Alex has more than 22 years of executive experience within the financial services industry including investment banking, venture capital, credit hedge funds, bank restructurings, and insurance. Prior to Evertree, Alex led the national expansion of Winged Keel Group and spin-out and ultimate sale of SALI Fund Services to a publicly traded company. In 2022, Alex joined Integrum Holdings, a $1bn Private Equity firm in NYC, as an entrepreneur-in-residence where he founded and launched Evertree Insurance. In an interview, he speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:

Founding of Evertree Insurance: 

According to Alex, the insurance industry, and specifically the insurance brokerage market is dated to say the least. “The average age of producers, distribution methods, antiquated technology, and fragmentation is not attracting new talent. Meanwhile, Financial Services is undergoing a massive technological upgrade that is funneling in new, fresh, smart, ambitious talent. Evertree is being built to address these challenges directly.”

Insurance technology industry – Challenges galore 

This technology enthusiast says that the biggest risk for the industry is to either do nothing or move slowly. The whole industry needs to embrace new technology and spend investment dollars much more wisely. “With AI now ripping through every sector, we will quickly see firms separate themselves by adopting and integrating new technologies that come to market. Some of the biggest firms have invested heavily but with little result and they are going to have to accept that many of these investments are a sunk cost and just move on, while the smaller firms get to start fresh.”

Evertree’s comprehensive platform – Key features 

The company enhances its market reach by selling through its own retail agents and establishing embedded partnerships, which allow for seamless integration and distribution of services. Evertree has a Salesforce-based backbone and leverage API connectivity to tap into features and functionality that drives every part of our business. Having this open architecture model has allowed the company to build a product that would have otherwise been cost-prohibitive yet delivers an experience that arguably could rival any company. Alex states, “We don’t build technology for technology sake, but rather leverage what is out there and build what we have to so that we can solve an issue, automate a process or make producer’s lives easier with something as simple as autofill. Very simply, we want to tech-enable a business with the best tools available. Very often you can do this is in a cost-effective manner.”

Leadership traits

“Building strategic plans, building A+ management teams, and experimenting with new ideas gets me jumping out of bed in the morning. I love to look ahead and get conviction around what the future holds for insurance distribution.” Alex calls himself a business nerd who’s always curious and excited to learn. “Understanding what makes businesses tick, succeed, or fail fuels my fire. If I didn’t have those traits, I don’t think I could be as effective at what I do.”

Insurance startups should watch out for  

Alex asks entrepreneurs in the industry to choose their investors wisely. “It really matters who you take capital from; alignment in values is crucial. I look back and think how incredibly lucky I was to get Integrum to invest behind me. Our investor and Chairwoman, Ursula Burns, ran Xerox for 20 years and has sat on the boards of American Express, Exxon and Uber and co-founder, Tagar Olson, has invested behind dozens of insurance companies like Pure, Alliant and USI. To have that caliber of knowledge, experience is massive. Not to mention, they are also great people making the journey enjoyable” he adds.

He also underscores the importance of teams and collaboration. “I was told once that if you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far, go together. I have learned that leadership is so incredibly multi-faceted. For me to be successful I need to create a platform that is exciting for the best talent out there, while also helping mentor the next generation of leaders. So many people have helped me get to where I am, and I have the obligation to do the same for others.”

Evertree: Forging ahead

Evertree is on a massive expansion spree as it continues to find success in organic growth strategies. Alex comments that the company is expanding nationwide, recently doubling its team to 220 employees, and constantly upgrading its technology to offer the best of any personal lines focused brokerage firm. “There’s always something new on the horizon at Evertree, and our clients, employees and carriers are beginning to see and feel the benefits from it” Alex remarks.

He adds that the company is very focused on hiring producers from all communities and ensuring the firm has multilingual capabilities. He notes, “What we do is still misunderstood by most homeowners—how we offer choice and can work with households to get the best product at the best price at no cost to them. With the average American overspending $500 on insurance and often does not have the right coverage, this is a very big deal. We are committed to building Evertree with a diverse group of agents, which allows us to reach and effectively serve a broader audience. This positions us well as the brokerage firm of tomorrow. The biggest learning since starting the company is that ‘talent attracts talent’ and ‘diversity attracts diversity’ and very few firms in the industry have figured out how to solve the latter.”