New York City will be hosting Underwriting Innovation USA 2026 on November 17, where senior leaders from the insurance industry will gather to discuss the latest developments in underwriting. The event, hosted by Intelligent Insurer, will bring together over 225 senior underwriters and more than 20 Chief Underwriting Officers to explore strategies for protecting profitability, strengthening underwriting discipline, and identifying growth opportunities.
Taking place at The Westin New York at Times Square, the conference will provide a strategic platform for Chief Underwriting Officers and senior underwriting professionals to discuss market forces, emerging risks, and technological advancements that are shaping underwriting strategy.
With a strong attendance expected, the conference will feature over 20 CUOs speaking on the agenda and two dedicated tracks focused on Distribution and Technology. It will bring together industry leaders to share practical insights, challenge established thinking, and explore how underwriting can remain disciplined, innovative, and profitable in an ever-changing market.
While underwriting remains a fundamental aspect of the insurance industry, it is currently operating in a climate of significant uncertainty. A softening market, geopolitical turbulence, rising loss costs, environmental challenges, evolving risk exposures, and capital constraints are creating new pressures for underwriting leaders, while the push for top-line growth becomes increasingly aggressive.
Chief Underwriting Officers are tasked with navigating these competing priorities while safeguarding margins, maintaining portfolio quality, and identifying opportunities for sustainable growth. Success will depend on a combination of technical expertise, disciplined decision-making, effective collaboration, and the ability to swiftly adapt to changing market conditions.
The 2025 event successfully brought together more than 200 senior underwriters from leading insurers. Building on this triumph, the 2026 agenda will focus on how underwriters can uphold discipline and profitability in a soft market, strengthen distribution and broker collaboration, responsibly integrate data and AI, and build operational resilience while improving customer outcomes.
Throughout the day, the conference will examine how underwriting teams can strengthen practices and portfolio performance to protect margins in a competitive market, while supporting sustainable growth and profitable outcomes. Delegates will explore how to respond to regulatory and market pressures, reinforce governance frameworks, and develop strategies that improve both risk management and client satisfaction.
The agenda will feature senior underwriting leaders from across the insurance market, including Guenter Kryszon, Chief Underwriting Officer, US and Bermuda at Markel; Michelle Pray, Chief Underwriting Officer at Berkley Southwest; Daniel Carreras, Global Chief Underwriting Officer – Casualty at SCOR; Tracy O’Hara, Deputy Chief Underwriting Officer, U.S. Financial & Professional Lines at Ascot; Anthony Shapella, Group Chief Underwriting Officer at SiriusPoint; Tracey Estes, Chief Underwriting Officer at ICW Group; Joseph Fobert, President – Excess Casualty at Novacore; Angie Strack, Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer, National Accounts Casualty at Arch; and Thomas Holzheu, Chief Economist at Swiss Re.
Key discussions will explore how underwriters can maintain discipline through market cycles, respond to inflation and changing loss-cost dynamics, strengthen portfolio resilience, and make more informed decisions around pricing, capacity, and capital allocation. The programme will also examine how insurers can identify and respond to emerging exposures, including AI, technology-dependent supply chains, and secondary perils, while developing innovative solutions that meet changing client needs.
Technology and data will be at the forefront of the conference, with sessions exploring how new data sources, automation, advanced analytics, and AI can improve risk assessment, pricing accuracy, and workflow efficiency. The event will also examine new distribution models, alternative capital, and closer broker collaboration, while considering how technology can enhance underwriting expertise without replacing the human judgement, experience, and accountability at the core of effective risk selection.
Here is a snapshot of what some of the speakers have said:
“Disciplined underwriting in the face of a softening market will be the biggest area of competitive advantage over the next 12 months. In a way, the best offense will be a strong defence for underwriters.
We will be aiming to identify where price is well matched to risk. In areas where things are softening significantly, we will remain disciplined and pull back; where we see well-priced risk and strong returns, we will continue to grow. This ability to know where to push and where to pull back will separate the best from the rest in the coming year.” – Anthony Shapella, Group Chief Underwriting Officer, SiriusPoint
“The most pressing challenge is that loss-cost uncertainty is outrunning our ability to price it. In casualty especially, social inflation, litigation funding, and nuclear verdicts mean historical loss data no longer reliably predicts the future.
The response has to be discipline: better data at the point of submission, a tighter feedback loop between claims severity and pricing, and the willingness to walk away from limits we cannot defend.” – Joseph Fobert, President – Excess Casual
