For Ilya Bodner, founder and chief executive officer of insurance technology company Bold Penguin, building a fast-growing company has been a long time coming.
Executive Summary
Bold Penguin CEO and Founder Ilya Bodner describes his career as a journey to find the American dream. He came to Columbus, Ohio, at a young age, when his family immigrated from Uzbekistan. Eventually, he and a partner got licenses and started an Allstate insurance agency. In this article, Bodner explains why insurance got his interest and held it.After arriving in Columbus, Ohio, from Uzbekistan at a young age, Bodner watched his family eke out a living through grit and determination with a string of small businesses. He knew that he wanted to follow in their footsteps by running a company as an adult.
Eventually, Bodner did just that by getting his insurance license and starting an Allstate insurance agency with his partners, where he got to see insurance from the front lines. “We were young and came into the insurance business with guns blazing. What we discovered along the way was the importance of the trusted adviser’s role in the equation. A trusted adviser who knows the insured, the situation and the insurer can make a dramatic difference in the outcome of a claim or life-change event by being an advocate for the insured.”
