, the proposed September 1, 2025 advisory pure premium rates are higher than the advisory pure premium rates proposed by the WCIRB in the September 1, 2024 filing. According to Mr. Milano, the more notable drivers of the change were increased medical loss development, increased frequency of cumulative trauma claims, higher average medical costs and higher allocated loss adjustment expenses. Related: California Workers’ Comp Report Shows ‘Relatively Stable’ System Post-Pandemic The WCIRB expects to submit its September 1, 2025 Pure Premium Rate Filing to the California Department of Insurance by the end of April. The CDI will schedule a public hearing to...
Technologies Addressing GenAI-Enabled Code Architecture, Disinformation Security and Surface Asset Management Will Be Widely Adopted by 2030 Stamford, CT (Apr. 7, 2025) – Gartner, Inc. has identified 12 emerging technology disruptions that will define the future of business systems. Technology leaders must prioritize these over the next five years, as they present competitive opportunities in the near term and will eventually grow to become standard throughout businesses. “Technology leaders must take action now to gain a first-mover advantage with these technologies,” said Bill Ray, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Innovative advancements like generative AI (GenAI)-enabled code architecture, disinformation security and Earth intelligence will provide the differentiation needed to help enterprises pull ahead of the pack in terms of data and product offerings.”The 12 early-stage technology disruptions are highlighted in Figure 1. Each disruptor is significant in its own right, but in combination they start to define broader emerging solutions to new business practices. For example, advancing GenAI technologies will spawn new solutions around Earth intelligence and business simulation, spur the expansive growth of domain-specific language models, and lead to higher functioning tools. Figure 1: Top 12 Early-Stage Technology Market Disruptors for 2025 (Gartner, April 2025) Additional insights into some of...
IBM’s Cloud Multizone Region (MZR) in Montreal opens doors to support Canada’s regulated industries with cloud solutions which prioritize data sovereignty through resiliency, performance, security, and compliance IBM’s watsonx® AI portfolio available on IBM Cloud® at Toronto MZR, enabling Canadian organizations to scale AI solutions in country Armonk, NY (Apr. 3, 2025) – IBM is pleased to announce two key advances in its cloud capabilities in Canada, further strengthening offerings to enable Canadian organizations to scale AI deployments, and to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements for data storage and security including Canadian data sovereignty. IBM officially opened the doors to its latest Cloud MZR in Montreal, Quebec, adding to its existing Cloud capabilities and investments across North America. IBM aims to help clients address their evolving regulatory requirements and leverage technology such as Generative AI with our secured, enterprise cloud platform. IBM Cloud offers a high-performance, flexible, AI-optimized infrastructure with bare metal and virtual server Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) options, for IBM watsonx or other generative AI solutions. The availability of watsonx, IBM’s portfolio of AI products, on IBM Cloud at Toronto MZR addresses the growing demand for scalable, safe and responsible AI deployments in Canada. It will enable Canadian organizations to achieve high levels...
