The wait is finally over! We are thrilled to introduce the 2026 Guidewire All-Star class, celebrating 52 extraordinary trailblazers who are redefining what is possible in P&C insurance. Behind every NPS increase, successful cloud transformation, speed-to-market record, and workflow automation, there are dedicated individuals turning technology into real-world impact. This year’s class represents the brightest minds across our global customer ecosystem—visionaries who bridge the gap between IT and business, optimize complex operations, and set new benchmarks for innovation.
A defining theme of the 2026 class is the fearless integration of artificial intelligence and advanced automation. Our All-Stars aren't just adopting AI; they are embedding it into the core of their platform strategies.
History in the Making: Our First Repeat All-Star
The 2026 announcement marks a major milestone for the All-Star program: celebrating our very first repeat winner, Nicolas De Hennin from Vaudoise. First recognized in the 2025 class for leading Vaudoise’s successful ClaimCenter deployment across Switzerland, Nicolas earned his official jacket patch this year by leading the replacement of a 50-year-old legacy framework with a unified Guidewire ecosystem (PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, and ContactManager). By dismantling operational silos and advocating out-of-the-box best practices, Nicolas reduced technical debt and established a standardized foundation for long-term growth.
Meet the 2026 Guidewire All-Stars
- Aaron Rieth, Vice President - Excess & Surplus, Columbia Insurance: Aaron spearheaded Columbia’s Excess & Surplus (E&S) program on Guidewire, leading cross-functional teams to stand up a new line of business. His strategic leadership unlocked new revenue streams by expanding Columbia’s risk appetite while establishing a foundation for agile decision-making and platform best practices.
- Alex Louden, Software Engineering Manager, Brown & Brown Insurance Agency / Arrowhead General Insurance Agency: Alex has been instrumental in maximizing the value of Arrowhead’s InsuranceNow platform through technical leadership and continuous improvement. He championed critical automation, billing, and payment processing enhancements that reduced manual workloads, improved system stability, and optimized operational efficiency.
- Amy Neurauter, Director Agency Digital Strategy, Shelter Mutual Insurance: Amy spearheaded a unified Personal Auto product strategy in Guidewire, establishing a single model to support both single-risk and multi-risk scenarios. Her focus on simplification and reusable front-end design eliminated parallel structures, streamlined the agent experience, and significantly reduced long-term maintenance complexity.
- An Vekeman, Technical Architect, P&V Verzekeringen: An architected and delivered critical data integrations into Guidewire DataHub for P&V Verzekeringen under aggressive deadlines. Her strict adherence to DataHub architecture enabled reliable commercial and operational reporting across PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, and BillingCenter.
- Antonio Cocco, Senior analyst developer, Verti assicurazioni SpA: Antonio provides expert technical and operational supervision for Verti Assicurazioni’s Guidewire BillingCenter platform. His technical depth and proactive support across maintenance and project initiatives have maintained platform stability and enhanced operational efficiency.
- Ariane Szynkarek, UW Enablement Director, EMC Insurance: Ariane played a central role in converting EMC’s complex commercial lines, including Property, General Liability, Inland Marine, and Workers' Compensation, from legacy systems to Guidewire. Her decisive leadership and deep process expertise ensured seamless policy conversions and renewal continuity with zero operational disruption.
- Ben Struthers, Solution Architect, Zurich US - RCIS: Ben architected the industry-first migration of crop insurance onto Guidewire within an aggressive 12-month timeline. By leveraging an AI-first methodology to reverse-engineer 25 years of legacy RPG logic and orchestrating 15+ complex integrations, he delivered a modern, scalable foundation for heavily regulated crop claims.
- Bhavini Bhakta, Business Transformation Team Lead, HDI: Bhavini bridged business and IT to deliver HDI’s General Liability MVP on PolicyCenter in just six months, followed by a full Commercial Umbrella deployment. Drawing on her actuarial background, she successfully integrated pricing and document generation tools while driving strong organizational change management.
- Brandon Coleman, Senior Product Manager - Commercial Lines, Frontline Insurance Company: Brandon served as the lead contributor for Frontline’s Commercial Lines product department, driving requirements and testing across three major deployments. His dedicated ownership successfully cleared a historically delayed backlog and delivered impactful platform enhancements directly to the business.
- Carolina Mendoza, Claims Manager, Fred Loya Insurance: Carolina drove adjuster adoption of key Guidewire fields tied to internal auditing and collaborated with IT to create custom data fields. Her efforts established daily management insight reports that improved compliance, operational visibility, and audit efficiency across claims.
