Kin Insurance, a catastrophe-risk specialist home insurance startup, has turned to veterans of Allstate, CNA, Nationwide and elsewhere to fill key leadership slots as it expands.

Kin recently raised nearly $64 million in new venture capital funding, and is reportedly pursuing talks to go public with a special purpose acquisition company. To date, Kin has raised more than $130 million, including a $35 million round in August 2020.

The new hires include Victor Lee, chief marketing officer; Heidi Helfand, vice president of Engineering Growth; Zachary Debelak, vice president of Product; Adam Sturt, vice president of Data Science; Michael Kelly, vice president of Financial Planning & Analysis; and Andrew Deckert, deputy general counsel.

As the new CMO, Lee will lead all efforts across customer acquisition, brand marketing and communications. Prior to his role at Kin, he served as CMO of RXBAR (a Kellogg company). He was also senior vice president of digital marketing at Hasbro.

Helfand, Kin’s new VP of Engineering Growth, will spearhead the technology hiring strategy, building an engineering organization that scales while efficiently delivering value to Kin’s customer base.

Debelak, Kin’s new VP of Product, is in charge of the technology product management team as Kin expands its insurance product offerings and national presence.

VP of Data Science Sturt will lead data strategy and analysis at Kin to improve how the company leverages analytics in insurance decisions. He is an actuary who brings nine years of prior experience from Allstate Insurance.

New VP of FP&A Kelly is responsible for building out the planning, forecasting, and reporting function, and driving insights through operational and management reporting. He brings six years of experience from CNA Insurance and four years at Allstate insurance.

The new Deputy General Counsel Deckert, will lead the company’s claims and Insurance legal functions. He brings decades of insurance legal expertise, including many years at ASI/Progressive Home, Nationwide, and as an insurance litigator.

Kin currently operates in Florida, California, and Louisiana. Its priority regions for expansion include areas most affected by extreme weather. Kin offers homeowners, landlord, condo, and mobile home insurance through the Kin Interinsurance Network (KIN), a reciprocal exchange owned by its customers.

Source: Kin Insurance

*A version of this story ran previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.