COVU Rounds Off C-Suite with Insurance Industry Icons

Insurtech Platform Bolsters Staff by over 1000% since January

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AI—COVU, the only all-in-one AI-enabled digital platform for insurance agencies, recently finalized the executive leadership team shortly after being brought to market by chief executive officer, Ali Safavi, and chief insurance executive, Tasos Chatzimichailidis.

COVU’s mission is to help independent insurance agents and carriers better manage risk and make smarter insurance decisions through AI-driven policy recommendations, business services and sales support. As an end-to-end solution, COVU takes ownership of front and back-office tasks, giving insurance agents time to focus on strengthening customer relationships, grow their business and embrace digital operations.

“The U.S. insurance industry is progressively falling behind, so we’ve designed and implemented a unique end-to-end experience to make insurance more convenient and affordable for consumers and more profitable for agencies,” said Safavi, chief executive officer, COVU. “To make COVU’s vision come to life, we needed to recruit a team of visionaries that understood the industry, the challenges encompassing it, and most importantly, a passion revolutionizing an already stagnated industry for the better of mankind.”

About the Executive Team

Charles Valinotti joins as the chief operating officer. Valinotti brings nearly 30 years of insurance leadership experience to the COVU team after successful careers at AIG, GEICO, and most recently as the chief insurance officer at Huckleberry. Valinotti is tasked with building the operating foundation that will ensure the long-term success of COVU, focusing on the customer experience.

Guillermo Plasencia joins as the chief marketing officer. Plasencia comes to COVU after scaling several startups, including insurtech unicorn wefox, alongside COVU’s chief insurance officer Tasaos Chatzimichailidis. Plasencia offers over 20 years of experience in targeted behavioral and brand marketing, working with heavyweight corporations Coca-Cola, Bang & Olufsen, Universal Pictures, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Fred Segal, Fox Network, and Interscope Records. Plasencia’s is leading the charge for COVU utilizing heavy analytics and user behavioral data to create brand awareness and demand for COVU’s services.

Koray Dogan joins as the chief compliance officer. Dogan is another collaboration from COVU’s co-founder Chatzimichailidis – joining the team from fintech juggernaut Revolut and Europe’s largest insurtech company wefox. Dogan brings the experience and competency needed to navigate insurance regulations, data privacy, compliance and risk framework which is critical to the data-driven world of digital insurance distribution and the long-term success of COVU.

Chaitanya Baddam joins as the chief data officer. Baddam brings over 20 years of experience in software development and technology leadership. She comes to COVU from John Hancock where she served as the director of technology, leading the digital transformation for life insurance platforms for call-center, customers, agents and international firms to manage their book of business. At COVU Baddam is spearheading the CRM platform and building the infrastructure to provide a great experience for customers and agency partners.

Fil Firmani joins as senior vice president of product management & strategy. Firmani is a digital strategy specialist with over 15 years of insurance and start up experience. As a thought-leader and keynote speaker, he shares his knowledge on topics ranging from digital transformation, SaaS and cloud solutions, and data for predictive analytics at conferences across the country. Prior to joining the COVU team, Firmani led product management for IBM and Duck Creek Technologies, as well as spending several years at Epsilon and Fidelity.

John Warren joins as the chief of staff. With over 30 years of expertise in sales, distribution and marketing positions, Warren consistently realigns business initiatives to drive engagement, propel growth, and build relationships with customers and stakeholders based on respect, integrity, and trust.

About COVU

Founded and advised by a team of world-renowned insurance, finance, and technology industry veterans with a passion for transparent and unbiased advice, COVU’s mission is to help everyday people and growth-oriented insurance professionals reduce risk and manage insurance smarter.

COVU’s holistic approach ensures agencies thrive by managing the business side of insurance operations to provide an extraordinary customer experience through a unique combination of AI technology, human intelligence, real-time service, and top-tier sales support.

To learn more, go to https://covu.com/ or connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Youtube.

Contacts

David Salkovitz | Padilla

COVU@padillaco.com
+1 617-779-1856