Co-operators writes most of its personal lines business through its own captive agents. The one place it still leans on brokers is exactly where its new technology chief's claims background matters most.
Craig Bran has been named executive vice-president and chief information officer at Co-operators, reporting directly to president and CEO Rob Wesseling and joining the executive leadership team.
Bran spent his most recent years running claims, the latest stop in a career spanning more than 20 years at Co-operators across technology, finance, actuarial, underwriting, digital and claims. In that most recent role, he built AI and digital tools into the service model rather than treating them as a bolt-on, an early bet on AI claims technology that now travels with him into the CIO's office. That's a direct-writer's advantage sharpening itself.
Co-operators sells the bulk of its personal lines book through its own exclusive-agent network, competing head-on with the broker channel for the same home and auto clients, and faster, AI-assisted claims handling is one of the clearest ways a carrier closes a service gap with a book it does not need brokers to reach.
This is where the wider market is headed too. A study of Canada's strongest-performing claims operations for 2026 found the leaders had built AI, automation and digital intake straight into triage, fraud review and settlement rather than layering it on top, based on evaluations of more than 200 brokers and 18 insurers. Every carrier that closes that gap raises the service bar a broker's own book gets measured against.
There's a limit to that competitive pressure, though. Sovereign General, Co-operators' commercial and specialty subsidiary, writes exclusively through independent brokers even as its parent posted a 24.2% return on equity in the second quarter of 2026, delivered almost entirely through its own exclusive-agent channel.
Bran's technology mandate is likely to sharpen that split rather than erase it: better AI in the personal lines business Co-operators runs itself, continued reliance on broker judgment for the complex commercial risk it routes to Sovereign General by design.
Bran is not inheriting a settled office. Aayaz Pira was named CIO in a release dated August 27, 2025, taking the role effective September 2, arriving from Canadian Tire Financial Services, and reporting to Wesseling on the same terms Bran now does. Less than a year later the title has changed hands, and Co-operators has not said why or what became of Pira's role.
"Craig brings a valuable combination of technology experience, business leadership and enterprise-wide perspective to this role," he said. "His ability to drive meaningful transformation, build strong teams and deliver results across diverse areas of our business makes him well positioned to lead our Technology team and help shape the future of our organization."
"Technology plays a critical and expanding role in helping us meet the evolving needs of our clients and the employees who support them," Bran said. "I'm excited to work with our teams across the organization to advance innovative solutions, enhance the client and employee experience, and support Co-operators long-term success."
Whatever Bran builds will land on clients whose own brokers get asked to explain it. Gallagher's national technology practice leader, Paige Cheasley, has said many Canadian firms still treat AI risk as an IT problem rather than a governance one, and Gallagher's research found nearly half of businesses surveyed still see it that way.
A broker fielding a client's question about how an AI-assisted claim decision was reached is, in effect, relying on the carrier having already answered that internally.
Co-operators is not short of room to fund the mandate. First-quarter 2026 net income came in at $123.4 million, up from $72.9 million a year earlier, with a Minimum Capital Test ratio of 235%, comfortably above what regulators require. For brokers weighing carrier stability on complex placements, that's a balance sheet with plenty of capacity behind Bran's technology ambitions, whichever direction he takes them.