- Casey Kauffmann, Senior Associate Subrogation Claims Examiner, Arch Insurance: Casey designed and built an AI-powered Copilot agent that centralized ClaimCenter job aids, training materials, and historical Helpdesk Q&As. This innovative support tool accelerated user onboarding, reduced manual support requests, and established a scalable model for system adoption across the organization.
- Charlène Côté, Product Manager, Beneva Insurance: Charlène leads broker management for Beneva’s L'Unique business, aligning broker requirements with out-of-the-box Guidewire Cloud Platform capabilities. Her deep operational expertise and collaborative approach simplified IT integrations and ensured a smooth transition for major broker partners.
- David Goldman, Data Architect, Columbia Insurance: David ensured seamless access to critical business data during Columbia’s Guidewire Cloud migration by leveraging Analytics Manager and Snowflake integration. His architectural expertise maintained reporting continuity and allowed business operations to run without disruption throughout the cloud transition.
- David Useloff, Global Head of Speciality Insurance Platforms, Hartford Steam Boiler: David guided Munich Re’s first PolicyCenter cloud implementation at HSB, successfully delivering a Cyber insurance product to production in just eight months while overseeing nine legacy production instances across the US and UK. His strategic risk management, hands-on leadership through legacy integrations, and implementation of a Bring Your Own Deployment approach established a proven blueprint for enterprise-wide cloud adoption.
- Felipe Duque, Claims Director, Pottencial Seguradora: Felipe spearheaded the first regional implementation of the Surety line on Guidewire ClaimCenter, promoting an out-of-the-box, automation-first strategy. His leadership transformed complex, manual surety claims processes into streamlined, highly efficient automated workflows.
- Frederick Au, Director of State Management, California, Bamboo Insurance: Fred led the successful rollout of Bamboo’s flagship E&S Signature product in just four months, establishing a reusable blueprint for subsequent product launches. His disciplined execution and focus on adoption readiness ensured rapid time-to-market and seamless user adoption.
- Frederico Castro Lopes, Software Engineer, Vaudoise: Frederico served as the core technical engine behind Vaudoise’s Guidewire ecosystem, driving major integration, ClaimCenter, and PolicyCenter initiatives. He pioneered innovative solutions—including automated payment pipelines and AppEvents integrations—that greatly increased straight-through processing efficiency.
- Ginette Menard, Billing Manager & BillingCenter Product Owner, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group: Ginette serves as BillingCenter Product Owner and operational lead, maintaining system accuracy, stability, and compliance across cash applications and payment processing. Her effective change management and cross-departmental leadership have optimized billing workflows and minimized operational risk.
- Jackson Steele, Underwriting Operations Manager, Shelter Mutual Insurance: Jackson championed simplification and standardization across Shelter Mutual’s Personal Auto line on PolicyCenter. By establishing reusable product templates and streamlined workflows, he significantly reduced operational complexity and laid a foundation for scalable product expansion.
- Jeanna Snedden, IT Analyst III, Pekin Insurance: Jeanna elevated Pekin Insurance’s business analysis practice by refining requirements definitions and validation frameworks for Commercial Lines initiatives. Her structured methodology improved collaboration between business and technical teams, driving higher quality and faster project delivery.
- Jeannine Bower, Product Advancement Specialist, Preferred Mutual Insurance: Jeannine served as the Commercial Lines Product SME for Preferred Mutual’s Guidewire implementation, guiding requirements across BOP, Commercial Property, General Liability, Auto, and Umbrella. Her expertise ensured OOTB alignment, regulatory compliance, and seamless user acceptance testing.
- Jessica Schmitz, Business Technology Manager, Federated Insurance: Jessica bridged the gap between underwriting and IT as Business Technology Lead, driving user-centric enhancements across Guidewire PolicyCenter. Her focus on operational efficiency and system usability strengthened underwriting discipline and streamlined daily workflows.
- Jessica Unik, Chief Digital Officer, Bamboo Insurance: Jessica drove Bamboo Insurance’s Guidewire Cloud transformation by aligning strategic business goals with scalable technology solutions. Her leadership accelerated digital adoption, improved operational agility, and enhanced the overall agent and customer experience.
- Jobi Varghesse Cherrian, Business Analyst, IAG: Jobi has provided four years of dedicated domain leadership on IAG’s BillingCenter platform, supporting complex billing model changes and system enhancements. His deep technical and business knowledge ensured high platform stability and seamless operational performance.
