Neptune Flood’s two top leaders are switching their positions, a move designed to help prepare the InsurTech startup for its next phase of growth.

Founder and CEO Jim Albert will become chairman, and Trevor Burgess will switch from his role as chairman to CEO.

In larger companies, chairman and CEOs don’t typically swap positions, but Albert said that management changes are typical in startups.

“It is relatively common to have management change at this stage,” Albert told Carrier Management. “At Neptune, we are fortunate that the skills required for success at the CEO and Chairman roles existed within our current executive team.”

Launched in 2017, the Florida-based startup is a private flood company that uses advanced data analytics and technology to create a two-minute quote-to-bind process, with a goal of making flood insurance available to millions of Americans well beyond the federally-backed and struggling National Flood Insurance Program.

Albert said the change at this point in the company’s evolution is important. While relatively new, Neptune is authorized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and it is backed by global insurers and has policies in 38 states.

“Scaling a company from a broad base of existing business requires a different focus than in the raw build phase of a startup,” Albert explained. “With 20,000 policies and the opportunity for much more, Neptune will increase [its] focus on technology leadership, operational excellence, [regulatory] compliance, and extreme ease of use that has defined the company to date.”

Before Neptune, Albert was chief information officer of Florida-based Bankers Insurance, where he led the technology and data analytics team. He also previously led the national technology consulting firm Idea Integration, and had leadership roles at companies including AT&T and Bell Labs, according to the company’s web site. Burgess, on the other hand, was once president and CEO of C1 Bank and its bank holding company, C1 Financial, a Florida operation that focused on the needs of entrepreneurs. Neptune’s web site credits Burgess with building the operation into a fast-growing bank before it was acquired by Bank of the Ozarks in July 2016. He also was a managing director at Morgan Stanley.

Burgess’s “experience on Wall Street and then in building a successful technology-focused bank are a great match for the skills required to grow Neptune to the next level,” Albert said.

By the same token, Albert argued he’s the right person to serve in the role of chairman moving forward.

“As Neptune has begun to attain national recognition, it is an important role of the chairman to evangelize the Neptune brand and help spread the word about the need for flood insurance,” he said. “Neptune’s market success has shown that our core elements of extreme ease of use built on powerful technology and data analytics meet consumer and agent needs that were previously unavailable in the market. There is tremendous opportunity to build upon that success as we continue to scale Neptune in the months and years ahead. One-hundred percent of mine time is and will be focused on Neptune.”

Source: Neptune Flood