Building the future of claims: N&D's Mike Cummings on agentic AI and implementing change. Hi Marley's Chief Customer Officer Kim Johson and Chief AI Officer/Chief Technology Officer, Jonathan Tushman sat down with Norfolk & Dedham Insurance's Chief Claims Officer Mike Cummings for a fireside chat. They discussed how Hi Marley is helping N&D leverage agentic AI, how to implement new technology responsibly, and what makes their partnership so strong. N&D and Hi Marley began their partnership back in 2019, when N&D adopted Hi Marley Solution. Today, Hi Marley and N&D are teaming up on agentic AI solutions, designed to streamline the customer claims and communication experience even further. The value of partnership. Jonathan and Mike started by sharing what drives their company's partnerships. "The number one thing is we're both mission-driven," Jonathan explained. "We both value why over how. N&D is innovative and wants products that are durable, lasting, and secure. When you find a company that values those things, you hold them close, and you work with them often." For Mike, working with Hi Marley on agentic AI solutions was a logical next step. "Hi Marley knows the insurance space and what adjusters struggle with, and they're building solutions around that. We've gone from thinking of Hi Marley as a way to text to viewing them as a communication orchestrator," he said. Improving customer communication with agentic AI. Inbound answer rates had long been a challenge for N&D, and this spurred Mike to explore new solutions and technology. "We've been struggling to answer the phone," he said. "We needed a new way to respond to customers, understand what they need, and get back to them more quickly. If we could get technology to do some of that, it would be a win-win." For N&D, Mike shared, "Customer service is number one." So rather than focus on just one metric, he decided to look at the why. The goal wasn't so much increasing answer rate, he realized, as finding new ways to respond to customers and close the loop with customer inquiries. "We can answer the phone," he said. "But if we can't solve their problem and solve it quickly, it's not a success." Kim agreed that even as technology evolves, customer service remains the core priority. "In some ways, the more things change, the more things stay the same. It's still about creating the right experience for the policyholder using the tools available. In this case, that's new agentic technology." Implementing change at the speed of trust. Kim noted that change management can be challenging, especially as agentic technology is so new. Mike and Jonathan agreed, adding that a strong foundation of trust made all the difference for their partnership. "Working at the speed of trust is key for customer engagement," Jonathan said. For Mike, use cases are key to building confidence - before he agrees to try a new product, he understands its value for his team and customers. "I'm going to be listening for use cases that resonate with my operational issues." When it comes to rolling out a new product internally, "it's about opening up a dialogue, learning what people are struggling with. Then, we can think about which products help solve those problems." Beyond use cases, it's important to implement change gradually to build trust. "Once you see positive change in one area, changes in other areas become easier to implement," Mike said. "Our use of the Hi Marley base platform, along with the Conversational FNOL(TM) solution has paved the way for using Hi Marley as an AI solution." AI in the insurance industry. When it comes to the wider insurance industry, Mike and Kim agree that summarization and nudging team members with claims updates are the two biggest use cases for agentic technology. "It seems there's a wide acceptance around these new types of AI solutions that keep the individual agent or customer front and center," Kim said. "We'd tried to use AI to detect actions in the past, but the technology wasn't there," Mike added. "I think the new frontier will be reading files, detecting actions, and sending out claim summaries so agents have better information." Jonathan looks forward to opportunities for development in the compliance space. "I want to make sure Hi Marley products always have compliance at their core, so customers like Mike know they can trust it." Ending the discussion, Kim asked Mike and Jonathan to share what they're most looking forward to in the coming year and beyond. Jonathan can't overstate his excitement about the new opportunities for innovation and development. "I can't wait to see a year from now the progress we've made, and the impact that we're going to have in our organization and the industry," Jonathan said. Mike's goal is to take his team from strength to strength: "We've done a lot of organizational change in the past. This year, I'm excited to give our leaders the right information. This product rollout will help our team be more efficient and successful with our customers."

Hi Marley, an intelligent conversational platform for P&C insurance, has appointed Scott Stephenson, former chairman, president and CEO of Verisk Analytics, to its board of directors. Stephenson brings extensive experience scaling high-growth companies and applying data science and AI in insurance. During Stephenson's tenure as Verisk's CEO from 2013 to 2021, the company more than quadrupled its market capitalisation and joined the S&P 500 Index. He was also recognised by Forbes as one of America's most innovative leaders. Stephenson joins Hi Marley's board alongside co-founder and CEO Mike Greene and representatives from Emergence Capital and True Ventures. He currently serves as founder of SGS Capital and previously worked as a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group.

