CEO · Co-founder · Author · Host

Insurance technology, from the inside.

I've spent twenty-five years building software that runs inside insurance carriers, MGAs, and TPAs — and the last seven holding a microphone in front of the people building the rest of the industry.

CEO, JBK Co-founder & CEO, Terra Author, Geek Out (2026) Host, InsurTech Geek Podcast 400+ Keynotes
James M. Benham, InsurTech operator, author, and keynote speaker
25
Years operating

Bootstrapped JBK since 2001.

177
Podcast episodes

159 guests, 7 years on record.

400+
Keynotes delivered

ITC Vegas, RISKWORLD, NetDiligence, WCI.

2
Books published

Geek Out (2026) · Be Your Own VC (2022).

The new book

Geek Out

Ten Years of InsurTech, Told by the People Who Built It.

Geek Out — James M. Benham

A first-person account of the decade insurtech went from word to category to public-market crater to industrial absorption — told through the catalog of the InsurTech Geek Podcast: 177 episodes, 159 guests, roughly 1.3 million words of transcript, recorded in real time from July 2019 through May 2026.

The argument: the conversation was the leading indicator. The market was the lagging one. Four eras, twelve big lessons, a look ahead to 2030. Named guests on every page.

Read more Launch updates & bulk orders

In final manuscript · Publishing 2026.

Trusted by the industry

Where I've been on stage

ITC Vegas RIMS RISKWORLD Workers' Compensation Institute National Comp InsurTech Insights Insurance Innovators InsurTech NY CA-SIG California Self-Insured Group Insurance Council of Texas CLM IRMI World Captive Forum NAMIC
Speaking

Four keynote topics

Tailored for carrier, broker, venture, and association audiences.

The Podcast

The InsurTech Geek Podcast

Co-hosted with Rob Galbraith — seven years of conversations with the operators actually building this industry.

Who's on

Carrier CIOs and chief underwriters, founders at every funding stage, venture investors, reinsurance modelers, regulators, TPA executives. 159 guests across 177 episodes.

What we cover

AI in underwriting and claims, embedded distribution, parametric and climate risk, the MGA wave, the public-market repricing, the carrier-side innovation work that doesn't make headlines.

Where it's going

Still publishing bi-weekly. Friends-of-the-show program returning the most important repeat guests in 2026 and 2027 as the industrial-adoption era plays out.

Visit insurtechgeek.com →
Get in touch

Let's talk.

Speaking inquiries, podcast guest pitches, book press, or just want to compare notes on what's happening inside the insurance industry — I read everything that comes in.

Contact James