IMA Financial Group, which is creating its own data-analytics startup, has tapped Erik Mitisek to lead the new IMAgine Analytics.
Mitisek, a name familiar to pretty much anyone in Colorado’s entrepreneurial community, will leave his current job as executive director of University of Denver’s at the end of July. He said he will continue to work with Gov. John Hickenlooper as Colorado’s chief innovation officer, as well as co-chair in September.
“This was the chance to build IMAgine Analytics, an insurance-technology company. We’re going to build it and launch it within IMA,” said Mitisek, when reached Monday about the new venture. “Yes, I am going to be leaving DU and I’m going back into the startup community. I’m drinking my own Kool-Aid.”
Mitisek later added, “Over the last five years I have been helping entrepreneurs start up, now I am drinking my own Kool-Aid, and joining a world-class team focusing on redefining the insurance industry.”
IMA, an employee-owned financial services firm, opened its first location in Denver in 1988. By 2013, it moved its , where it now employs 260 people. The company today employs 700 nationwide and is co-headquartered in Denver and Wichita, Kansas.
Few details were shared about the new IMA venture. But the new business will be part of the InsurTech industry, which uses technology to maximize the insurance industry. Mitisek, who starts as president on Aug. 1, “will be responsible for leveraging vast amounts of information to create better experiences for IMA clients,” the company said.
“He is an entrepreneur in every way and has the background, energy and expertise to lead at this important time,” IMA chairman and CEO Robert Cohen said in a statement.
InsurTech includes anything from using big data to create custom insurance quotes to internet-of-things devices, like the sensors from firms to text homeowners if the home senses water leaks, break ins or overheating.
Investors have , according to PwC, a professional services firm. Insurers from USAA to Northwestern Mutual have also invested millions in .
Mitisek, a DU grad, returned to the university in April 2016 to lead Project X-ITE, an initiative aimed at getting departments to tap into the startup community and think like entrepreneurs. He successfully to include Denver in Case’s last year, and held student/industry events like the that was sponsored by Fidelity Labs. DU plans to explore its options for a replacement, Mitisek added.
Prior to joining DU, Mitisek spent three years as CEO of the Colorado Technology Association, and previously founded the travel site Next Great Place.
This article was updated June 27, 2017 to add an additional comment from Mitisek.
