5 Questions with Brook Rosenbaum, General Manager, P&C

Brook joined Gradient AI to lead strategy and execution for Gradient’s Property and casualty segment. He brings more than 12 years’ experience in the P&C insurance industry. Brook has held leadership positions in product management and development, digital transformation, and go-to-market strategy in Insurtech and large carriers.

 

Most recently, Brook served as Vice President at American Family Insurance, where he led expansion into new markets and spearheaded the company’s loT/connect home strategy.

 

Prior to moving into the insurance industry, Brook was a practicing attorney and worked as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co.

 

Question 1: What were some key factors which led you to pursue a role with Gradient AI?

 

I have spent much of my career working at large companies and institutions – a law firm, a state government, a consultancy, and a multiline insurance carrier – and I have learned a lot along the way. I also worked at a startup insurance company for several years. The experience of working in that startup environment was exilerating and fulfilling in ways that my time at larger companies was not.

 

Gradient AI’s size and the company’s ambition to grow quickly were incredibly attractive to me. When I met the leadership team, I was struck with a consistent positive energy. We spend a large portion of our lives with our professional colleagues, and I prefer to work alongside people who challenge me to do my best every day and who I can trust will be tireless in their pursuit of our shared goals. Gradient AI provided an opportunity for me to continue my professional growth and to contribute to a team that is poised to achieve great success.

 

 

Question 2: What is the primary focus of your role as General Manager, P&C and how does it impact our clients?

 

My goal is to develop and articulate a vision and strategy for how Gradient AI can create value for stakeholders in the P&C industry. This means:

• offering solutions that meet the needs of our customers today and anticipate and address the challenges they will face in the future.
• taking the time to understand their business, their unique workflows and their goals.
• helping them achieve their objectives by giving them the tools and support they need to profitably serve their customers.

We want to be more than just be a vendor to our customers, we strive to be their trusted partner.

 

Question 3: What are the biggest challenges facing P&C insurers today and how can they address them through AI?

 

The P&C industry has traditionally been slow to innovate and legacy insurers have allowed their tech infrastructure to age passed its ability to accommodate technological advancements.

 

The industry is also a heavily regulated one and over decades it has returned a reasonable return for owners and investors. This has created a relatively consistent risk aversion and resistance to change among the large, established players in the industry. Now however, we are at a convergence of the arrival of big data analytics, industry profitability challenges, and the emergence of automation technologies.

 

This has created an opportunity that is causing some companies to shake off their resistance to change and giving rise to successful startups both in the carrier/MGA space as well as in the Insurtech ecosystem of companies who want to provide the picks and shovels to help unlock the opportunities to capitalize on these new technologies.

 

Going forward, the biggest challenges for insurers will be to prioritize and execute an outline  that will allow them to compete in this industry in the years to come.

 

Question 4: What are common misconceptions about the use of AI in the P&C industry?

 

 Whenever a new technological innovation hits the mainstream, there is a tendency for companies and leaders to raise expectations for the innovation to lead to immediate bottom-line benefits. And while it is true that new data sources, new computational approaches, new automations, and new go-to-market modalities have created huge value for the industry, most of the time this did not happen overnight, nor was it necessarily a straight line between the initial innovation and commercial success.

 

The emergence of “AI” is the latest in a long line of innovations that have great promise. Undoubtedly AI-driven predictive analytics, generative AI, and agentic AI will create value in P&C insurance. But AI, by itself, is not a panacea. Realizing the financial benefits of AI will require investment in talent and infrasture, a willingness to experiment, trial and error, and strategic decisions that will take years to unfold.

 

Question 5: What do you like to do in your free time?

 

For the past several years, I have spent a lot of my free time coaching youth sports. My son and daughters have played soccer, baseball, basketball, and softball with me as their coach. But my youngest is about to age out of youth sports, so this chapter in my life will soon be coming to an end. I expect that I will fill that vacuum with other things I enjoy – cooking, golf, and other sports where I mainly try to avoid injury!

 

Bonus Question: What is a bucket list travel spot for you and why?

 

New Zealand – I have always loved pictures of the landscapes in New Zealand. And I am fascinated by the opportunity to ski down a mountain and go to a beach on the same day.

 

To stay up to date on the P&C market and AI’s evolving impact in the industry be sure to visit our website for insightful white papers, thought-provoking webinar discussions, health blogs and more! Look for upcoming 5-question interviews to learn more about our talented and dedicated team and how they support better outcomes and the success of our clients.

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