Meet the Contributors

Chestnut may be a young company, but our team has substantial insurance experience – over 70 years combined across such companies as CallidusCloud/SAP, Americo Financial, and Ethos. We are excited to share our knowledge and perspectives in this blog. But first – wouldn’t you like to know a bit more about some of the contributors?

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David Zhang, CEO & Co-Founder

David leads Go-To-Market and Strategy at Chestnut. He was previously Chief Strategy Officer at Ethos, where he built and led the finance, strategy and business operations, legal, and people teams. Prior to Ethos, David was an investor and finance professional. Over the course of this blog series, David looks forward to discussing insurance industry trends and how Chestnut plays into those trends.

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Nicholas Hilem, CTO & Co-Founder

Nick leads Engineering at Chestnut. He was previously Director of Engineering at Ethos, where he led the development of Ethos’ Agent and Partnerships platform from scratch. Prior to Ethos, Nick held senior engineering roles at Samsung and Google. Over the course of this blog series, Nick looks forward to highlighting how Chestnut leverages new technologies to enable a scalable, flexible platform.

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Tom Davis, CRO

Tom leads Sales at Chestnut. He previously led the Insurance Practice at OpenSymmetry, where he supported clients in strategy, vendor selection, and implementation across all phases of producer lifecycle management. Tom has over 25 years of experience in Distribution Management and Incentive Compensation in the insurance industry, including over 20 years leading sales at CallidusCloud/SAP. Over the course of this blog series, Tom will draw on his extensive industry knowledge to address common pain points and share how Chestnut offers unique solutions to these challenges.

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Greg Baker, Director of Customer Success & Insurance

Greg leads Project Implementation and Customer Success at Chestnut. He was previously Director of Producer Services at Americo Financial Life and Annuity, where he oversaw the contracting, compensation, and collections teams. Greg has over 20 years of experience in insurance first-hand having rotated through the functional areas that Chestnut serves. Over the course of this blog series, Greg will share his firsthand experience in tackling the challenges faced by insurance companies and explain how Chestnut’s approach sets us apart.

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Jim Liu, VP of Product

Jim leads Product at Chestnut. He previously founded Higher Bar AI, where he built multiple AI solutions to automate high quality survey research in PE/consulting and academia. Prior to Higher Bar AI, Jim held product leadership roles at B2B SaaS companies including AltSchool and Amplify Learning. Over the course of this blog series, Jim looks forward to sharing his perspectives on how Chestnut builds best-in-class product and thoughtfully embeds AI for high-stakes use cases.

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David ‘DZ’ Zheng, VP of Design

DZ leads Design and Research at Chestnut. He was previously Head of Design at Ethos, where he spearheaded brand design, product design, and research. Earlier in his career, DZ led design projects for Google, Charles Schwab, King Philanthropies, and Samsung. Over the course of this blog series, DZ will share his insights on creating customer-centric designs and how Chestnut prioritizes delighting users at every step.

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Adam Rosenthal, VP of Data & Analytics

Adam leads Analytics, Business Operations, and Finance at Chestnut. He was previously Head of Analytics at Ethos, where he oversaw analytics and data science, including implementation of new data systems and tools. Prior to Ethos, Adam was an investor and finance professional. Over the course of this blog series, Adam looks forward to highlighting how Chestnut approaches data and analytics from a first-principles basis.

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