I Ride with the Waves

I ride with the waves and allow ever-constant changes to take me to new challenges. This diversity has shaped my worldview, right up to becoming the Chief Insurance Officer at Ahoy!

Perhaps it started when I was growing up in Calgary, Canada. Back then I spent a lot of time blissfully boating on the lakes or canoeing in the rivers. However, as I got older, I started to see more into boats. I realized that they were also a clever tool to get you places and allow you to do what you really enjoy. In my case, it was scuba diving, and eventually, I became a Divemaster.

Throughout my career, I have had a lot of experience working at, and advising giant corporations in Insurance and Banking.  I have developed an expertise that has enabled me to get involved in the big league.

Nevertheless, I have always been attracted to working with smaller businesses and rural locations and to bringing technological progress from other areas to the smaller companies that still meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of families. Here, you can see that a handshake is still a handshake.

So when a friend put me in touch with a group of Israeli navy buddies looking to reinvent boating insurance, it felt like the right fit right from the start. These people really knew their stuff, but they were also humble enough to know what they didn't know, which is refreshing. They had a deep shared history, so they understood how to disagree in a healthy, productive way and still make progress.

Most importantly, they were on the way to something important - a risk-reducing approach to boating that would allow people to enjoy it more. Surprisingly enough no one else had reinvented boating (and boat insurance) in this way. Many yachts already use sophisticated technology to reduce risks and damage, so it was wise to try to apply our ideas more broadly in recreational boating.

The team's decision to expand to North America cemented our relationship. Bridging cultures and connecting - that was my sweet spot. So we got together and I partnered again with something small as a connection to something big.

Perhaps what I value most about being in a start-up organization like Ahoy! is that you always have to work broadly and deeply in that context. There's nothing that can rest on our laurels because we must constantly reinvent ourselves.

We always try to keep in mind that what got us to this point and helped us to create what we have here is not what takes us to the next level. It's something that's still to be learned.

We never cease to think about how we can make Ahoy! valuable to our policyholders, and the boating community in general, in an innovative way that improves their boating experience. We rely on usage-based approaches and new technologies as inspiration.

And we understand - every day anew - that if we ride with the waves, we’ll continue to prove that the combination of big and small entails endless potential.