BDMA September Webinar 2021: Supporting an insurers ESG strategy – the new supplier imperative

Watch our September 2021 webinar: Supporting an insurers ESG strategy – the new supplier imperative

Unavoidable fact #1 – if you want to work with insurers, you need to demonstrate Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance.

Unavoidable fact #2 – this isn’t light touch stuff – no longer is it just about turning the lights off or recycling paper.

Unavoidable fact #3 – this applies to everyone from the large corporate damage management companies to the smallest start-up or franchises.

Unavoidable fact #4 – it’s time to get real about going green.

In this webinar, we discussed the macro-environmental factors that are driving the irreversible journey towards sustainable Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance. Policyholders are voting with their feet and insurers see ESG as a pivotal imperative to retain customers.

We unconvered what insurers are looking for in terms of the supply chain’s contribution to their ESG commitments. We then reviewed the operational process improvements, product/service design and value creation they are implementing/need to implement with their networks.

We then discussed how the loss adjusting fraternity and damage management industry can contribute to an insurers ESG policy, touching on the emergence of new supply chain providers that are supporting ESG objectives.

Finally, we debated how such initiatives are implemented, what leadership is required and whether a collaborative, cross-industry approach to ESG can be put in place.

Featuring contributions from Matt Hillyer (Zurich UK), Ian Gibbs (Sedgwick), Sabine VanderLinden (Alchemy Crew) and Mike Cooper (Richfords Fire & Flood) this webinar was a must-see for anyone who wishes to continue their insurance relationships in the future.

This webinar took place on Thursday 30th September at 2pm on Zoom.

Head shot	Name	Bio
	Matt Hillyer – Panellist	Customer Proposition and Data Team Leader at Zurich UK Matt has worked for Zurich for 6 years and leads the Customer Proposition and Data Team within Zurich Resilience Solutions. His career has been within Strategy and Risk Management across the Supply Chain and Insurance sectors and he has a passion for using data to support the identification and development of customer solutions.
	Ian Gibbs – Panellist	National Technical Manager at Sedgwick Ian Gibbs is a National Technical Manager in Sedgwick. His background is in the insurance sector, project managing claims for and repairs of domestic and commercial buildings. He has developed a service to the insurance market, to minimise the impact of wet peril claims and providing flood resilient advice and repairs to customers. Ian has been a member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Property Flood Resilience Roundtable for several years and is currently Vice-Chair. He is on the Steering Committee of the Environment Agency (EA) Resilience Pathfinder Projects which is driving the uptake of flood resilience and part of the CIWEM team delivering flood resilience training to the EA and the wider flood community. He works closely with Universities researching into flood resilience, to advance the understanding of the intersection of flooding and insurance. His work in these groups provides him the opportunity to influence the thinking on future flood response.
	Sabine VanderLinden – Panellist	CEO and Managing Director of Alchemy Crew Sabine VanderLinden is CEO and Managing Director at Alchemy Crew. As an insurtech expert, Sabine positions herself as an interface between major players in insurance and agile start-ups helping them achieve their sustainable goals. Sabine is an author on insurtech and the former founder of Startupbootcamp, which she helped grow to become Europe’s largest Insurtech accelerator. She is an expert in co-labs, where established corporate players develop relationships with more agile start-ups seeking to develop the strategies and products that are either fuelling tech-driven disruption or finding answers to the issues it throws up.
	Michael Cooper – Panellist	Business Development Director at Richfords Fire and Flood Michael is a qualified BDMA Technician, has an Honours degree in Biology from Oxford Brookes University, has studied at the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Cranfield University. Since joining Richfords in 2006, Michael has played a key role in the company’s growth into an industry leader in damage management and restoration. Specifically, Michael helps insurers, loss adjusters, and brokers access the benefits for “Restoration Focused” damage management and yield the benefits that this approach delivers in terms of reduced customer disruption, reduced claims cost, shortened claim life cycle, and improved sustainability. “During my time with Richfords, we have stuck to what we know, which is understanding customer needs, technical innovation and maintaining a restoration focus,” says Michael. This simple strategy has been at the core of the Richfords Fire and Flood philosophy and has led to a growing number of clients seeking to make use of the company’s skills.