Ilume

Hosted by Kraus-Anderson Insurance

BusinessInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

Latest episode

Feb 2025

Language

About the show

Welcome to Ilume, a podcast for bright minds on risk, brought to you by Kraus-Anderson Insurance. Listen and learn about current strategic business risks from industry experts and insight leaders as we strive to meet your greatest risk challenges with innovation and depth of knowledge. Our co-hosts, Seth Hausman and Heather Burmeister are looking forward to bringing you insightful conversations and practical ideas, in a light, friendly, and fun format.

Listen to episodes

32 recent

February 17, 2025Episode 3235 min

Does your CFO know she is also the chief risk officer?

Who is responsible for the function of managing risk in your business? If the answer is your risk manager or your insurance agent (or maybe nobody), then this episode is for you. Risk managers and insurance agents play an important role in defining processes and procedures for managing risk and providing options including insurance for business decisions that come with risk. However, when it comes to recognizing risk, opportunities, and making those decisions, the business leaders are often in the best position to lead and within that leadership team, it is often the CFO who is best positioned to see all the risks that exist, understand the impact, and help prioritize governance and controls. Companies that stay informed of their risks, and use that information in their decision making, have the best opportunity to grow profitabily. Rick Nordvold, the founder and CEO of Growth Operators joins us for this episode to discuss the key role that the CFO plays in the function of risk management and how, even a fractional CFO can improve risk based decision making and decrease costs.

July 15, 2024Episode 3131 min

Loss Control Goes Digital

The insurance company sets a date to visit your project site or location. They arrive, conduct their interviews and evaluate your business operations. You may receive some recommendations following the visit and then you provide your response. Did you ever wonder what happens after that with the information from that visit? In years past, that report got filed away in an underwriting file, perhaps never to be read again. Today, however, the information, observations, and data from that report can be aggregated and analyzed in new and important ways. The information may feed into an underwriting pricing model to impact premium decisions or even play a big part in the decision to provide a proposal. Beyond that, the data, when integrated with claims data, provides predictive capabilities to help predict and avoid the next claim. The power of that granular information, when harnessed, can have a direct impact on the financial results of the insurance company and of your own business. Many companies are leveraging the analytics behind loss control information to decrease claims and increase profits. Risk Control Technologies is on the forefront of this data capture and evaluation. We are thrilled to have David Pittman, AVP of Sales for Risk Control Technologies, join us for this episode and share his insights into this new horizon for insurance carriers, brokers, and clients.

March 28, 2024Episode 3037 min

Capitalizing on ESG Opportunities in the Construction Industry

Environmental, Social, and Government (ESG) requirements are popping up everywhere. Do you know the expectations of all the various stakeholders that impact your business? These include project owners, general contractors, investors, lenders, insurance companies, employees, and governmental agencies. Each comes with risk and opportunities. Have you starting capitalizing on steps that you may have already taken? We are thrilled to join with the Kraus-Anderson Construction Build Me Up podcast to bring you an enlightening discussion on construction environmental risk and insurance. Mallory Thomas, a partner with Baker Tilly's risk management practice in Minneapolis joins us to discuss these emerging risk issues and ways to position your business for success; both internally and externally.

January 23, 2024Episode 2935 min

It's Time to Pay More Attention to Your Personal Lines Insurance

For years, homeowners and personal automobile insurance has been an afterthought for most owners of homes and vehicles. The policies reviewed annually without much fanfare or thought. It seems that all of a sudden we have had a seismic shift in awareness and challenges. 2023 saw the largest number of billion dollar claim events and these were concentrated not only on the coasts but also in the interior of the country. They ranged from flood, wind, fire, hail, and tornado activity. This has resulted in significant profitability challenges for personal lines insurance carriers and changes in what is available in the market and what is expected of insurance purchasers. The carriers all assume they will continue to be on the front line of these increased natural disasters and don't see a likelihood of a slow down in this activity in the coming years. Matt Akin, leader of the personal lines business at Kraus-Anderson Insurance Agency joins us this month to shed some light on the current challenges and some possible solutions.

