For more, check out our Reinventing Insurance Hub and listen to our Podcast collection. Reinventing Insurance is now available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

Lessons learned from the Silicon Valley

What was it like to work for Apple in the 1980s or AT&T in the 1990s? Do you remember the wildly popular PalmPilot and stylus? PalmPilot, early in the 2000s helped bridge together PCs, the electric organizer, and a version of the mobile phone. On this episode of Reinventing Insurance, Albert Chu, Group Chief Digital Officer of Sompo Holdings, joins Paul Ricard and shares his experiences  working as a technology executive. Albert discusses today's exponential technologies and how they are driving the age of acceleration. He shares ways Sompo is finding new growth opportunities, building and educating talent, and investing in the future  — beyond insurance. 

In his 40-year Silicon Valley career, Albert has been at the forefront many technological revolutions — the personal computer, the internet revolution, and today's AI and Web3 opportunities. Albert has brought dozens of products and services to market, at startups and global corporations. 

Sompo is investing in the age of acceleration

Today, Albert continues pursing his passion of bringing technology to market. Albert leads the global implementation of Sompo Holding's digital strategy and digital transformation initiatives and heads the Sompo Digital Lab innovation team in Silicon Valley. He is responsible for developing technology partnerships in insurtech, healthtech and Web3. 

Albert shares Sompo's vision for the future — and joint ventures the company is taking beyond insurance. Sompo is creating new businesses from their digital transformation activities, and investing in areas such as insurance plus data and insurance plus Generative AI. For example, what will the world of insurance and reinsurance become in a Web 3 economy? Our episode helps executives stay ahead of the curve, go beyond insurance, and anticipate upcoming technological changes. 

Reinventing Insurance Podcast

Our Reinventing Insurance podcast explores best practices for taking a CustomerFirst approach to innovation within Insurance. Throughout this series, host Paul Ricard discusses lessons, challenges, and new ways of working with guests who will share their first-hand experiences.

Our podcast host

Paul Ricard is a partner in Oliver Wyman’s Financial Services, Insurance and Asset Management and Digital practices. Paul works closely with businesses to reinvent their strategies, products, and services — and to fuel top-line growth opportunities. Paul specializes in advising leaders on large-scale digital transformation programs, greenfield business design, and digital operating model development. He is also the CustomerFirst platform lead for Insurance and Asset Management, working collaboratively with clients to develop novel value propositions rooted in customer needs. He is actively connected with the Insurtech and Fintech communities, and has facilitated strong partnerships between incumbents and Fintech/Insurtech players.

Our guest

Albert Chu is the Group Chief Digital Officer, Senior VP of Sompo Holdings and CEO of Sompo Digital Lab. In these roles, Albert leads the global implementation of Sompo's digital strategy and digital transformation initiatives and heads the Sompo Digital Lab innovation team in Silicon Valley. He is responsible for developing technology partnerships in insurtech, healthtech and Web3. Albert is based in Silicon Valley and has been at SOMPO since 2018.

In his 40-year Silicon Valley career, Albert has brought dozens of products and services to market, at startups and global corporations including Apple, AT&T, PalmSource, ACCESS and SOMPO. As an experienced technology executive, product marketing and business strategist, Albert also serves as advisor, board member and investor for a portfolio of startups.

Additionally, Albert is a managing partner at Poppyseed, an early stage investment and advisory firm; an advisor at Health Engine, an accelerator program for healthcare startups at the University of California, Berkeley; an innovation advisor at the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation in Toronto, Canada; and a Silicon Valley advisor to Mitsubishi Research Institute’s Initiative for Co-Creating the Future.

More from the Reinventing Insurance podcast collection

Our Reinventing Insurance collection is now available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  You can also tune in on Google Podcasts and Amazon Music. 

Episode 9: Right side, Left side - What does behavioral science mean for insurers?  Paul Ricard sits down with Wei Ke,  a partner based in Oliver Wyman’s New York office, affiliated with both our Pricing, Sales, and Marketing Practice and our Retail and Business Banking Practice. Together they discuss how behavioral science can help insurers improve decision making and build stronger customer experiences in the age of acceleration.

Episode 8: Who will win in the age of acceleration? Paul Ricard sits down with Gaurav Garg, Oliver Wyman's Global Head of Property & Casualty insurance and former C-Suite executive. Together they discuss the insurance industry's current and upcoming changes, and the various ways incumbents and challengers are approaching the age of acceleration. Gaurav provides his perspectives on how incumbents and challengers can play to their strengths and maximize their opportunities.

On Episode 7, we talk tech and insurance. Paul Ricard is joined by Alex Lyall and Justin Kahn, leaders of Oliver Wyman's Fulcrum technology. We take a deep dive into industry trends, greenfield considerations, and the key ingredients to a successful legacy transformation. Plus, how incumbents can leverage their strengths and get unstuck when it comes to building a modern tech stack. And we learn how Fulcrum's proprietary  tooling and intelligence is helping life insurers solve their most pressing and complex infrastructure challenges. 

View more from our Reinventing Insurance Podcast collection.