Marsh Reveals Winners of Inaugural All-Women Hackathon

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk adviser, today
announced the winners of its inaugural #ReWRITE
all-women risk and insurance hackathon event held earlier this month
in New York and Phoenix.

Representing “Team Breeze,” graduate students Paulina Barragán, Jing Li,
and Xinyi Qian took home first place and the $25,000 prize for their
small business recommendation engine prototype. The platform offers
personalized insurance and risk management solutions using real-time
data and unique preferences.

Teams “iInsure” and “Marshmallow” tied for runner up and will each
receive a $15,000 award for their prototypes: a comprehensive insurance
coverage marketplace powered by data aggregation and an artificial
intelligence (AI) risk and insurance advisory chatbot, respectively.

Marsh’s #ReWRITE hackathon attracted 60 women from leading universities
and businesses who competed on April 6-7 to solve for risk management
challenges using emerging technologies such as blockchain, AI, and the
Internet of Things.

Prototypes were judged by a panel of insurance and technology leaders
based on their innovation, technical solution, practicality, and
potential impact on the industry. All entries now will be evaluated in Marsh
Digital Labs for potential future development.

“#ReWRITE is a great example of how diversity brings a fresh perspective
and unlocks innovative products. Congratulations to all the women who
participated and built some amazing prototypes,” said Sastry Durvasula,
Chief Digital Officer and Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Marsh, who
revealed and awarded the winners at the “D&I in our DNA” session held
yesterday at the RIMS
annual conference in Boston. “These women demonstrated the power that
emerging tech can bring for the future of risk management and insurance,
and I can’t wait to see the possibilities ahead,” added Asha Vellaikal,
head of Marsh Digital Labs.

“We are so proud to have been a part of this exciting event for women
that brought different skill sets and ideas together and which gave us
the opportunity to learn more about InsurTech,” said Xinyi Qian from
Team Breeze.

Valeria Torres-Olivares, from Team iInsure, added: “Being able to attend
all-female hackathons are pretty rare, so I jumped at the chance to
attend #ReWRITE. I had a great time learning new ways in which I can
apply my coding skills to real-world applications.”

Nishanthi Balakrishnan, from Team Marshmallow, said: “It was great to
meet and network with so many Arizona women who are passionate about
geeking out on AI.”

About Marsh

Marsh
is the world’s leading insurance broker and risk adviser. With over
35,000 colleagues operating in more than 130 countries, Marsh serves
commercial and individual clients with data driven risk solutions and
advisory services. Marsh is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh
& McLennan Companies NYSE: MMC), the leading global professional
services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people. With annual
revenue over US$15 billion and 75,000 colleagues worldwide, MMC helps
clients navigate an increasingly dynamic and complex environment through
four market-leading firms: Marsh,
Guy
Carpenter, Mercer,
and Oliver
Wyman. Follow Marsh on Twitter @MarshGlobal;
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or subscribe to BRINK.

Contacts

Sally Roberts
303 952 9453
sally.roberts@marsh.com