Show Notes
Dr. Thomas Kuhnt, Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer at HDI Global SE, joins hosts James Benham and Rob Galbraith to explore leading digital and AI transformation in corporate and specialty insurance — recorded live at Insurtech Insights London on March 18, 2026.
Dr. Kuhnt's path is unlike most in insurance. A PhD in algebraic number theory from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 15 years at McKinsey building the European insurance practice, and now a dual CIO/COO seat overseeing technology, operations, and transformation at one of the world's oldest and largest industrial insurers. He brings a systems thinker's lens to one of the most complex transformation challenges in the industry.
In this episode: • Why organizations must stop waiting for perfect conditions and start experimenting with AI now • How agentic AI is transforming input management and underwriting workflows at HDI Global • Why business leads — not IT — should own AI transformation in global insurance organizations • The process trap: how applying AI to broken workflows just accelerates the breaking • What the next 5–10 years really looks like for underwriters and claims professionals at the desk level
Key Quotes: "Don't wait. Start to experiment and iterate. This is not going to go away." "Business becomes IT — and IT becomes business." "We're overestimating the short-term impact — but underestimating it in the long term." "Seventy to eighty percent of an underwriter's work is just rekeying data. That's not really underwriting." "The first question should always be why — and that's an ops question, not a tech question."
🔗 Connect: Dr. Thomas Kuhnt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kuhnt/ HDI Global SE: https://www.hdi.global/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/hdi-global/
👤 Hosts: James Benham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenham Rob Galbraith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-galbraith/
🎙️ This episode is sponsored by Terra — the next-generation Workers' Comp and Commercial P&C Software. Visit 👉 https://terra.insure / https://www.linkedin.com/company/terrainsure/
📌 Find InsurTech Geek: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insuretechgeek/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/InsurtechGeek Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insurtechgeek/
Subscribe, rate, and comment. As always — Enjoy the Ride & Geek Out! 🤓
More from InsurTech Geek Podcast
Jay Bell, COO and Head of Business Transformation, Global Construction and Surety at Zurich North America, joins host James Benham live at ITC 2026 to explore AI, insurance transformation, and how to turn technology into measurable impact.
Jay Vinda, Global CISO and Cyber Risk Engineering Lead at Mosaic Insurance, joins host James Benham live at ITC 2026 to explore cyber risk engineering, the emerging risks surrounding AI, and how cybersecurity intelligence is changing insurance.
David Fernandez, Chief Claims Officer at Kingstone Insurance, joins host James Benham to explore claims transformation, operational excellence, and why the team comes before the technology.
Dawn Miller, Chief Commercial Officer of Lloyd's and CEO of Lloyd's Americas, joins host James Benham to explore what an insurance ecosystem actually is, why a 338-year-old market still has to fight to be understood, and how Lloyd's Lab turned an accelerator into a pipeline that keeps its alumni in the industry.
Ken Bunn, Vice President of Claims at Builders Mutual Insurance Company, joins hosts James Benham and Rob Galbraith to explore how a construction only Southeast insurer built its claims department from scratch, why the AI tools that stick are the ones adjusters never have to think about, and what it takes to keep training junior adjusters into seniors.Ken's path ran through 18 years at Nationwide, rotating between claims leadership, field training, and IT program management, before Builders Mutual asked him to build a claims department that didn't exist yet. Twelve years later, the company has grown from roughly 200 million to 650 million in revenue, and Ken still leads much of the original team he brought over from an outsourced TPA.In this episode:• Why Builders Mutual pulled its claims department in-house, and how they kept close to 30 of the original 40 people they brought over. • The predictive AI models that worked exactly as designed and still failed to stick. • The unglamorous automation, document routing, indexing, and med record summaries, that actually delivered the ROI. • Ken's leadership philosophy for change management with no formal program at all. • Why work comp rate softening may be hitting a floor as catastrophic claims costs climb. Key Quotes:"You can't work on an assembly line and do brain surgery at the same time." "It's not going to solve all your problems. It's going to help." "There might be something wrong when your claims adjusters are the happiest people in the room." "Be real. Tell people what's going to happen and why you're doing it." "Pick and choose your tools well so they inform the adjuster, not just replace them."🔗 Connect:Ken Bunn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenbunn/Builders Mutual Insurance Company: https://www.buildersmutual.com | https://www.linkedin.com/company/builders-mutual-insurance-company👤 Hosts:James Benham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenhamRob Galbraith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-galbraith/🎙️ This episode is sponsored by Terra, the next-generation Workers' Comp and Commercial P&C Software.Visit 👉 https://terra.insure / https://www.linkedin.com/company/terrainsure/📌 Find InsurTech Geek:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insuretechgeek/Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/InsurtechGeekInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/insurtechgeek/Subscribe, rate, and comment. As always, Enjoy the Ride & Geek Out! 🤓