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Should an MGA build its own policy admin system? TJ Olonilua, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Accelerant, gave Peter Crowe a straight answer on Meet the Policy Makers: It's never worth it to build something somebody else can do way better than you. His point is the burden after launch. Whatever you build, you have to keep scalable, secure, and auditable, with the engineering staff to match. Prototype fast, learn what's worth building, and buy the rest. It's a question I hear a lot from MGA founders. My thoughts are to put your build budget into what makes your program stand out, and run the operations with a licensed partner who already excels at that work every day. Hey, that's exactly what we do at FOCUS. We're also an Accelerant Marketplace Partner. Full episode in the comments. Heading to Target Markets? Let's grab time.

It's Policy Makers episode 1 and there's no better way to kick it off than with TJ Olonilua, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Accelerant. TJ sat down with me in the Policy Makers Studio at ITC to talk shop. One of the things we talked about is who's at risk from AI. I really liked his response. "I think the only people at risk are the people who resist AI." His reasoning is that business teams can now build their own solutions without waiting on a long translation layer to the tech team. I couldn't agree more. At FOCUS, our people do the work and AI helps them do it faster. The work is changing in the best way. We covered a lot more including his thoughts about build vs buy and the support Accelerant delivers to its 300+ members. FOCUS is an Accelerant Marketplace partner that builds U.S. based AI-enabled operations with licensed accountability under your brand to launch, grow, and scale MGAs and MGUs. Watch the full episode. Link in the comments. Heading to Target Markets? Mark Phillips and I will be there. Let's connect.

🎙️ Had a great time chopping it up with Accelerant Marketplace Partner & President of FOCUS BPO, @Peter Crowe, in the Policy Makers Studio at ITC Vegas! We covered a few topics Ive been thinking a lot about lately: 🤝 Why Accelerant makes a five-year capacity commitment to the MGAs we back. 🛠️ How AI is changing the build vs. buy equation when you can prototype something meaningful over a weekend. 🤖 And who I think is actually at risk of being disrupted by AI (hint: its probably not who you think 👀). Always fun to get into the big questions about where our industry is headed. Big thanks to the FOCUS team for having me! 🙌🏾 #ITCVegas #InsuranceInnovation #AI #Insurtech #SpecialtyInsurance #BuildVsBuy

Here is our InsureTech Connect 2026, from the Green Room to the Studio floor. On opening night, we hosted the inaugural class of the 2026 Policy Makers in the Green Room at Mandalay Bay. Thank you to every member of the class for joining us, for the stories you shared, and for squeezing into one class photo at the end of the night. For the next two days, our President, Peter Crowe, hosted on-the-record conversations in the Policy Makers Studio on the expo floor. Founders, carrier leaders, and analysts talked about AI, hiring, distribution, and why speed keeps coming up in every conversation about insurance operations. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their insight with us: Chris Luiz, Kevin Stein, Andrée Bourgon, Meredith Barnes-Cook, Richard B., 🇺🇸 Nick Lamparelli, TJ Olonilua, Michael Topol, Risha Mahadeo-Brown, Karlyn Carnahan, and Elena Herrick Full episodes coming soon!

I've got 15 interviews with carrier executives and MGA founders coming up at #ITCVegas over two days. I'm asking every guest the same exact closing question, and it's one I bet you'll find refreshing: What jobs do you see AI creating in insurance operations in the next year? We'll be publishing their answers as part of featuring every leader in our Policy Makers series running for the rest of the year. Fair warning, though. I am not neutral on the answer. Our team writes policies and holds underwriting authority every day. I have watched AI absorb some traditional workflows that don't require a licensed human to make a decision and I've seen entirely new workflows get created that do require a licensed professional. Come join us at The Policy Makers Studio at the FOCUS booth #1312. Listen in or bring me your answer: teamfocusins.com/findfocus

400,000 insurance professionals are expected to retire by 2030. For a mutual in a small town, that cliff is the highest when the local bench was thin to begin with. Art Meadows' answer is to stop fishing in one pond. One of his companies runs today with no one in the office and never misses a beat. His Policy Makers feature closes the series with the candor that made it worth reading. Link in the comments. Next week: FOCUS at ITC Vegas, booth 1312.