- Jonas Gustafsson, Product Owner PolicyCenter, Länsförsäkringar: Jonas served as the central driving force for Länsförsäkringar’s Guidewire implementation, leading product definition, digital offerings, and cross-team execution. His leadership in launching the commercial lines PolicyCenter platform established a solid foundation for long-term digital growth.
- Karel Kohout, Claims technical lead, Beazley: Karel delivered technical leadership for Beazley’s transition from on-premises ClaimCenter v9 to Guidewire Cloud. Managing technical execution from inception to go-live, he ensured seamless system integrations and established Beazley’s first cloud-based claims platform.
- Katrice Kelley, Director, Business Analysis, Maine Employers' Mutual Insurance Company: Katrice served as senior business lead across multiple Guidewire releases at MEMIC, applying deep workers' compensation expertise to system design. She ensured the platform met complex regulatory requirements while streamlining underwriting workflows for operational teams.
- Kenichi Sato, General Manager, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance: Kenichi assumed leadership of Mitsui Sumitomo’s ClaimCenter project during a critical period, successfully turning around the initiative. By restructuring project governance and aligning business and IT teams, he delivered a successful, on-time go-live within budget.
- Lacey Mitchell, Senior Business Analyst, EMC Insurance: Lacey led the business analysis for EMC’s highly complex Inland Marine line on Guidewire PolicyCenter. Her detailed requirements, thorough gap analysis, and clear team direction enabled a smooth transition from legacy systems with zero business disruption.
- Laura Braatz, Director, Product Implementation, CSAA Insurance: Laura played a pivotal role in CSAA’s PolicyCenter and BillingCenter cloud transformation by mastering the integration between Guidewire and Earnix. Her strategic leadership united business, IT, and external partners to deliver a modernized rating and policy platform.
- Lindsay Harman, Manager, L&D and Change Management, Gore Mutual: Lindsay led the cross-functional rollout of ProNavigator for Underwriting and Claims at Gore Mutual, orchestrating efforts across IT, security, risk, and operations. Her comprehensive change management strategy drove rapid platform adoption and improved knowledge sharing across departments.
- Lisa Soto, North America – Regional Premium Accounting and Collections Manager, AXA XL: Lisa led her team through the end-to-end implementation of Guidewire BillingCenter for premium accounting and collections at AXA XL. Her dedication to process refinement, comprehensive testing, and operational readiness ensured a seamless transition for daily financial operations.
- Luján Nasif, Process Owner, La Segunda Seguros - Argentina: Lujan served as the key business lead for La Segunda’s PolicyCenter implementation, combining deep process expertise with hands-on involvement in testing and change management. Her collaborative leadership aligned business and technical teams, setting a high standard for project execution.
- Maria Graziano, Business Solutions Process Manager, Capital Insurance Group: Maria guided the Personal Lines discovery and implementation at Capital Insurance Group, aligning business requirements with out-of-the-box Guidewire capabilities. Her proactive leadership and clear sprint prioritization kept project deliverables on schedule and focused on business value.
- Matthew Rabin, Subject Matter Expert/User Adoption and Enablement Lead/Claim Manager, Arch Insurance: Matthew served as primary Claims SME during Arch’s claims modernization, supporting the deployment of two ClaimCenter instances across complex executive and professional lines. His guidance in workflow design and user testing ensured high system adoption and operational efficiency.
- McKenzie Siciliano, Business System Analyst, Safety Insurance: McKenzie successfully managed Safety Insurance’s ClaimCenter implementation and subsequent cloud upgrade to Palisades. Combining her background in claims operations with deep system knowledge, she bridged the gap between business needs and technical delivery.
- Melissa Schiller, Product Owner - IRCA, Definity: Melissa led the integration of Small Business Auto following Definity’s acquisition of Travelers Canada, supporting a 40% growth in commercial insurance. She successfully unified disparate workflows into PolicyCenter and BillingCenter, driving operational consistency and rapid scaling.
- Neil Campbell, Principal Technology Lead, Claims, Aviva: Neil served as technical leader and architectural authority for Aviva UK’s Claims migration to Guidewire Cloud, delivering the fastest global SaaS implementation in just eight months. Navigating a massive scope of £4bn GWP and 325 integrations, his deep technical expertise and strategic decision-making established a modernized, resilient claims platform while setting the foundation for future cloud expansion across the enterprise.