Introducing the winners of Hi Marley's 2026 Core Values Awards. Hi Marley's third annual Core Values Awards recognize those who shape Hi Marley's positive culture and help Hi Marley Inc stay connected to its values as Hi Marley Inc scale. Each year, Hi Marley colleagues submit nominations for the people who exemplify its three core values every day: * Be Humble: Hi Marley Inc lead with appreciation and promote a culture of humility, compassion and openness to learn from anyone, anywhere. * Max Courage: Hi Marley Inc encourage its team, its customers, and their customers to dream big, try new ideas and maximize impact by taking calculated risks. * Ubuntu: True success is achieved by aligning its individual aims behind a shared purpose bigger than any single individual or company. "As Hi Marley continues to grow in an industry where trust matters deeply, our core values are more important than ever," said Stefanie Bishop, Chief People Officer at Hi Marley. "They're the backbone of our culture, the standards that guide how we work, how we treat one another, and how we show up when no one is watching. The individuals recognized by our Core Values Awards aren't just high performers; they model humility, take courageous risks in service of our customers and teammates, and put the collective ahead of themselves." Be Humble: Kevin Roller, Senior Solutions Engineer. Kevin Roller joined Hi Marley in March 2023 as an Integration Analyst. He moved into the Senior Solutions Engineer role on the Growth team last year, where he leverages his deep technical expertise and product knowledge to educate carriers on the value of its solutions and the strength of its unique partnership approach. He also co-leads Hi Marley's Volunteering Committee, organizing events for Hi Marley to give back locally and globally. "I was not surprised to see the quantity of nominations for Kevin for the Be Humble award," said Dan Keenan, Chief Growth Officer. "The nominations were thoughtful, kind and generous, and that's because Kevin is also very thoughtful, very kind and very generous. He is the ultimate team player." Dan highlighted a specific submission that spoke to Kevin's character. "Kevin does the work of multiple analysts and handles it with a smile," the submission stated. "There is never any judgment when you ask him to explain concepts, and he's always going above and beyond to make Hi Marley a trusted partner. I appreciate all Kevin does and the peace he brings while doing it." Max Courage: Kayla Patel, Principal Software Engineer. Kayla Patel joined Hi Marley in October 2020. As a Principal Software Engineer, Kayla embodies Max Courage: to dream big, try new ideas and maximize impact by taking calculated risks. Kayla is always willing to tackle the most complicated, difficult projects and has done so for her team many, many times. In the past year, she stepped into a leadership role on the DevOps engineering team, which was outside her comfort zone, but she was interested and willing to learn, taking on the responsibility without hesitation. "I'm constantly inspired by Kayla; she is the kind of leader that every team hopes to have," said Jonathan Tushman, Chief Product Officer at Hi Marley. "She leads with ownership and maturity. Her courage is impressive in how she will fully admit when she doesn't know the answer, then throw herself into finding the solution, learning, and asking for input. Her confidence isn't loud or performative; it is grounded, earned and deeply trustworthy. She's brave enough not to let her ego trump curiosity and collaboration, and these traits make her an amazing teammate." Ubuntu: Bruce Kaufman, Principal Software Engineer. At Hi Marley, Hi Marley Inc believe true success is achieved by aligning its personal aims behind a shared purpose bigger than any individual or company. And few people embody the value Ubuntu more than Bruce Kaufman, one of Hi Marley's longest tenured employees. Bruce Kaufman joined Hi Marley in December 2018 as one of its earliest engineering hires. He continually pushes his team and the company forward through his persistence. He's consistently willing and happy to dive into challenges, diagnose problems, find solutions, fix bugs, assist on features and more. "Bruce always finds time to help others out, no matter what he's working on," said Jonathan. "He often challenges us and pushes us to do our best. This year, he led the collaboration with our Labs team to explore and bring AI innovations to Hi Marley's product. Even with so many technical unknowns, Bruce gave us the clarity we needed to move forward." Founders' Award: Dan Ko, director, Customer Success. The Founders' Award recognizes an employee who embodies all three core values. This year's recipient, Dan Ko, recently celebrated his six-year anniversary at Hi Marley. He joined in January 2020, bringing an energy to the Customer Success role that helped build strong, lasting and trusted relationships. "It's not easy to embody all three values at once - Max Courage, Be Humble, and Ubuntu - but Dan Ko absolutely does, and more," said Mike Greene, Co-Founder and CEO at Hi Marley. "While the Founders' Award bears Dan's name, it represents something bigger; it's the culture he's shaping, it's the people he's developing, it's the teams that reflect these values every day. He's a true believer in people, and that goes such a long way." Mike added, "Outside of work, I've experienced a bit of Dan Ko with his family, and you can tell the love he gives and what a great father he is outside of Hi Marley. Dan lives Max Courage, Be Humble and Ubuntu. It's in how he leads, how he cares for people and how he serves customers and others." Congratulations to this year's Core Values Awards recipients! The winners each received a prestigious award, a cash prize, and an equity grant.