00:03 - [music] [music] >> Hello everybody. Welcome to Insurance Business TV. We are here of course at Insurance Fest 2026 for another of our peer-to-peer interviews and today I'm catching up with Jennifer Kessel. She's COO of USG Insurance Services. And we're going to talk a little bit about the MGA and program space, Jennifer. So, what would you say is driving the growth of that business right now and indeed is it sustainable? >> Yeah, it's a great question. So, I think

00:38 - that MGA business has become so specialized. There's no room anymore for one-size-fits-all approach. So, carriers as they're looking at their profitability and their margins and their teams, there's an expectation that MGAs are highly specialized and they're truly underwriting. And so, I think that has pushed over onto the MGA side. As MGAs have become innovation labs, right? So, the technology on the MGA side has gotten so good. I think it has allowed underwriters to truly focus on

01:09 - underwriting and it has allowed them the speed that they need to get to market, right? Fastest in fastest out wins. And so, I think we've seen that trend as well. And I think we'll only see that continue more. I talked to a carrier the other day and they said 95% of their business goes through the portal. They don't want the referral coming in. So, only 5% of that business is getting referred for their team to have to handle. I think we'll see that trend continue. And I do

01:37 - think it's sustainable, but only for MGAs that continue to add value. So, the days of pushing paper across the desk is no longer valid. You have to invest in your technology, your teams, your infrastructure and make sure that your workflows and processes are modern age and I think that makes it sustainable. >> And of course, specialty really is the most important word. So, just give me a little insight into the thought process if you can. How do you determine if yeah, this is a niche that's worth

02:06 - really going for and versus one that's perhaps too small or too volatile? >> Yeah, it's an interesting question. I think a lot of folks have this will build it and they will come approach. We don't do that, right? So, we want to vet the opportunity and so we start with the customer not the product. What is the customer Who is the customer and what are their needs and then we vet that opportunity. Is it sustainable? Do we have the underwriting expertise in house to make it sustainable and what does

02:36 - that look like from is it going to generate enough volume that we can dedicate resources to it and we start to build around that. Volatility doesn't scare me as much as volatility without data and without analytics scares me, right? So, I think if you have the proper data, you can definitely work through the volatility issues. >> Yeah, and of course, data is important and so are those relationships as well. What's perhaps the most difficult aspect in that sort of relationship between the

03:05 - MGA and the capacity provider right now? >> I think it is more transparent than it's ever been and that comes with its challenges. So, gone are the days of like we're going to provide you a order at the end of the month and then you see what we did, right? It's automatic via API feeds and that goes back to I think the foundation of a relationship and that is trust. We have to, you know, a capacity provider has to trust that you're an extension of their underwriting team and that you are doing

03:34 - what's right by them and when you have transparent data, that demands that. So, I think that's what it becomes the most difficult thing, but clarity only feeds into those good relationships. >> And do you think there are any markets that are perhaps underserved right now? >> I think the one thing that I see happening is everyone's talking from AI from a about AI from a perspective of how it changes our business. What we're not talking about is what infrastructure does it take to build data centers? And

04:07 - what infrastructure does it take to grow AI? And what should we in the insurance space be anticipating? So looking at there's a great need for electricians. Are we ready to serve electricians that are working on data centers? Do we know what that looks from a policy level? Manufacturing around it, cargo and transportation around data center. So I think that's what I see is maybe not under served, but we're not talking enough about it. >> [music]