Future-proof solutions
As Verisk Specialty Business Solutions our focus is to provide solutions to our clients. We are thought leaders and understand the problems our clients are facing and how to address them directly. We believe addressing the market’s needs and making them a key part of our vision and strategy is the most effective way of accurately providing tailored solutions to enhance client experiences and better inform risk decisions.
28+
Years of successful implementations
25+
Countries we operate in
400+
Experts around the globe
200+
Clients across our portfolio
35,000
Technology users worldwide
19 petabytes
Of information in our data stores
We are part of Verisk
Verisk Specialty Business Solutions has a strong track record for delivering successful transformation programmes for underwriters, brokers and MGAs within Lloyd's, companies and international insurance/ reinsurance sector.
We have access to Verisk's data and predictive analytics, which can extend client solutions across rating, underwriting, claims, catastrophe and weather risk, global risk and many other fields.
With the strength of Verisk behind us we have access to a global team of insurance industry experts and data-driven insights across the Verisk network.
Why choose us as a partner?
We are future focused
We innovate and drive change in the industry, creating solutions to solve the challenges of today and tomorrow.
We believe in true partnerships
We pride ourselves on focusing on long-term partnerships with our 200+ clients. We work together to find solutions for their unique set of challenges.
We are trusted
10 out of the top 10 Managing Agents and 4 out of the 5 world's largest brokers trust our solutions.
Meet the management team
Lee Shavel
Chief Executive Officer, Verisk
Lee M. Shavel is Verisk’s chief executive officer, driving long-term sustainable value for shareholders, customers, and employees. He brings nearly 30 years of experience advising and leading publicly traded companies to Verisk—determining strategies and policies, overseeing financial performance, and furthering company
culture.
Lee joined Verisk in 2017 as chief financial officer (CFO). As CFO, he modernized Verisk’s corporate financial operations, including treasury, investor relations, and procurement, and grew the company’s relationships with debt and equity investment communities, including buy-side institutional investors and sell-side research analysts. He implemented an enhanced capital discipline process for internal and external capital deployment, extending that philosophy to the company’s operating focus as CEO.
In 2021, Lee also became group president of the company’s energy and financial services groups. In that role, he integrated the business for improved strategic and operating coordination and accelerated investment in the company’s energy data analytics platform.
Before joining Verisk, Lee was Nasdaq, Inc.’s executive vice president and chief financial officer from 2011 to 2016. From 1993 to 2011, he served as managing director, Americas head of Financial Institutions Investment Banking, and other roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Lee holds a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in economics from the Wharton School.
As CEO of Verisk, Lee’s been elected to the company’s board of directors and is on the executive committee. He also serves on the board of directors of FactSet Research Systems and chairs its audit committee. He previously served as a director and chair of the audit committee of Investment Technology Group and served on the board of NJ SEEDS, an educational nonprofit.
Tim Rayner
Chief Executive Officer
As chief executive officer and president of Specialty Business Solutions at Verisk, Tim Rayner drives deliberate, disciplined design and delivery of experiences to clients and team members. He works to increase understanding and create connections between these two groups while advocating for the integration they require, technical or otherwise.
Tim champions clients’ and team members’ perspectives in the company’s strategic decision-making and measures the impact of these groups’ experiences on the company’s performance.
He has board-level responsibility for the team’s relationships with Lloyd’s, the Future @ Lloyd’s, and large strategic accounts; Tim is also playing an instrumental part in the team’s global expansion.
Tim became Specialty Business Solutions’ chief executive officer in July 2022, having served as chief experience officer since 2021. He joined the company in 2018 as business development director. Before that, he spent 18 years in technology and operations on the broker side of the London Market at Miller Insurance Services, specializing in the coverholder space and architecting London’s first real-time bordereau data exchange in 2007. He began as a software developer at Miller, before moving on to head up IT, Business Change, Business Transformation & Technology, and Group Operations.
Tim’s articles on how technology can drive efficiencies through distribution chains have been published in London-based insurance publications. His team at Miller won an Insurance Day award in 2008 for real-time delegated authority management.
