Amy Bingham: How Pekin Insurance's CIO Turned Crisis into Record Profits with Tech
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Published Time: 2025-09-10T16:19:28Z
Interview
September 10, 2025Amy Bingham
CIO2023 was one of the most difficult years in Pekin Insurance’s history, but CIO Amy Bingham delivered record profits in 2024 by putting faith in technology.
When Amy Bingham joined Pekin Insurance as Vice President and Chief Information Officer three and a half years ago, her mandate was straightforward. Her mission was to help the Illinois-based insurance company grow technologically and financially.
What she didn't anticipate was that her technology strategy would become the lifeline that saved her new company from its worst existential crisis since its founding in 1921.
Amy brought more than 20 years of experience from a large US carrier to Pekin Insurance, a property casualty and life insurance company that operates across 22 states with approximately 700 employees.
The company distributes its products through around 1,500 agencies and a network of 8,500 agents, offering property and casualty insurance in nine states with strategic expansion plans for the next decade.
Her transition from a major carrier to a regional player positioned her uniquely to understand both the scale advantages of large operations and the agility potential of smaller organisations.
This perspective would prove invaluable when Pekin faced its most challenging year in 2023.
From crisis to opportunity
In 2023, Pekin recorded a staggering US$170m net loss, driven primarily by severe hailstorms concentrated in the central US.
These thunderstorms, accompanied by high winds, destroyed cars, homes and commercial properties indiscriminately, whilst inflation and rising replacement costs compounded the financial damage.
Amy and her team responded swiftly and calmly, though.
Rather than retreating from innovation during the crisis, she identified an unexpected opportunity.
With the company targeting US$70m in expense reductions, she presented a series of business cases for technology modernisation initiatives to the board, arguing that strategic investments could reduce costs whilst improving capabilities.
The power of partnerships
Bingham's approach to technology partnerships reflected both financial acumen and strategic thinking.
She led the migration of Pekin's integration platform to WSO2, a provider recognised by Gartner as a visionary in the integration space.
Her selection criteria emphasised vendor commitment during complex migration projects, noting that WSO2 "absolutely came to the table with a commitment and investment to make sure that this migration was successful".
The second major initiative involved expanding Pekin's partnership with One Inc to modernise customer billing and claims payments through a digital wallet system.
This implementation enabled compliant and cost-effective credit card merchant fee processing, contributing over US$3m in annual expense reductions whilst improving customer experience.
Additionally, Bingham partnered with Exavalue to create a modern customer self-service portal, making Pekin's digital infrastructure more efficient and user-friendly.
Her collaboration with ValueMomentum to launch Auto Care Services in early 2025 demonstrates her commitment to continued innovation and growth.
Measuring success through data
The true validation of Bingham's leadership came in 2024's results.
Despite the insurance industry facing continued challenges, Pekin reduced storm losses by 65% compared to 2023, translating to US$88m in avoided losses.
The company recorded US$44m in net income for 2024, representing a remarkable US$214m improvement from the previous year's loss and making it the firm's most profitable year since 2005.
"This data proves that the actions we took had a meaningful impact in transforming the company," Amy explains, reflecting on what she describes as an extremely rewarding period of her professional life.
A foundation for the future
Amy credits Pekin's core values as the guiding light that helped the firm through its darkest hour. They are: being quick to communicate and solve issues, innovating in products and technology, remaining nimble in adapting to challenges and maintaining a tech-savvy approach to business.
These values, established long before Pekin’s 2023 crisis, supported the difficult decisions and rapid changes required for recovery.
Her leadership during Pekin's crisis demonstrates how strategic technology investments, combined with decisive leadership and strong partnerships, can be the catalyst for a comeback, setting a new standard for agility and innovation in the insurance sector.