We’re excited to share that John Peters, one of the brightest minds in the world of insurance, has joined the Kinetic Advisory Board. John is Chief Insurance Officer for Lemonade – a global digital insurer built on AI and social impact – and holds decades of experience in commercial insurance and loss control, including various executive roles at Liberty Mutual and McKinsey & Company’s insurance practice.
As an advisory board member, John will provide our executive team with insight into advanced underwriting and actuarial strategies, especially using novel datasets. He will counsel Kinetic on our MGU strategy and offer guidance on developing successful relationships with our carriers.
We connected with John to discuss his decision to join the Kinetic Advisory Board, as well as his thoughts on the workers’ compensation industry, injury prevention and technology.
Why were you attracted to the Kinetic Advisory Board?
When I joined Lemonade in 2016, it was to be part of the transformational change happening in the insurance industry. I wanted to help lead that change as part of a company that was redesigning insurance from the ground up. This transformation is ongoing, and so is my excitement about it, which is why Kinetic is the perfect company for me to get behind. They’re part of the revolution, transforming the workers’ comp space with a tech-led, proactive approach to keeping employees safe and saving policyholders money.
Kinetic has built a simple wearable device with a proven track record of significantly reducing injuries in a non-invasive way. Their team is dedicated to workplace safety and to creating experiences that are a win for all – employees, employers and insurance companies alike. I’m thrilled to join their board, where I can continue to help lead change in the industry.
How do you see the workers’ comp sector changing?
Like the insurance industry at large, the workers’ compensation space is behind. It’s built on reactive versus proactive processes, the technology is lagging… insurance as a whole has been slow to innovate. In workers comp, however, the consequences are greater than time-intensive manual processes and operational inefficiencies. Workers are injured on the job at alarming rates, and employers suffer from lost productivity and increased turnover. The traditional approach of addressing risks after they occur is antiquated and costly for everyone involved.
The transformation of this space requires a new and proactive way of addressing workplace injury. It’s time for insurers to move beyond just transferring risk on paper to providing policyholders with tangible tools that can actively help reduce injuries in the workplace. This is where wearable tech, like the device Kinetic designed to prevent injuries before they occur, can be a game changer. It helps to identify and prevent risk across an entire workforce, driving down injuries, claims costs and premiums, while building a culture of safety and trust in the workplace.
Why is a culture of safety important, and how can brokers and providers contribute to it?
A positive safety culture is one where safety is a shared priority and all parties are committed to minimizing risk. In safety-critical industries like transportation, warehousing and manufacturing, risk is everywhere. Jobs are often physically demanding and lead to strain and sprain injuries from things like heavy lifting and repetitive movements. Employees get injured every day; a culture of safety makes preventing these injuries a primary concern.
Injury prevention is about adjusting both the environment and the worker so that the odds of getting injured go down. Sounds easy but it is not. Brokers and carriers can definitely play a leading role in this effort. While insurance is about getting someone back on their feet when the unexpected happens, maybe more importantly, it’s also about helping people take actions to prevent the unexpected from ever happening. Providing clients with innovative offerings that proactively help them reduce risk and prevent injury is key.
Kinetic is paving the way with a policy that equips policyholders, at no extra cost, with wearable safety tech that’s proven to reduce injuries.
What role do you see technology playing in the future of workers’ comp insurance?
Technology is changing fast. We all have devices and sensors that make us safer – we see it every day in our cars and homes. We don’t see it enough in our places of work. In insurance, so far, tech has been primarily used to improve customer interactions, and enhance operations and back office activities. It’s under-utilized in the field in a proactive way to prevent risk. This is what Kinetic is pioneering.
When more workers start using safety wearables to help them move in safer ways, and more safety managers start leveraging collected data to uncover potential risks in the workplace, real change will follow. Fewer injuries will occur, workers will feel and perform better so productivity will rise, and over time, employers’ claims and premiums will go down. Technology is the game changer, and it’s the direction the industry is moving in.
Do you see similarities between Lemonade and Kinetic Insurance?
Of course! Both companies are reinventing insurance in their respective spaces. Lemonade has transformed car, home, pet and other insurance products for consumers, delivering a delightful experience and reducing the inherent conflict of interest in our industry. Similarly, Kinetic is reinventing workers’ comp for businesses, using technology to increase safety and savings for policyholders and their workforces.
Both companies are laying a foundation of trust with clients, leveraging state-of-the-art tech to enhance the user experience, increase transparency and provide protection to customers. It’s all quite exciting!
John Peters is Chief Insurance Officer for Lemonade, a digital insurance company built on social impact. Lemonade’s full stack insurance carriers in the US and the EU replace paperwork and bureaucracy with bots and machine learning, aiming for instant everything. A Certified B-Corp, Lemonade gives unused premiums to nonprofits selected by its community, during its annual Giveback. Lemonade is currently available in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and France, and continues to expand globally.
Click the link below to view the official press release: