NEXT Insurance a leading digital insurtech company has appointed Chris Rhodes as the company’s first Chief Insurance Officer.

Within this role, Rhodes will use his extensive industry experience to focus on the insurance function to support product development, elevate the claims automation experience and help connect profit management and loss analytics actions to ensure price adequacy.

The role will also see him further define NEXT’s customer segmentation strategy as the company evaluates new industries it can serve.

In a press release, NEXT noted that Rhodes’ focus on his new role will be on holistically integrating the insurance planning function with all product managers, both on the insurance and technology development sides, to ensure alignment between the company’s growth and profit goals.

Overall, Rhodes brings 20 years of property & casualty insurance experience towards the role. Over the course of his career, he has served in a variety of different roles, including senior leadership roles at Farmers Insurance, where he managed $4 billion in written premium and at MetLife, where he oversaw product management and business strategy, including all pricing and underwriting decisions.

“Since day one, NEXT has been committed to helping entrepreneurs thrive by providing access to tailored digital-first insurance policies,” said Guy Goldstein, CEO and co-founder of NEXT. “Chris shares this excitement for serving this community and sees this role as an opportunity to help us continue to deliver exceptional experiences. He brings extensive knowledge of the insurance space to NEXT, and we look forward to having him as a member of our executive team as we continue to support small businesses.”

“There continues to be a huge opportunity for insurtechs to modernize the overall customer experience, and NEXT is well positioned to be the number one small business insurance carrier in the market,” said Rhodes.

“I was drawn to the company for three reasons: its digital-first approach, prioritization of customer needs and the company culture. I am excited about the opportunity that NEXT has to bring lasting change to the insurance market and can’t wait to continue to make a difference in the lives of its over 400,000 small business customers.”