Tim has completed the Lloyd’s Leadership Programme at the London Business School and is certified as a Forrester CX Champ.
He’s been chairman of the Halstead Swimming Club since 2016.
Helen Banton
Chief Operating Officer
As chief operating officer, Helen Banton is responsible for day-to-day business operations, including global client support and hosting, as well as driving employee engagement and satisfaction for Specialty Business Solutions at Verisk.
Helen leads operational excellence initiatives for Specialty Business Solutions by driving cost and productivity benefits through automation, process improvement, efficient controls, and removal of waste and inefficiency. Her mission is to achieve high employee and client satisfaction along with strong business performance.
She’s significantly matured the department’s security standing, having achieved ISO27001 accreditation in 2018, and continues to lead vulnerability management and deployment of Verisk Security tools, controls, and policies across the business.
Helen joined Verisk in 2016 and has been instrumental in scaling and industrializing operations, production support, and AWS hosting services. She operationally prepared the Sequel business for sale to Verisk in 2017, where it became Specialty Business Solutions, and successfully integrated Moore Stephens Rulebook into it in 2018.
She has more than 30 years of operational and delivery management experience working in senior leadership positions for global software vendors across multiple industry sectors, including insurance, retail banking, and capital markets.
Helen has a wealth of experience in change management and was named Change Leader of the Year in 2008, from a field of 250 executives and senior managers, at Tieto Corporation.
She’s attended executive education programs through the Stockholm School of Economics.
Helen supports cancer research charities through fundraising walks and other events and enjoys house renovation projects.
Andy Galli
Chief Financial Officer
As chief financial officer (CFO) for Specialty Business Solutions at Verisk, Andy Galli is responsible for the department’s financial operations, financial planning and long-term strategy, and business integration/mergers and acquisitions.
He’s known for introducing of some of the first comprehensive data analytics and business intelligence offerings to the insurance market in the early 2000s and more recently the launch of the market-leading Rulebook software to the commercial pricing and rating space.
Before joining Verisk, Andy worked for 26 years in the Insurance division of Moore Stephens LLP, training as a Chartered Accountant and becoming Audit Partner for a range of large insurance clients in London. In addition to his audit responsibilities, he established the firm’s IT consulting division.
Andy went on to co-found Moore Stephens Consulting Ltd, which became one of the leading technology providers to the London insurance market. He served as the company’s CEO for 17 years until Verisk’s 2018 acquisition of Moore Stephens.
Once at Verisk, Andy led the integration of Moore Stephens’ award-winning Rulebook suite of products into the wider Sequel portfolio before moving into the role of CFO at the start of 2020.
Andy holds a BS in economics from Southampton University and has completed the Harvard Executive Leadership Program through Moore Stephens. He has held the ACA Chartered Accountant qualification for more than 20 years.
Danny Flavelle
Chief Strategy Officer
Danny leads a focused engineering team, driving the core re-usable components that make the heart of Specialty Business Solutions’ systems. He owns the technology roadmap for the team’s product suite, determining what technologies the team uses and governing future technology decisions, including cloud strategy.
Prior to joining Verisk, Danny was a partner at Moore Stephens (now BDO), one of the top 10 accounting firms in Europe. He devised the award-winning Rulebook solution, a ratings platform with a dynamic rules engine that can embrace pricing models across all major classes of business, which was acquired by Verisk in 2018.
Danny has a 20-year history of building rating and pricing solutions within the global specialty market of insurance. He began his career as a claims adjuster at Lloyd’s of London before joining a startup software firm as its first employee in 2000 and helping develop the company until its sale in 2006.
Paul Kent
Chief Product Officer, US
As Chief Product Officer, Paul Kent is responsible for the development of Specialty Business Solutions products at Verisk and the delivery of client projects. He will be taking responsibility for our US product strategy, Business Engagement, and Pre-Sales functions in the region.
