September 23rd: Building Strategy + Innovation Capabilities (at a 198-Year-Old Insurance Carrier)
Andrew Morse of The Andover Companies on growing an innovation function from two people to an award-winning team of five.
In this session, Andrew Morse, AVP of Innovation at The Andover Companies, shares how he built an innovation function from scratch at a 198-year-old mutual insurance carrier — growing from a team of two with no process (and colleagues asking “what does innovation even do?”) to an award-winning team of five embedded in the company's most important initiatives.
You'll learn how to:
- Earn credibility fast by solving the business's real, current-day problems before chasing transformational “horizon 3” ideas
- Pivot from an outside-in to an inside-out model — and why solving core problems earns you the right to look to the horizon
- Build innovation capabilities one at a time (human-centered design, culture, solution scouting, strategic foresight) instead of launching everything at once
- Spread an innovation mindset beyond the core team through challenges, rotational programs, and involving business units at every step
- Bring outside perspective in via VC partnerships and peer networking
- Turn strategic foresight into real planning decisions — not just presentations — with foresight-led workshops and a multi-year organizational roadmap
Host bio
Andrew leads innovation at The Andover Companies, a 198-year-old mutual insurance carrier, where he has built the innovation function from the ground up. His team pairs human-centered design and strategic foresight with a practical focus on the problems the business faces today.
