A CFO who spent 15+ years inside insurance.
Most fractional CFOs have never sat inside a carrier. I spent more than fifteen years there... Personal Lines P&L at Travelers and The Hanover, actuarial and financial consulting at The Hartford, and auto-claims finance across a $370M business unit. I bring that to founder-led and PE-backed businesses across insurance distribution, carriers, and insurtech.
Insurance finance has its own physics.
Commission and contingent revenue, carrier relationships that drive the economics, loss ratios that decide whether growth is worth having, and a roll-up market where the multiple you sell at depends on how defensible your EBITDA is. A generalist reads those off a page. I ran them from the inside for more than fifteen years.
What I have run inside insurance
This is not adjacent experience. It is the core of my career. At The Hanover Insurance Group I was Financial Officer for Personal Lines and grew book-transfer premiums by 50% in twelve months at a lower loss ratio, using a book-profiling tool, an acquisition strategy, and a pricing model that let the carrier selectively acquire only books that fit its appetite. At Travelers I ran full P&L as Regional Financial Officer for the New England Personal Lines region, lifting profitability by 4 points on 20% of all premiums, and later led finance for a $370M auto-claims business unit. At The Hartford I served as senior financial and actuarial consultant, increased subrogation recovery by 20%, and identified $20M in annual operating-expense savings. At CNA National Warranty I built the first-ever FP&A function for a $430M line of business.
What I run for insurance clients now
- For carriers and MGAs. Loss-ratio and combined-ratio visibility by segment, rate adequacy and pricing discipline, book profiling, and agency or program segmentation so you underwrite growth instead of chasing it.
- For brokerages and agencies. Clean commission and contingent revenue recognition, a clear read on organic versus acquired growth, and roll-up finance that keeps add-ons accretive and platform EBITDA defensible.
- For insurtech. The driver-based burn and unit-economics model a board underwrites, plus the reporting a raise or a sale will demand.
Metrics I run for insurance
| Area | What I make visible |
|---|---|
| Underwriting result | Loss ratio and combined ratio by segment, book, and program |
| Rate and pricing | Rate adequacy, pricing model, profitability by book |
| Distribution | Commission and contingent revenue, agency and program segmentation |
| Growth quality | Organic versus acquired growth, book-transfer economics |
| M&A | Diligence, purchase accounting, integration, EBITDA defensibility |
| Cash | Premium and commission timing versus accrual optics |
M&A and exit readiness
Insurance distribution is a multiple-arbitrage market, and the whole thesis depends on EBITDA that survives a quality-of-earnings review. I have been on the carrier side of book acquisitions and I have taken a company through a full sale process. I get the numbers to institutional grade before diligence starts and advise on the finance side of the transaction. I am not a broker-dealer and I do not raise capital or make paid introductions.
The first 90 days.
The first ninety days are about visibility. I rebuild loss-ratio and combined-ratio reporting by segment and book so you can see which business is worth writing, separate organic from acquired growth so the growth story survives a buyer, and clean up commission and contingent revenue so the base looks as durable as it is. If a roll-up is underway, I put diligence and integration discipline around the next add-on. By day ninety you have carrier-grade numbers and a clear read on where margin is made and where it leaks.
Starting smaller
If the scope is not yet clear, start with the Pulse Check: thirty days, a fixed fee, and a structured read on cash, margin, and KPI maturity ending in a prioritized action memo.
Answers before the call.
The questions that come up first when a carrier, brokerage, or insurtech operator is sizing up the fit.
Do you actually have carrier experience, or just adjacent finance?
Do you understand loss ratios and rate, or just general accounting?
We are a brokerage rolling up agencies. Can you handle acquisition finance?
Can you get us ready for a platform sale?
How do we start?
Put a carrier operator on your finance function.
One direct conversation about your loss ratios, book economics, or roll-up math. That is usually enough to know whether this is the right partnership.