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Recognising the leaders doing the hardest work of the current phase: moving agentic AI into production, and building the architectures that will let it scale.
Five executives selected for what they shipped, not what they pitched.
Announced on stage at Instech London · 7 July 2026
Insurance has announced hundreds of agentic AI initiatives. Few are in production with measurable outcomes. Fewer still are built on architectures that will compound over time.
That is not a criticism. It is the honest position of the industry today. What the best firms have done is harder and more valuable than it looks: they have moved a genuinely agentic system into production, or they have built the enterprise architecture that will carry the next wave. Some have done both. This programme recognises that work.
Insurance has no shortage of AI announcements. What it lacks is recognition for the people turning those announcements into working systems.
The Agentic Faces programme identifies C-suite leaders across European insurance who have moved past pilots and into production. Chief Underwriting Officers, operations leaders, technology executives, and data officers taking operational and P&L ownership of agentic AI inside tier-one carriers, reinsurers, and specialty markets.
We're not looking for the best pitch deck or the boldest conference talk. We want to meet the executives who fought for budget, got something into production, and can show what changed because of it.
The founding class of five will be announced on stage at Instech London on 7 July 2026.
Read our full thesis →Most organisations applied familiar IT playbooks to a fundamentally different technology. The executives behind the best agentic AI programmes broke from convention in four ways.
High-volume, high-friction, mission-critical. Instead of testing AI on a safe experiment, they went straight for something that mattered to the P&L. The complexity forced them to build for enterprise scale from day one.
Integration, data, governance and orchestration were scoped before use cases scaled, not after. Rather than perfecting one system in a lab, they built the foundations that would carry the next wave. They shipped early with human oversight and increased autonomy as confidence grew.
Not as fallback approvers, but as the source of reasoning the system learns from. They deployed with human-in-the-loop, captured every decision as data, and let real-world outcomes reveal where the existing rules were wrong. The design treats expert judgement as a first-class input.
Before-and-after metrics were defined before deployment, not retrofitted. Real outcomes, not anecdotal impact. Instead of assembling a committee to design the perfect future state, they shipped and let production results speak for themselves. Buy-in came from demonstrated value.
| How most organisations still operate | How the leaders we're looking for think |
|---|---|
| Risk comes from deploying too early | Risk comes from learning too slowly |
| Perfect the system, then ship | Ship the system, then perfect |
| Requirements define success | Outcomes define success |
| Automate existing processes | Reimagine possible processes |
| Innovation in projects | Innovation in platforms |
| Efficiency gains | Business model transformation |
A 38-page blueprint on moving agentic AI from pilot to production in regulated industries, drawing on deployments at tier-one operators.
How Agentic AI enables a new category of organisational asset, Intelligence Capital, that compounds with every decision, persists when your best people leave, and cannot be replicated by a competitor who starts later.
Read the Paper →The world is desperately trying to find the right operating model for AI agents in regulated, complex industries. There are many wrong ways of doing it. We want to recognise and bring together the select group of people who have clearly worked out how.
Some winners will qualify under both pathways. Most will qualify strongly under one.
In-person attendance at Instech London on 7 July 2026 is required for all winners.
Join an exclusive cohort of Europe's leading agentic AI executives. A network that extends well beyond the conference.
Featured across Instech London and partner channels reaching senior insurance decision-makers globally.
Named on stage at Instech London in front of 1,000+ senior insurance and technology executives.
Complimentary full-access pass to Instech London 2026, including all sessions and workshops.
A platform on the Instech London stage to share the work behind your initiative, with a longer dedicated session reserved for the overall winner.
A 20-minute structured conversation with a member of the evaluation panel, covering three areas.
The autonomous AI initiative you've led. What problem does it solve, and what makes it genuinely agentic rather than just automated?
The technical and organisational decisions behind the work. What were the biggest obstacles, and how did you navigate them?
Where does this go from here? The next phase of your AI strategy and what it means for the business.
The evaluation panel brings together leaders from across insurance, technology, and AI research. All submissions are evaluated on the strength of the work presented.
Insurance Executive
Executive Chairman
InsTech
CEO
AI Risk
VP of Strategy & Agentic Transformation
Otera
Executive Chairman
InsTech
Robin is Executive Chairman and co-founder of InsTech, the leading community for insurance innovation and technology. A Cambridge graduate with deep roots in the insurance and technology sectors, he has spent over two decades connecting insurers with the ideas and people shaping the future of the industry. Through InsTech's events, podcast, and research, Robin has built a global platform that reaches more than 30,000 insurance professionals.
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VP of Strategy & Agentic Transformation
Otera
Bryan leads strategy and agentic transformation at Otera, working directly with insurance carriers to design and deploy autonomous AI systems at enterprise scale. A Princeton graduate with a background spanning consulting, data science, and IT strategy, he previously held roles at Patchworks AI, Argon & Co, and Forestreet. Bryan brings a practitioner's lens to the evaluation, understanding both the technical and organisational challenges of moving agentic AI from pilot to production.
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CEO
AI Risk
Simon is CEO of AI Risk and a recognised authority on AI-driven transformation in financial services. He advises insurers and regulators on the strategic and operational implications of agentic AI, bringing a unique perspective that bridges technology innovation with enterprise risk management.
View on LinkedInFill in the details below and we will get back to you.
Thanks — we'll review your application and be in touch. Expect a response within a few days.
Thanks — we'll review the nomination and reach out to the nominee if they make the shortlist.
This programme is for C-suite and board-level leaders working in-house at a European insurance business (insurers, reinsurers, brokers, and MGAs), who are building and deploying agentic AI inside their own organisation. We are looking for the person accountable for the initiative, whether that is a Chief Underwriting Officer, COO, CIO, CTO, CDO, or equivalent.
Self-nominations and peer nominations are both welcome.
The programme is organised by AI Risk, an independent advisory specialising in AI governance, assurance, and deployment risk for financial services, and Instech London, the leading community and annual summit for insurance technology in Europe.
The programme is sponsored by Otera, an agentic AI company building autonomous systems for European insurance. All submissions are evaluated on the strength of the work presented. The five are named on the Instech London stage on 7 July 2026.
Yes. All five leaders share their work on the Instech London stage on 7 July 2026. The four finalists each receive a short spotlight to introduce what they shipped, and the overall winner is given a longer, dedicated session to walk the audience through their initiative in more depth. Exact formats are finalised with each of the five closer to the event.
Yes. Nominate them through the form above and we'll reach out directly with an invitation to participate in the evaluation process.
Shortlisted applicants are invited to a 20-minute structured conversation covering three areas: what you built, how you built it, and where you're going next. Think of it less as an interview and more as a conversation between peers about the work that matters to you.
No. There is no fee to apply, be nominated, or participate in the evaluation. Winners receive a complimentary full-access pass to Instech London 2026.
In-person attendance on 7 July 2026 is essential. Winners are named on stage. If this year's timing doesn't work, we'd welcome your application in a future edition.
On stage at Instech London, 7 July 2026. Winners are notified privately in advance.
Every candidate who completes the evaluation receives a personal debrief on how their initiative compared to the broader field. We also keep all strong candidates in mind for future editions and related industry opportunities. Applying is valuable regardless of outcome.
