# James M. Benham

> InsurTech operator, author, and 400+ keynote speaker. CEO of JBK and co-founder of Terra. Host of The InsurTech Geek Podcast. Author of Geek Out (2026) and Be Your Own VC (2022). Chairman of the Board of Regents at Texas Southern University. Lives in College Station, Texas.

## Role and focus

James is an insurance-technology operator first. He has spent twenty-five years building software that runs inside insurance carriers, MGAs, and TPAs, and the last seven years interviewing the operators, executives, and founders building the rest of the industry on The InsurTech Geek Podcast. His public work — books, keynotes, podcast — is grounded in active operating experience at the technology and insurance industry interface.

## Books
- **Geek Out: Ten Years of InsurTech, Told by the People Who Built It** (2026) — A first-person account of a decade of InsurTech told through the 182-episode catalog of the InsurTech Geek Podcast (182 episodes, 166 guests, ~1.3 million words of transcript). https://jamesbenham.com/books#geekout
- **Be Your Own VC: 10 Bootstrapping Principles to Generate Cash and Keep Control** (2022, Houndstooth Press, ISBN 978-1-5445-3567-8) — Ten bootstrapping principles drawn from 25 years of operating JBK. https://www.amazon.com/Be-Your-Own-VC-Bootstrapping/dp/1544535678

## Speaking
James is a sought-after keynote speaker with 400+ presentations worldwide. Recurring venues include ITC Vegas, RISKWORLD, National Comp, WCI, TEDx, and MCAA. Four signature topics:
- The Decade of InsurTech — what worked, what failed, and what comes next. Drawn from Geek Out.
- The Agentic Revolution — how AI agents reshape financial services from quoting to claims.
- From Pilot to Production — the 2025-2026 carrier playbook for running GenAI at scale.
- Bootstrapping and Operator Discipline — drawn from Be Your Own VC.

## Companies
- [JBK](https://jbknowledge.com/) — Multinational technology and consulting company. CEO. Founded 2001 in a Texas A&M dorm room. Bootstrapped 25 years to hundreds of employees in three countries.
- [Terra](https://terra.insure/) — Cloud-native, AI-enabled core insurance platform for claims and policy management. Co-founder.
- [The InsurTech Geek Podcast](https://insurtechgeek.com/) — Co-host. 182 episodes, 166 guests, bi-weekly publication since July 2019.

## Boards and roles
- Chairman, Board of Regents, Texas Southern University (appointed 2020 by Governor Greg Abbott; Chairman 2025)
- YPO Global Insurance Vertical Chair
- Former Adjunct Professor, Texas A&M University (5 years)
- Former two-term member, College Station City Council (including Mayor Pro Tem)

## Key Links
- Site: https://jamesbenham.com/
- Bio: https://jamesbenham.com/bio
- Books: https://jamesbenham.com/books
- Speaking: https://jamesbenham.com/speaking
- Podcast: https://jamesbenham.com/podcast
- Blog: https://jamesbenham.com/blog
- Press kit: https://jamesbenham.com/press
- In the news: https://jamesbenham.com/press-features
- Contact: https://jamesbenham.com/contact
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenham
- The InsurTech Geek Podcast: https://insurtechgeek.com/

## Selected essays
- The Copilot Era Is Ending in Insurance — https://jamesbenham.com/blog/the-copilot-era-is-ending-in-insurance
- The Year AI Stopped Being a Pilot Program — https://jamesbenham.com/blog/the-year-ai-stopped-being-a-pilot-program
- Why the Biggest InsurTech Bets Didn't Pay Off — https://jamesbenham.com/blog/why-the-biggest-insurtech-bets-didnt-pay-off
- The Death of Disruption — https://jamesbenham.com/blog/the-death-of-disruption
- Seven Years In: What I Got Right and Wrong — https://jamesbenham.com/blog/seven-years-in-what-i-got-right-and-wrong