Speaker Showcase |
Jim Girard

Practical, carrier-fluent perspective at the intersection of legacy systems, AI, workflow desing, and operational risk.

  • Practical AI
  • AI Governance
  • Claims Modernization
  • Workflow Design
  • Legacy Systems
  • Operational Risk
Book Jim for Speaking

Jim Girard is Vice President of Engineering at Benekiva, where he helps build scalable, secure technology for modern insurance claims and servicing operations. His thought leadership focuses on using technology to reduce friction for examiners, strengthen operational outcomes for carriers, and improve the experience for claimants and beneficiaries when the process matters most.

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Carrier-Fluent Engineering Leadership

Decades across TPAs, P&C, life insurance, new business, claims and carrier technology, Jim speaks both technology and the operational language of the people running the work.

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Pro-AI-Innovation, Anti-AI-Hype

From HIPPA-era compliance shocks to today's AI governance questions, Jim focuses building AI into insurance with a focus on auditability, PHI/PII exposure, and sustainability.

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Workflow First, Technology Second

Diagnose where examiners hunt for information and where the process breaks. Then decide where automation and AI actually earn their place instead of just making broken processes faster.

Signature Speaking Topics

Operator-engineer sessions on AI, governance, and the reality of claims work

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AI-Assisted, Not AI-Driven: Practical AI for Insurance Claims

Start with the workflows, find the friction, and then decide where AI helps. Pro-AI, not dazzled by it.

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Claims Is a Care Industry. Technology Should Act Like It.

Designing claims technology for people who are grieving, overwhelmed, and unprepared for the decisions in front of them.

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The 80/20 Trap: Why Edge Cases Are Where Claims Technology Breaks.

The demo-friendly 80% is easy. The last 20% is where claims actually lives: the exceptions, workaround, and institutional knowledge.

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From Mainframes to AI: What Decades of Insurance Technology Teaches Us

Modernization that respects legacy environments, regulation, and operational complexity instead of pretending they aren't there.

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Configurable, Not Custom-Built: How to Avoid Product Debt in Claims Technology

How carriers and vendors build flexible platforms without turning every client and edge case into a custom fork.

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The Collective Brain: How AI Can Preserve Claims Knowledge Without Losing Control

Preserving prior decisions, patterns, and excpetions across claims teams and making AI show its work enables AI, and examiners, to thrive in the complexity of claims.

Featured Writing & Media

Published thought leadership, white papers, and live conversations

In Jim's Words

"The 20% requires twice as much time and twice as much money. So people don't do it, and that's exactly where claims break."

ON THE 80/20 TRAP IN CLAIMS TECHNOLOGY

"Claims is part of the care industry. The technology should act like it, easier for the examiner, gentler for the family."

ON THE CLAIMANT EXPERIENCE

"We've been here before. HIPPA taught carriers that governance isn't paperwork; it's workflows, contracts, architecture, and training."

ON AI GOVERNANCE AND PRIVACY