Underwriting Knowledge Team

• Robert Lukas, Vice President of Underwriting Sciences. Before joining FirstBest as vice president, underwriting sciences, Robert Lukas was a principal of Realistic Outcomes Incurred, which provides consulting services focusing on business models and associated technology initiatives to financial institutions. He was formerly chief information officer of the Hartford’s Property/Casualty Company, where he established a new IT governance model for the property and casualty enterprise. With more than 30 years of IT executive experience, he founded and directed the Hartford Technology Services Company, a subsidiary of the Hartford which provides a technology services to the Hartford and to other corporations. The company generated $34 million of revenue in its first year of operation. He also served as President of CLA Corp., a Hartford subsidiary that marketed insurance software and technology services to other insurance providers. He has been active in business and technology associations, including The Life Office Management Association (LOMA), The Advisory Boards for Technology Companies, Partners Program at Forrester Research, and Boston University Research Center, School of Business Administration.
  
  
• Kelly Lynch, FirstBest Senior Director, Underwriting Sciences, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). Lynch brings more than 15 years of insurance industry experience to FirstBest, including underwriter for Kemper National Insurance Company, loss control engineer for highly protected risk (HPR) property accounts with Industrial Risk Insurers, manager of facultative and treaty business for Swiss Re America’s Engineered Risk Department (ERD), and manager of Quanta U.S. Holdings' program division, where she had operational and underwriting oversight over more than $175 million of direct written premiums written by Managing General Agents on behalf of Quanta.
  
  
• William F. (Bill) Cutting, CPCU, FirstBest Business Analyst, Underwriting Sciences. Cutting brings 25 years’ experience in underwriting management and sales to FirstBest. Previous roles have included production specialist with Lexington Insurance, a leading P&C insurer; underwriter consultant with Kemper Insurance Companies; director of underwriting for RTW; portfolio underwriter for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.; senior underwriter with American International Group (AIG); and pricing analyst with The Hartford Insurance Group.
  
  
• Edward Gray, Director of Customer Solutions. Ed Gray has over twenty-five years of insurance expertise in Information Technology and Business Operations with carriers and brokers, including roles as CIO, COO, and Senior Vice President of Operations. He has extensive hands-on experience in system and business process architecture and re-engineering in policy administration, claims, billing, reinsurance, accounting, and management reporting areas, so he has seen what does (and doesn’t) deliver real value to the insurance organization. At FirstBest, Ed works with customers and the product team to develop a shared vision for how the Underwriting Management System can bring real-world productivity and quality benefits to the carrier’s internal and agency operations.
  
  
• Paul Cummings, see Executive Team
  
  
• Leonard C.G. (Geoff) Smith, CPCU, FirstBest Strategic Advisory Board. With over 35 years’ of insurance industry experience, Smith was most recently executive vice president, COO and board member of ePolicy. After a 30-year career at Hartford Financial Services Group, he retired as president, Commercial Affinity Operations, one of three Hartford North American Property/Casualty operating companies. His career there spanned commercial P&C underwriting and sales leadership.