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Kia Javanmardian

Senior PartnerChicago

Advises insurance companies and other financial institutions on how to use emerging technologies to transform their core business operations, build new products and services, and respond to shifting customer preferences

Kia serves insurance carriers, brokers, wealth managers, and other financial institutions, primarily within the United States. A senior partner, he has extensive experience in advising clients on issues related to strategy, operations, business building, and core-business transformation.

Kia leads McKinsey’s work in property and casualty insurance in North America and coleads our global efforts to help insurers navigate climate risk. He also helps lead the firm’s research and thinking on underwriting, pricing, analytics-driven businesses, distribution strategy, and sales-force effectiveness, across different parts of the value chain within the financial-services space.

Examples of Kia’s client work include the following:

  • supporting the development of an analytics-as-a-service business unit for a leading insurance carrier
  • leading a top insurance carrier’s agile business transformation, including building and deploying a portfolio of digitally enabled products to reinvent and grow the core business
  • helping a leading retail life-insurance carrier revamp its distribution strategy and design a future-state operating model to support the organization in moving beyond life-insurance sales into financial planning
  • reengineering the pricing and underwriting analytics for a major personal- and commercial-line insurance carrier
  • advising a top personal-insurance carrier on how to use digital, analytics, and consumer-driven design to redesign the go-to-market strategy for a core business
  • using lean management to transform the product function of a top property- and casualty-insurance carrier and drive improvements in cycle time, quality, and pricing accuracy

Kia is frequently quoted in the media on the role of the insurance industry in mitigating climate risk and authors articles on the leading issues facing the insurance industry, including climate risk, AI, analytics, data, and underwriting.

Outside of work, Kia enjoys spending time with his wife and three sons.

Published work

Global Insurance Report 2023: Expanding commercial P&C’s market relevance,” McKinsey & Company, February 2023

Leading with purpose: An interview with Everest’s Juan C. Andrade,” McKinsey & Company, January 2023

Capturing the climate opportunity in insurance,” McKinsey & Company, September 2022

Countering inflation: How US P&C insurers can build resilience,” McKinsey & Company, August 2022

Underwriting talent: Strategies for property and casualty insurers,” McKinsey & Company, November 2021

Scaling AI like a tech native: The CEO’s role,” McKinsey & Company, October 2021

How data and analytics are redefining excellence in P&C underwriting,” McKinsey & Company, September 2021

Managing change on many fronts: How Northwestern Mutual beat the odds,” McKinsey & Company, August 2021

How insurance can help combat climate change,” McKinsey & Company, January 2021

Climate change and P&C insurance: The threat and opportunity,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020

Confronting the risks of artificial intelligence,” McKinsey & Company, April 2019

Unlocking the next horizon of growth in the life insurance industry,” McKinsey & Company, October 2017

Harnessing the potential of data in insurance,” McKinsey & Company, May 2017

Navigating through uncertainty in US commercial insurance distribution,” McKinsey & Company, February 2017

The future of group life insurance in the U.S.,” McKinsey & Company, May 2016

Education

Harvard University
MBA

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MS, computer science
BS, computer science