Hollywood A-listers backed insurtech taps industry leader to boost growth

US-based insurtech seeking to transform the life insurance market with the backing of Japanese investor SoftBank, Google Ventures and the investment vehicles of stars Will Smith, Jay-Z and Robert Downey Jr. has appointed its first distribution officer, while revealing its plan to double its employee count by the year-end.

Ethos has hired life insurance industry veteran Marty Schafer to bolster the company’s channel distribution. He will be tasked to build a team focussed on enabling partnerships with third party life insurance distributors and life, property and casualty insurance agents.

Schafer joins Ethos following more than two decades in the life insurance industry, most recently as senior vice president at Crump Life Insurance Services. Before that, he was vice president of National Accounts at John Hancock, where he was responsible for management and oversight of their US Life Insurance National Account relationships. He also co-founded the distribution company Saybrus Partners, where he served as executive managing director for nearly ten years.

Schafer's insurance career started with selling life insurance as an agent with Prudential.

“[Schafer] is one of the most beloved people in the life insurance industry, so he’s been on our radar for a while. When we were looking for someone to take ownership of enabling Ethos’ distribution partners with the Ethos platform, he was top of our list,” said Peter Colis (pictured), CEO and founder of Ethos. “We couldn’t be more excited about adding Marty to our executive team, which will allow us to better serve our partners and policyholder families.”

Schafer’s hire follows a $100 million round from Softbank Vision Fund 2 that brought Ethos's valuation to $2.7 billion and total funds raised to over $400 million. SoftBank joined existing investors Sequoia Capital; Accel; GV (formerly Google Ventures); General Catalyst; Jay-Z's Roc Nation; and the investment vehicles of stars Will Smith and Robert Downey Jr.

“I’ve been in the insurance business a long time and have never been more motivated by a company’s mission,” said Schafer. “Protecting the next million families is an important cause - especially to me, as a father of four. I’m thrilled about being a driver of change for the next 100 years of the life insurance space. Peter and the Ethos team are pioneers, building something net new, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to be a part of it.”

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