Throughout his career, Paul has specialized in building high-performing teams and actively developing talent. He joined Verisk in 2018 with 20 years’ experience in technology-enabled change, bringing a unique combination of knowing insurance technology and understanding client perspective. Since then, he’s built out his team to meet client demands and increased team performance to exceed targets, achieving a balance between investment and direct revenue-generating work.
Paul’s background in consulting and insurance includes experiencing the insurance industry from both broking and underwriting perspectives. He’s successfully led teams in London, North America, and internationally, at one point managing a group with 120 offices in many different nations and cultures.
He holds a Higher National Diploma in engineering from the Royal Air Force and has completed the Verisk Leadership Excellence Program.
Andrew Cyran
Client Engagement Director, US
As Client Engagement Director, Andrew Cyran is responsible for the growth and expansion across North America, Bermuda, Canada, and into the Asia/Pacific (APAC) region of Verisk's Specialty Business Solutions. He runs the USA team, which includes business development, operations, support and strategy, and works closely with the Verisk USA and Specialty Business Solutions UK teams to ensure the division grows effectively in the USA.
Richard Smith
Chief Product Officer, EMEA
Richard Smith is responsible for Specialty Business Solutions' product strategy, pre-sales and business engagement across the EMEA region.
Rich joined Verisk Specialty Business Solutions in 2016 having spent many years in property underwriting, and is a Certified Catastrophe Risk Analyst. He previously held the role Head of Sequel Rulebook.
Simon Gutteridge
Chief Experience Officer
As the Chief Experience Officer at Verisk Speciality Business Solutions (VSBS), Simon brings a unique blend of expertise in account management, IT technical expertise, and London Market insurance understanding to the table. With almost 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, he has a deep understanding of the challenges and requirements of clients.
Previously, Simon served as an Account Manager at VSBS, where he managed a portfolio of high-profile clients and was responsible for developing and maintaining strong relationships with them. Through his experience in this role, Simon gained valuable insights into the needs and challenges of clients, which have given him a customer-centric and problem solving approach to business.
In addition to his experience in account management, Simon has a deep understanding of the unique dynamics and complexities of the London Market, particularly when it comes to broking and fiduciary requirements. Simon’s knowledge of both the broker and carrier sides of the market has enabled me to develop innovative solutions, including finance dashboards and integration solutions that meet the evolving needs of our clients, while also enabling compliance with regulatory requirements.
Simon is focused on creating a seamless and exceptional customer experience for our clients, working closely with our client and team to develop strategies that prioritise the needs of our clients, while also leveraging our technology and data to enhance the customer journey. Simon is passionate about creating lasting relationships with our clients and ensuring that they receive the best possible service from our organisation.
Simon holds an MSci in Chemistry from Imperial College, London.
Outside of work, he is a keen cyclist and spends a lot of time on DIY.
Javier García Magna
Director, Center of Excellence, Málaga
As Director of Verisk’s Center of Excellence in Málaga, Javier García Magna leads a team of more than 170 professionals, including software architects and developers, project managers and business analysts, and cloud engineers.
He leads the way for the Málaga office to drive business growth by working in conjunction with product and department heads, aligning with Verisk’s overall vision, strategy, and objectives. As Javier’s team performs most technical duties for the business, he stresses the importance of best practices, knowledge sharing, and cross-team synergy.
Javier started at Verisk as a developer before moving to software architecture and then managing Specialty Business Solutions’ Development team. In 2010, he was chosen to open the office in Málaga with 10 developers, a team that has since grown to more than 170 people. Prior to joining Verisk, Javier worked as a senior software developer, engineer, and designer at companies of increasing size in Spain.
Javier has spoken at developer conferences, bringing his passion for software development to topics such as best practices for microservices.
Javier holds an MS and BS in software engineering, both from the University of Málaga and an MBA in international business from Cámara Málaga. He is PMP certified and holds several certifications in Microsoft technologies.
He volunteers with regional and national organisations that promote software use among older populations and children, and mentors at bootcamps for women developers. He founded and runs dotnetMalaga, a local software development community.