Breeze appoints Patrizia Kern as chief insurance officer

Digital insurance startup Breeze, which has developed an online platform specifically for forwarders and logistics companies, has appointed industry veteran Patrizia Kern as its chief insurance officer.

Kern has over 30 years’ experience in senior roles across the marine insurance industry, most recently at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ global marine division, where she headed up the unit’s cargo and hull business.

“Breeze is at the forefront of the digital revolution in marine and cargo insurance,” said Kern.

“Combining new technology, data and machine learning will completely transform the marine and cargo insurance industry, to provide a level of transparency and efficiency in freight management that will ultimately make shipping more sustainable, more profitable, and safer.”

She added: “Breeze has built in a very short time what the industry has been talking about for years now, and I am looking forward to using my knowledge of the market to accelerate the industry’s transformation through impactful end-to-end, digital, and data-driven insurance offerings.”

Kern has extensive experience of using technology and risk intelligence to drive the global maritime insurance industry towards sustainability.

She is the chair of the Poseidon Principles for Marine Insurance (PPMI), an initiative launched in 2021 to accelerate the shipping industry’s decarbonisation, and chairs the Big-Data and Digitalization Forum and Nominating Committee of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI).

Kern is also an advisory board member for the Global Maritime Forum (GMF), Lloyd’s Register, and the ICC Digital Standard Initiative.

She is still collaborating with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ chief executive office as a consultant for marine sustainability.

Most recently, Kern has become a mentor for Women in Aviation and Logistics’ (WAL), a not-for-profit which supports the career aspirations of women professionals and aims to reduce the gender gap in aviation and logistics.

Specifically tailored for freight forwarders and logistics companies, Breeze is fully automated, free-to-use and “provides instant shipper-interest, all-risk, cargo cover in a way that is fully embedded in existing operational workflows”, said the company.

“Current estimates are that around 70% of global trade is either un-or-under insured,” said Matthew Phillips, chief commercial Officer at Breeze, which has just opened its first US office after a successful UK scale-up.

“With the growing number of risks affecting supply chains, it is more important than ever that cargo is properly covered.

“In many cases shippers are not even aware that they are not insured by their forwarder or logistics provider, and with Breeze forwarders can seamlessly offer shippers the coverage they need.
“Patrizia’s experience and energy will be a huge asset to our growing team, and we are excited that she is joining us.”