- Nicolas De Hennin, Solution Architect, Vaudoise: Nicolas played a central role in driving Vaudoise’s digital transformation, replacing a 50-year-old legacy framework with a unified Guidewire ecosystem (PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, and ContactManager). By establishing a scalable target architecture, dismantling operational silos, and advocating out-of-the-box best practices, he reduced technical debt and created a standardized foundation for long-term growth.
- Phillip Hood, Senior Artisan General Liability Underwriter, Heritage Insurance: Philip owned the business requirements across multiple workstreams for Heritage Insurance’s Commercial General Liability rollout on InsuranceSuite. He led user acceptance testing and underwriter training, ensuring the platform was optimized for daily underwriting workflows.
- Purushotham Pamuluru, Guidewire Consultant, IAG: Puru served as development lead for IAG’s BillingCenter, steering key transformation initiatives, API integrations, and cloud-readiness enhancements. Puru’s technical direction, performance tuning, and team mentorship delivered robust system stability and accelerated feature deployment.
- Renante Cuevas, Senior Software Developer, Red River Mutual Insurance: Renante played a vital role in Red River Mutual’s Policy and BillingCenter cloud migration by building an automated daily reconciliation process for renewal migrations. His solution ensured data integrity, resolved discrepancies in real time, and kept the migration project on schedule.
- Richard Sweat, Director of Insurance Strategy, Frontline Insurance Company: Rich spearheaded Frontline Insurance’s expansion into the aviation market by leading the implementation of a new Aviation product suite on Guidewire. His deep domain expertise and product leadership delivered a tailored solution that opened new commercial growth avenues.
- Rolf Schiltknecht, Program Manager Guidewire, Baloise: Rolf guided the successful migration of Baloise Germany’s entire retail business onto the Guidewire platform after previously shaping Baloise Switzerland’s implementation. His strategic vision has maximized platform standardization and cross-border synergies.
- Sébastien Mamolo, Design Authority Manager, GIE Covéa Agora: Sébastien served as Design Authority Manager for Covéa’s INDIGO program, securing backlog prioritization and enforcing architectural standards. His governance ensured program commitments were met while maintaining system integrity across complex implementation streams.
- Srinath Reddy Vangala, AVP, Guidewire Solutions Architect, Zurich Insurance: Srinath delivered Zurich’s Data Center Project Guard product on PolicyCenter in just three months, enabling the company to win major enterprise accounts and boost premiums by approximately 40%. His architectural leadership across multiple release cycles has accelerated underwriting speed and market entry for middle-market commercial lines while setting a high standard for rapid, high-quality Guidewire execution.
- Teresa Winters, Director Application Development, Trexis Insurance Company: Teresa stepped into her role from outside the P&C industry and rapidly mastered non-standard auto insurance while leading client-side integrations for a full-suite Guidewire Cloud and Jutro Portal implementation. As Director of Application Development, she leads cross-team dependencies, vendor coordination for end-to-end testing, and proactive risk mitigation, ensuring the delivery of a stable, reliable, and business-ready platform.
- Tero Järvinen, Data Lead, OP Financial Group / OP Pohjola: Tero championed an out-of-the-box data strategy that powered OP Pohjola’s successful transition to Guidewire Cloud. By establishing an operating model to minimize custom code and align with standard Guidewire functionality, he reduced technical debt and accelerated project delivery.
- Tricia Regan, VP, Corporate Claims, Tokio Marine America: Tricia served as executive sponsor for key claims initiatives at Tokio Marine America, fostering close collaboration between business leaders and IT teams. Her focus on continuous improvement resolved operational bottlenecks and maximized the impact of ClaimCenter.
- Tully Pettigrew, Claims Domain Architect, Hollard: Tully designed, trialed, and deployed innovative capabilities across ProNavigator, Claims Summarization, and Jutro while supporting three Guidewire upgrades. His technical expertise in ClaimCenter, strong work ethic, and strategic alignment to Hollard’s vision have placed the organization at the forefront of claims innovation.
- Tyler Deng, Executive Underwriter, AXA XL: Tyler demonstrated outstanding platform adoption by leading AXA XL’s Mid-Market Package business in bound premium processed through PolicyCenter. His practical feedback helped refine system usability, proving the platform's value in driving high-volume commercial business.
- Venkat Potluri, Senior Director of Data Strategy & Architecture, Bamboo Insurance: Venkat led the successful data migration for Bamboo Insurance’s transition to Guidewire and is now guiding their move to the Guidewire Cloud Platform. His technical architecture and data management expertise ensured high data integrity and seamless system continuity.
Please join us in celebrating these remarkable individuals!
Learn about the 2025 All-Stars