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News & Commentary
Content posted in October 2007
GuideOne Chooses Policy Decisions
News  |  10/31/2007  | 
GuideOne Insurance has selected Insurity's Policy Decisions admin system.
WellPoint Partners With Zagat
News  |  10/23/2007  | 
WellPoint has tapped Zagat to help offer a physician rating tool to its members.
Hartford Life Names Brian O’Connell CIO
News  |  10/22/2007  | 
Former Accenture executive Brian O'Connell will drive technology integration across Hartford Life in support of greater efficiency and effectiveness, and to enable a cross-selling initiative with The Hartford Financial Services Group's property/casualty company.
The Coming Challenge: Taking Advantage of Processing Power
News  |  10/18/2007  | 
A research chip exists that has 80 cores on one chip. If you are using servers with four processor cores, the operating system will handle spreading out the tasks, but you're not really taking advantage of the processing power that exists. We're still writing software for one process at a time. To take advantage, we'll need to reengineer our policy administration systems and adopt parallel programming techniques to move forward.
John Kellington Moves to ACORD as SVP of Standards
News  |  10/16/2007  | 
Former Ohio Casualty Group SVP and CIO John Kellington joins ACORD, where he will oversee the development of standards.
DFA Launches ADVISE 4.0
News  |  10/16/2007  | 
DFA has unveiled a new version of its modeling software for the insurance industry, ADVISE 4.0.
Reach Out and TXT Someone: Sun Life Offers Insurance Via Text Message
News  |  10/16/2007  | 
Sun Life Financial is offering text message-based insurance products to customers in the Philippines, according to a newspaper report.
SPARTA Selects Insurity
News  |  10/15/2007  | 
SPARTA Insurance Company has chosen Insurity's Policy Decisions commercial policy administration system.
Joan Zerkovich of ICAT Manages Increased Project Activity
News  |  10/10/2007  | 
ICAT CIO Joan Zerkovich handles increased product activity resulting from state of Florida Citizen's Insurance Company Contract.
Jeff Stoll Retires From MetLife but Remains Active in Insurance
News  |  10/10/2007  | 
Retired MetLife SVP and CIO of individual business IT continues to serve on various advisory boards and is a member of the board of directors at ACORD.
Rick Roy Improves Service Experience for CUNA Mutual Group
News  |  10/10/2007  | 
CUNA Mutual Group SVP of customer operations Rick Roy leads the drive to improve service for the company's customers, credit unions and their members.
Jim Court Takes Charge of American Property and Casualty's Operations
News  |  10/10/2007  | 
American Property and Casualty's Chief Operating Officer Jim Court focuses on operations and the entire IT organization.
Al Bowen Aligns Ohio National Financial Services' Technology and Business Plan
News  |  10/10/2007  | 
SVP of Information Systems Al Bowen streamlines technology and business and reprices Ohio National Financial's life insurance portfolio.
Aetna CIO Meg McCarthy Brings Disciplined Delivery to Aetna
News  |  10/9/2007  | 
Aetna CIO Meg McCarthy applied her 20-plus years experience in the IT consulting and healthcare fields to bring the carrier to new levels of process excellence, efficiency and delivery volume.
Introducing 2007's Insurance & Technology Elite 8
News  |  10/9/2007  | 
This year, as last year, and as always, we feature a cross section of honorees from the P&C, life and health insurance sectors. While representing a similar pool of companies as their predecessors, this year's honorees will surprise the reader with their unique qualities and backgrounds.
Elite 8 2007: Keys to the Build vs. Buy Decision-making Process
News  |  10/9/2007  | 
Elite 8 Honorees Dennis Mehmen and George Napoles, of Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance and Jackson National Life, respectively, discuss when to build and when to buy new systems.
Member Experience is Key for Holly Morris, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Holly Morris, Senior Vice Presidence and Chief Information Officer of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and one of Insurance & Technology's Elite 8 2007, speaks about the influence of her liberal arts education in driving an outstanding technology career, and the transformation of Thrivent's technology to drive growth through a better member experience and relation
At Aetna, Meg McCarthy Focuses on Technology Delivery and Performance
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Meg McCarthy, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Aetna, Inc., and one of Insurance & Technology's Elite 8 2007, discusses her deep healthcare and technology experience and her focus on world-class standards of technology delivery and performance.
Mark Boxer Helps Make WellPoint a HealthCare Industry Transformation Leader
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Mark Boxer, President and CEO Operations, Technology and Government Services at WellPoint, Inc., and one of Insurance & Technology's Elite 8 2007, talks about his career path through the development of consumer-directed health movement, the value of IT for healthcare consumers, and the state of members' online experience at health insurer WellPoint.
