Understory, the Madison-based company that analyzes and processes weather data to detect risk and help industries make better decisions regarding possible economic loss, has added to its leadership team.
The company this week announced it had appointed insurance industry veteran Neil Irwin as chief strategy officer.
"We had a very specific vision for this role," said Alex Kubicek, co-founder and CEO of Understory. "We needed a proven insurance industry leader with an outsider's mentality, and a willingness to question convention. Neil exceeded our vision with his track record and passion for making insurance meet the challenge of climate change. He's the ideal industry leader to help us seize the opportunity ahead of us."
Irwin most recently founded and led a consulting and executive coaching firm focused on the insurance industry. Prior to his own firm, Irwin was CEO of central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa for London-based risk management, insurance brokerage and advisory company Willis Towers Watson, where he led a team of more than 2,300 people. He also spent 15 years at New-York based insurance broking and risk management company Marsh, where he worked as regional managing director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"Climate change is now firmly entrenched as the number one risk that business leaders are trying to manage, yet traditional insurance hasn't adapted fast enough," Irwin said. "Understory's technology and global risk model make it uniquely positioned to rethink the status quo and protect these climate-vulnerable businesses."
