Episode 1 | May 6, 2021

A History Lesson on The Exchange

Special Guest: Dennis Chookaszian

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Warning: This episode is a bit of a history lesson. To some, “Exchange” is a cuss word, while others may not even know what that means.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, the legendary Dennis Chookaszian joins Reid to talk about the many attempts to create an industry-wide Exchange. Dennis was there from the outset and involved in all four major attempts.

Find out how they got started, who was involved, and why Dennis thinks they failed. And if you don’t know much about the beginnings of insurtech, this is one history lesson you don’t want to miss.     

Episode Highlights

  • Dennis shares how he got involved in the insurance industry (2:32)
  • Dennis discusses the first iteration of how the Exchange came to be (6:01)
  • Dennis explains the single entry multiple company interface (SEMCI) concept (8:57)
  • Dennis gives his perspective on why the Exchanges failed (11:47)

View Full Episode Transcript

Guest Bio

Dennis Chookaszian

Dennis Chookaszian is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and teaches courses in Corporate Governance. Before his professorship, he was with CNA Insurance for 26 years, serving as chairman and CEO for seven years, then chairman of the executive committee for three years. Prior to that, he was President for two years and CFO for 15 years. After CNA, he was chairman and CEO of mPower Inc., an internet financial advisory service. Prior to CNA, Dennis was a management consultant with Deloitte for eight years.

"The idea at the time was to create I-V-A-N-S, Insurance Value Added Network Services. So what we would do is create a network service link between agents and companies, and it would be value added."

Dennis Chookaszian

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