For Marissa Moscowitz (pictured), chief operating officer at RT Specialty, transformation starts in the engine room of the business: brokerage and binding authority underwriting. Her remit spans some of the most operationally complex parts of the specialty market, where scale is driven less by flashy technology and more by eliminating friction in everyday workflows.
“At a high level, we’re continuously evaluating all aspects of the business to identify where the transformation-rich opportunities are,” Moscowitz said. “Right now, our focus is on operational improvements within brokerage and binding authority that either increase revenue or create meaningful efficiency.”
One of the clearest pressure points sits deep in the policy lifecycle. Following up on policies sounds straightforward in isolation, she said, but becomes far more complex when dealing with full towers of coverage.
“When you’re looking at a tower of 20 or 30 policies, each one has to be followed up in sequence,” Moscowitz said. “You can’t obtain excess layer until the full primary layer is issued and delivered, and that dependency makes the process extremely time-consuming.”
That challenge has become a prime candidate for automation. RT Specialty is developing agentic AI tools designed to manage follow-ups and dependencies, reducing manual effort while preserving accuracy and sequencing discipline.
“It’s an example of how each area of the policy lifecycle can surface different operational efficiencies,” she said. “But we’re very conscious that this is still a relationship-driven industry. The goal is not to replace relationships - it’s to give our teams more time to build and strengthen them.”
That balance also shapes how RT Specialty approaches technology sourcing. Moscowitz said the firm continually reassesses where internal development creates differentiation and where external solutions allow the business to move faster.
“We’re always evaluating build versus buy,” she said. “Where do we keep our special sauce in-house, and where do we buy to supplement that and accelerate delivery?”
A key factor is the depth of insurance expertise required. Some solutions demand vendors who deeply understand specialty risk, while others are fundamentally technical problems where RT Specialty’s internal knowledge provides the insurance context.
“As tools become more commoditized, they move higher on our list to source externally,” Moscowitz said. “That allows us to focus our internal development on the areas we want to continue building and refining with our own stakeholders’ expertise.”
Like most large-scale transformations, adoption remains one of the hardest challenges. Moscowitz said resistance to change is inevitable, regardless of industry, and must be managed deliberately.
“We expect the solutions to be compelling enough that people want to use them,” she said. “But we’re also very sensitive to the fact that not everyone embraces change at the same pace.”
Rather than relying on traditional rollout models, RT Specialty has focused on early engagement and continuous feedback. Brokerage and binding authority teams are involved throughout development, helping shape solutions before they go live.
“We’ve moved away from the idea of a big-bang launch,” Moscowitz said. “Instead, we’re bringing people along - showing features as they’re built, gathering feedback, and adjusting along the way.”
Training has followed the same philosophy. Instead of one-time instruction focused on clicks and screens, the emphasis is on how new tools fit into real workflows.
“It’s about the full adoption journey,” she said. “How does this change what you do next? How does it affect the downstream process? That context matters if you want people to truly integrate it into how they work.”
While execution sits with Moscowitz’s team, the direction is set firm wide. She said transformation is being driven from the top, with consistent engagement from Ryan Specialty’s leadership.
“This is a commitment that starts with our executive chairman and CEO and flows through the organization,” she said. “Their industry knowledge constantly generates new ideas, and our role is to bring those ideas to life.”
That alignment has helped maintain momentum while keeping expectations grounded.
“They challenge us to move faster, but also to deliver the right solution,” Moscowitz said. “There’s a clear vision from leadership, and our job is to execute against it.”
