Nick Hentges, CEO of Captive Resources, recently shared his insights on the evolving landscape of group captive insurance during an interview with Chris Hampshire, host of IN-the-Know Podcast. The conversation covered various aspects of risk management and the transformative impact of group captive insurance, as well as Hentges’ storied career in the industry.
Here are a few highlights from their conversation. You can listen to the full episode here.
After graduating from the University of Iowa with a BBA in Finance and Insurance earning an MBA from Drake University, Hentges began his career as an underwriter at Aetna. His career quickly accelerated when he moved to Des Moines, IA, where he became an underwriting manager.
“I had a pretty early experience with management, which served me well,” Hentges said. Despite initially declining a recruitment offer from a former classmate to join a group captive business, persistence eventually led him to make the move to Chicago and join Captive Resources.
During Hentges’ tenure at Captive Resources, the company has experienced remarkable growth, with annual premiums increasing from $50 million to $5 billion. The company anticipates continued strong growth over the next five years.
“The captive industry has gained a lot of momentum recently, and we’ve done a great deal of educating both the insurance buyer and broker about group captives,” said Hentges. “I’m really excited about how we’re positioned [in the market].”
The group captive model has proven particularly effective in promoting workplace safety, with studies indicating that lives have been saved through comprehensive safety initiatives. When asked to summarize the opportunity in the captive space, Hentges broke it down into three key elements: “transparency, participation, and control. With these three things, the insurance buyer really becomes part of the process.”
As insurance buyers become more sophisticated, they seek more transparent and participatory risk management solutions.
“Most of these companies are entrepreneurial,” Hentges explained. “They understand taking risks every single day, and what we do is quantify the insurance risk and help them understand how they benefit from that while being in a group captive.”
Looking to the future, he sees significant opportunities ahead. “Medical Stop Loss has unlimited potential, and we are continuing to grow our division and broaden what we can offer from a group captive perspective,” added Hentges.
Talent development remains a key focus for Captive Resources. “We’re hyper-focused on our clients and helping our clients do well and be better — we hire people who are interested in doing that”, Hentges said, noting the company’s remarkable retention rate. “We just don’t lose people once they come to Captive Resources. We work really hard to find really talented people.”
To address the industry’s aging workforce, Captive Resources maintains a robust internship program.
“We’re continuing to grow that program, and my hope is that we can show them what a professional atmosphere looks like. We’ve hired a lot of our interns into our company because they’re just incredible people,” said Hentges.
When asked about advice for newcomers to the industry, Hentges offered this wisdom: “Learn how to do the basics of whatever industry/entity you are going into; that way, you can go do bigger and different things and be open to new ideas.”
