May 29, 2024
Wayne Chung
Rockville, Maryland-based chief technology officer, Clara Analytics Inc.
College Park, Maryland-based chief technology officer, BlueVoyant
The outlook for the industry is strong. While there are new risks forming in the marketplace, we have never had more data and technology to proactively address them. I think the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning will bring about a lot of new opportunities. Companies that are forward-thinking and accelerate adoption of AI will certainly benefit, but they must ensure that they are augmenting and accelerating subject-matter experts while complying with regulatory and risk management. Technology teams need to be even more innovative and agile, which will require external partnerships or buy strategies versus an internal focus on building.
My goals are to position Clara’s technology to be the industry platform for applying AI to claims, to provide our data scientists the ideal data and compute environment, and to streamline Clara’s processes to handle the insurance industry’s growing demand for AI solutions.
There is a lot of excitement around AI/ML, but truly understanding its capabilities, shortcomings, and where it can best be leveraged is still evolving — specifically related to the use of large language models and generative AI to product offerings. Many organizations fail to take a fit-for-use approach to applying the many flavors of AI for their potential use in sales and distribution all the way to claims and administrative work.
I have been involved with cybersecurity and data analytics throughout my career, starting in graduate school working on the detection of self-propagating worms in global networks.
Always be willing to learn. Follow the newest technology trend and look to disrupt the status quo while respecting your co-workers’ experiences as they have been in the trenches for a while. I really love establishing relationships with my fellow newcomers and sharing information as we learn together. Everyone will have a different perspective and background that will help you be better.
I enjoy cooking and reading, so maybe testing and evaluating cookbook recipes.
I was a dual degree student and graduated from both Bowdoin College and Dartmouth College. At Bowdoin, I was a physics major with a computer science minor, and at Dartmouth, I was a computer engineering major.
I am looking forward to gaining a deeper understanding of the insurance industry and how Clara can help insurers better apply AI and augmented intelligence to their claims with our massive dataset of casualty claims.
I grew up in a Korean family, and that has given me the opportunity to expand my palate. I love trying lots of different dishes in one meal, be it tapas, tasting menus, buffets or the multiple side dishes in Korean cooking. I am a self-proclaimed foodie and want to taste the world.
I enjoy playing with technology (reading technical papers or articles or installing/coding against new libraries or APIs), reading fiction, and cooking elaborate meals or slow foods.
I like most science fiction shows or quirky comedies. I don’t know if I have a favorite, but I will always watch a rerun of “The Office” or “Community.”
Spend quality time with my family. The weeks can get pretty hectic, so it’s nice to be together even if it’s just shuttling between activities.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.