{"id":10130,"date":"2025-08-28T08:25:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T08:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/?p=10130"},"modified":"2025-08-28T08:25:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T08:25:58","slug":"voi-podcast-with-gregg-bundschuh-of-epic-insurance-brokers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/content\/voi-podcast-with-gregg-bundschuh-of-epic-insurance-brokers\/","title":{"rendered":"Broker EPIC bets on specialism, data and AI to drive growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><iframe title=\"Ep265 Gregg Bundschuh EPIC: A Different Type of Matrix\" allowtransparency=\"true\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" style=\"border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?from=embed&amp;i=jn6x5-194437b-pb&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;fonts=Tahoma&amp;skin=3267a3&amp;font-color=auto&amp;rtl=0&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=1b1b1b&amp;size=150\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gregg Bundschuh, Chief Growth Officer at EPIC Insurance Brokers &amp; Consultants, tells the Voice of Insurance podcast how specialisation, technology and private equity backing are shaping the firm\u2019s $2bn growth trajectory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As consolidation reshapes the insurance broking market, Gregg Bundschuh believes the edge belongs to those intermediaries able to demonstrate deep specialist knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chief growth officer at EPIC Insurance Brokers &amp; Consultants, part of Galway Holdings, told the Voice of Insurance podcast that his firm\u2019s model sits on sector-specific expertise supported by data and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery broker will tell you that specialist business units have higher client retention, higher profitability and higher organic growth,\u201d he said. \u201cIf that\u2019s the case and everybody acknowledges it, then why aren\u2019t more brokers organised around that concept?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bundschuh, a former construction lawyer, argued that EPIC\u2019s focus on vertical expertise across industries such as construction, transport and entertainment, are a differentiator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur approach is to live and breathe an industry, not just serve it. The technical broking flows from that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Insurtech and AI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Private equity ownership, including backing from Harvest Partners, Oak Hill and Carlyle, has underpinned EPIC\u2019s expansion from $70m revenues a decade ago to nearly $2bn today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That support, Bundschuh explained, has also allowed the broker to prioritise technology and artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are a remarkable number of rote tasks in the broking process that technology and AI can effectuate at a much easier level,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/products\/underwriting\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/products\/underwriting\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">automating submissions and data aggregation<\/a>, freeing up brokers to focus on relationships, with more time for high-value conversations with clients and underwriters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The greater prize is using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/content\/2030-vision-ai-data-london-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/content\/2030-vision-ai-data-london-market\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI to refine business development<\/a>, he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t always know everybody in the industry who has the characteristics we\u2019re looking for. AI helps us identify those people, and it also strengthens our benchmarking by combining our company data with wider industry data,\u201d said Bundschuh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This data-driven approach enables EPIC to present more complete risk profiles and engage with markets on a consultative level, he argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf I can express the risk of a complex project at a wholly differentiated level, the conversation with underwriters immediately starts at a higher level,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Challenges and niches<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bundschuh pointed to the US auto market as its toughest current pressure point. \u201cLarge fleets, large fleets, large fleets \u2014 that\u2019s life in the US auto market right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Umbrella and excess capacity remain constrained despite existing mitigation efforts such as telematics and onboard cameras, he suggested, adding that autonomous vehicles \u201ccan\u2019t come soon enough\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bundschuh also highlighted the continued interplay between admitted and excess and surplus lines (E&amp;S), noting that the best delegated underwriting firms (MGAs and MGUs) thrive by carving out specialist niches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many MGAs struggle when asked to expand beyond their initial profitable niche, he emphasised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opportunity for E&amp;S today is to adapt solutions for industry niches and upper mid-market businesses, where traditional coverages may not apply, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That philosophy extends to EPIC\u2019s acquisition strategy, which targets brokers with strong organic growth and deep-rooted industry immersion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe broker that can combine technical expertise with holistic consultative capability will be the one perceived as a true partner,\u201d Bundschuh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the business broadens its wholesale operations and expands internationally, Bundschuh sees vertical integration across retail, wholesale and carrier markets as a source of competitive advantage, while noting the London market, European and Latin American markets as places to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The focus, he insisted, remains on knowledge, creativity and consultative value, across 10 industry practice groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll I want out of my professional life is an unfair competitive advantage,\u201d Bundschuh recalled a senior executive at a large carrier telling him. \u201cFor us that means deep industry knowledge, consultative capability\u2026and delivering creative solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deliver those things, and the broker\u2019s future is secure, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gregg Bundschuh, Chief Growth Officer at EPIC Insurance Brokers &amp; Consultants, tells the Voice of Insurance podcast how specialisation, technology and private equity backing are shaping the firm\u2019s $2bn growth trajectory. As consolidation reshapes the insurance broking market, Gregg Bundschuh believes the edge belongs to those intermediaries able to demonstrate deep specialist knowledge. The chief [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,26],"tags":[10,14,38],"line-of-business":[20,24,28],"class_list":["post-10130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","category-latest-insights","tag-exposure","tag-underwriting-workbench","tag-technical-vision","line-of-business-property","line-of-business-cyber","line-of-business-general-liability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10130"},{"taxonomy":"line-of-business","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/line-of-business?post=10130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}