Jim Hanson Drives Evolution of Mutual of Omaha's IT Organization
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Jim Hanson, EVP, Information Services, Mutual of Omaha, and one of Insurance & Technology's Elite 8 2007, reports on the evolution of Mutual's IT organization over the past 11 years, his organization's focus on efficiency and simplicity, and the launching of the carrier's revenue-producing IT services subsidiary Continuum Worldwide.
Allstate's Catherine Brune Develops Workforce To Enable Business Transformation
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Catherine Brune, Allstate Insurance Company's SVP and CIO, and one of Insurance & Technology's Elite 8 2007, goes beyond the platitudes to put people first, partner with the business units, and focus on organizational transformation. Brune discusses how Allstate's Next Gen claims reengineering initiative exemplifies her focus on architecture, governance and collabo
Balancing Expense Control, Drive for New Systems Key for Chris Steward
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Insurance & Technology Elite 8 2007 honoree Chris Steward, vice president of information systems and CIO of Arbella Insurance Group, talks about balancing the drive for new systems capabilities with the need to control operational expenses and delivering increased agent-facing functionality to the company Web site.
George Napoles Focuses on Customer Service at Jackson National Life
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Insurance & Technology Elite 8 2007 honoree George Napoles, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and CIO of Jackson National Life, comments on the challenges of developing an IT department from the ground up and the importance of customer service.
Dennis Mehmen Turns IT Around at Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company
News  |  10/8/2007  | 
Insurance & Technology Elite 8 2007 honoree Dennis Mehmen, vice president of business information services and CIO of Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, speaks about how he turned things around at GMRC, his views on SOA and the role of IT as a strategic business partner.
Jackson National Life CIO George Napoles Builds Organization's First IT Department
News  |  10/5/2007  | 
After building Jackson National Life's IT team from scratch, CIO George Napoles credits a highly technical, highly creative staff with establishing the organization as an industry leader.
Grinnell Mutual CIO Dennis Mehmen Uses Business Strategy To Make IT A Priority A GMRC
News  |  10/5/2007  | 
By redefining his department as a strategic business partner, Grinnell Mutual CIO Dennis Mehmen has turned the carrier's IT organization into an innovator in the insurance space.
Arbella CIO Chris Steward Revolutionizes Its Web-Based Agent Facing Systems
News  |  10/5/2007  | 
Chris Steward has turned Arabella Insurance Group's agent-facing systems and Internet-based functionality from problem areas into competitive differentiators.
Rick Roy, Elite 8 2006, Draws Lessons from CUNA Mutual's Transformation Initiative
News  |  10/4/2007  | 
Elite 8 2006 honoree Rick Roy reflects on lessons from CUNA Mutual's ongoing initiative to transform customer operations.
Thrivent Financial SVP and CIO Holly Morris Focuses On The People Behind The Technology
News  |  10/4/2007  | 
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Senior Vice President and CIO Holly Morris' people-focused technology transformation is taking the fraternal benefit society into the age of information democracy.
Wellpoint's Mark Boxer Exemplifies How Empowering Technology Can Be In A Healthcare Setting
News  |  10/4/2007  | 
WellPoint President and CEO of Operations Mark Boxer has achieved prominence in the health insurance industry through a combination of technology depth and a resolute focus on the business.
Allstate's Catherine Brune Develops Workforce To Enable Business Transformation
News  |  10/4/2007  | 
At Allstate Insurance, SVP and CIO Catherine Brune is a passionate and outspoken evangelist not only for her 6,500 IT employees, but also for the insurance industry's urgent need for transformation.
Mutual of Omaha's Jim Hanson Favors IT Solutions That Increase Simplicity, Customer Relations
News  |  10/4/2007  | 
During his 11-year tenure as head of Mutual of Omaha's technology organization, Jim Hanson has driven increasingly greater efficiency and ease of use, and has even launched a revenue-producing subsidiary.
Identifying the Insurance & Technology Elite 8 Insurance CIOs
News  |  10/4/2007  | 
Successful insurance technology executives share common traits, including the ability to establish credibility with the business, build a solid technology architecture, assemble effective teams, and implement plans with an eye to both the short and long term.
Insurance & Technology’s Elite 8 Share Some Common (Or, More Accurate, Uncommon) Traits
Commentary  |  10/4/2007  | 
After nine years of identifying and profiling the insurance industry's most innovative and outstanding IT executives, Insurance & Technology identified some common traits.
CareFirst BCBS Chooses Benefitfocus
News  |  10/3/2007  | 
Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield will use eEnrollment software technology from Benefitfocus.


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