Emerging
FINALIST
Michael Kosloske
Chairman, president, CEO and founder
Health Insurance Innovations
Michael was probably thinking about being in the insurance business before he even knew what insurance was. Born into the third generation of Kosloske insurance business owners, he had developed acumen for the industry at an early age.
After countless conversations around the dinner table, his dream was to one day take over his parents’ business. His plans continued to evolve as he attended Florida State University when he began to see the potential for technology to revolutionize insurance product distribution and sales.
His new plan was to create a scalable online platform to bring consumers, agents and carriers together to transact business.
This desire to create a new business model led him to sell the family business he had dreamed of owning and eventually start raising capital for what would be a new business, Health Insurance Innovations. But he never banked on having to deal with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Raising funds to start his company became a huge undertaking. Kosloske eventually scraped together the money he needed, but the tough times were not over.
There was barely enough money to cover payroll and it got to the point where his wife, having just delivered a baby, encouraged her husband to quickly hit the road and see what he could do to drum up more business.
The challenges continued but all that hard work finally began to pay off and the business started to boom. The entrepreneurial spirit that drove Kosloske and his wife to work so hard to make HII a success is firmly embedded in the company’s culture.
Kosloske encourages employees to come up with their own ideas about how to make the business function even better for its customers. It all leads to a company that continues to grow with employees who are proud to be key factors in the growth.
How to reach: Health Insurance Innovations, www.hiiquote.com
