The L&A Hub

Ramsey Smith — former Goldman Sachs life insurance banker, Genworth board director, and Founder/CEO of ALEXIncome — argues that the next great wave of guaranteed income won't come from agents or RIAs. It will come from the 401(k) default option. He breaks down why fixed deferred is winning the in-plan annuity race, why a $140B market is just the beginning of a $5–15T total addressable market, and why this is the most important generational opportunity carriers have to take back ground they relinquished decades ago.

Ramsey Smith — former Goldman Sachs life insurance banker, Genworth board director, and Founder/CEO of ALEXIncome — argues that the next great wave of guaranteed income won't come from agents or RIAs. It will come from the 401(k) default option. He breaks down why fixed deferred is winning the in-plan annuity race, why a $140B market is just the beginning of a $5–15T total addressable market, and why this is the most important generational opportunity carriers have to take back ground they relinquished decades ago.

James Wong built a massive IMO from scratch, sold it to a Fortune 500, and then launched The Founder's Chair — an insurance-focused angel investing platform that has funded 17 companies and deployed $11M+ in two and a half years. In this episode, James breaks down what AI is actually doing to startup teams right now: one founder quietly let go of two engineers, another is doubling down on senior talent, and a third expanded her team's scope instead of cutting. He shares his unfiltered read on the LPL-Anthropic deal, why it overnight made the biggest firms every startup's competitor, and why the next wave of insurance founders will need to build quietly before they raise. Plus: what James is watching for at the Founder's Chair August event.

Patrick Kelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Signal Advisors, breaks down his IMO 4.0 thesis — the idea that modern IMOs should implement best practices through technology, not just teach them. From founding RepPro to building an AI-native IMO in Detroit, Patrick shares what it took to create features like One Click Annual Review, TruePay, and Pay Later Marketing that are changing how advisors run their businesses.

Nick Gerhart — former Iowa Insurance Commissioner, insurtech investor, and now COO of Homesteaders Life — makes the case that smaller carriers can finally outmaneuver the big guys. He talks about building adjacencies around pre-need insurance, why the AI governance framework needs rethinking, and why his single piece of advice to every insurance professional is the same: don't do nothing.

Cally Myhrum, founder of Lotus Fertility Insurance, shares how a personal experience led her to build the first fertility protection product embedded in life insurance. With IVF costing $60-70K and no individual coverage options, she's creating a $265 billion blue ocean — and carriers are paying attention.

Michelle Gordon, COO of Axonic Insurance, reveals how a startup grew to $2.1B in issued annuities in its first year — with its own cloud-built policy admin system and 125 employees. Plus, her passionate case for why the SEC's 1987 ruling on financial planning is harming American retirees and the insurance industry alike.

Andrew Barnett, VP of Technology Innovation at FIG, shares how a stint in minor league baseball led him to one of the most forward-thinking tech teams in insurance distribution. He breaks down FIG's work at the IRI hackathon — including an AI agent that calls clients to gather application data — and makes a compelling case for why the industry needs to stop planning to 2028 and start shipping in weeks.

Moshe Golomb, CEO of Juice Financial, tackles the $10 trillion check problem still plaguing insurance. After 26 years digitizing payments across retail and banking, he's bringing Uber-like transparency to insurance disbursements — from death claims to annuity payments to international stablecoins. Plus: why 20% of insurance costs are fraud, and how open banking is changing the game.

Darren Rowe, CEO of Kadance, explains how his precision health management program is changing life insurance from a death benefit into a living benefit. Learn how genetic testing, cancer navigation, and pharmacogenomics are being embedded into life insurance policies — and why Nationwide bet on this approach.

Paul Tyler speaks with Ash Sawhney, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Zinnia, about the transformative changes in the life insurance and annuity sectors. They discuss the evolution of underwriting, the impact of technology and AI, and the entrepreneurial journey within the insurance industry. Ash shares insights on how Zinnia is digitizing and automating processes, the challenges faced by new businesses, and the future of underwriting in a rapidly changing landscape.