Corgi Insurance has appointed James Kullman (pictured) as head of underwriting for North America. It is the latest in a series of senior hires as the AI-focused carrier builds out its commercial insurance operation.
Kullman joins from Chubb, where he was assistant vice president and Pacific North region underwriting manager for North America small and lower middle market. He has nearly 15 years of experience in commercial underwriting and has also worked at CNA, The Hartford and Liberty Mutual, covering construction, middle-market and property and casualty accounts.
At Corgi, he will lead commercial underwriting across North America. He will use AI to improve risk selection, develop underwriting guidelines, strengthen portfolio management and support regulatory compliance.
“AI gives us an opportunity to rethink how underwriting works, from how we evaluate risk to how quickly we can deliver a quote,” Kullman said.
Kullman’s appointment follows two recent hires for Corgi’s trucking business. Daniel Oldham joined from Canopius as head of underwriting for trucking, and Stephen Segroves, a former Travelers pricing and analytics leader, became head of pricing for the trucking program.
Corgi describes itself as building a full-stack insurance platform that combines its own underwriting technology with in-house claims handling and insurance infrastructure.
The pattern of hiring is the story here. In recent weeks, Corgi has brought in pricing, trucking underwriting and now general commercial underwriting leaders, all from established carriers. That suggests it is moving from building its technology to scaling its underwriting.
For brokers, Kullman’s background in small and lower middle market business is the most relevant. That segment involves high volumes, where faster quoting makes a real difference to brokers’ workloads. If Corgi can deliver quicker turnaround without loosening underwriting discipline, it could become a useful market for small commercial accounts.
The test, as with any newer carrier, will be consistency. Brokers will want to see stable appetite, clear underwriting guidelines and reliable claims handling before placing significant business with Corgi.