November 10, 202352 min

Foundation Agreements: Constructing Clarity in Contracts

Construction projects are like a big family tree with lots of lines between owners, developers, architects, engineers, general contractors, and subcontractors. There may be nothing more tedious and more important than reviewing and understanding your contracts and agreements and how they interact will all of those other lines on the family tree. It is rare to find experts who are able to demystify contract language while also providing practical advice that can minimize your project risks. Our guests this month are able to do both. We are thrilled to share the insights of Liz Poeschl of Meagher & Geer and Johnna Wangensteen of Kraus-Anderson Insurance, and we hope you can find a few ideas to benefit your risk management practices.

August 9, 2023Episode 2744 min

Business as Unusual is Usual - Plan now for the Next Big Crisis

Companies that learn how to anticipate a crisis can turn that event into a positive business experience and those that are unprepared may never recover. Evaluating and imagining low frequency/high severity risks that could materialize in a five to ten year horizon allows for planning and the ability to practice various scenarios. Crisis management through risk governance processes will add uncalculatable value to any business, large or small. Hart Brown, the CEO of Future Point of View, joins us this month to dive into the benefits of pre-planning for a crisis and the steps required. Hart has managed countless assessments, developed response plans, and led businesses through some of the most complex crises. The list of potential risks continues to grow. Are you ready for a fire, flood, shooting, cyber incident, reputational attack, or the next pandemic? Have you considered the pending downfall of electronic encryption or the impact of an international socio-political shift? Join us as we learn about ways to plan for those infrequent, unexpected, and severe risk events.

June 20, 202336 min

Donuts Might Transform Your Claim Cost Outlook

A chance encounter with a table of free donuts started Scott Anderson down an actuarial career path unknown to him at the time. Since then, Scott has become one of the best at explaining why your claim history may not really be your final claim history and how insurance companies use claim history to predict the financial future. Do you wonder why your insurance rates increase while your historical claims seem so low? Did you know that the profitability of your insuyrance company may be lower than that of your own busines? Can you improve your financial planning with a good understanding of the tools that insurance companies use to predict what your claims are likely to be in future years? Scott spent the first part of his career in senior actuarial roles with several insurance companies, helping to evaluate history and predict future claim activity. More recently, he leads Actuarial Advisors, Inc., a successful consulting company that assists many businesses to better understand their own loss experience and plan for the financial impacts. Join us this month as we demystify the world of claim history, rate making, and insurance finance.

April 26, 202327 min

Marijuana's Changing Impact on Employee Drug Testing

Minnesota is heading toward legalization of recreational marijuana by the end of May. The changing landscape has already impacted, and will continue to impact employer drug testing programs. Legalization does not change the fact that employers still very much have the ability to require a drug free workplace, however, the tools and techniques to ensure compliance are changing and getting more complex. There may be differences between pre-employment and post-employment testing. There will be differences between various employee types including safety sensitive jobs and individuals that are subject to federal Department of Transportation regulations. There will continue to be differences between state regulations. Traditional drug testing will still play an important role, and will be augmented by improved impairment recognition training, advancements in testing techniques, extreme clarity in company policy, and very consistent policy implementation. Many employers have already adjusted to the changing landscape in order to continue to maintain a drug free workplace. Judy Praska, owner of Fastest Labs of Bloomington joins us this month to add some perspective to this very challenging and complex issue.

March 16, 202339 min

Recruit and Retain GenZ College Grads

One of the greatest risks that businesses face without much of a safety net involves hiring and retaining the right people for the job. In a tight labor market, the winners will understand the market and evolve to meet the moment. GenZ has already entered the workforce and will be the future for many years. This group has had unique experiences that has shaped their outlook and expectations. Brian Johnson, co-founder and partner at Katapult Network, focuses primarily on entry level roles for recent college graduates. He consults with both candidates and employers to help bridge the gap between traditional hiring practices and what he calls the future of work. Join the discussion to hear Brian's perspective and advice for leading the way and securing the talent you need to grow your business.

March 1, 202339 min

Group Captives - What are they and why should you join one?

There must be a better way. At times, the traditional insurance procurement process feels inefficient and inconsistent. The group captive model looks to turn that process on its head by returning control to you. A captive is an insurance company that is owned by the members that it insures. For businesses with a strong risk management and safety commitment, captives not only provide an opportunity to improve the process of procuring insurance, but also provide opportunity to decrease the cost of managing risk. Jean Sundlof, Director of Captives at Kraus-Anderson Insurance joins us for an in depth discussion that includes an understanding of how captives work, the ideal candidate for captive programs, and the benefits that await those captive members. Find out if this model is right for you and ways you can take your risk management program to the next level!