Elysian Appoints Insurance Industry Veterans Ian Thompson and Robin LaChapelle to Strategic Advisory Board

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New advisors bring decades of claims, insurance, technology, and transformation expertise as Elysian scales its AI-native approach to commercial claims

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NEW YORK — Elysian, the AI-powered claims quality platform for commercial insurance, today announced the appointment of Ian Thompson and Robin LaChapelle to their Strategic Advisory Board. Their perspectives will help shape Elysian’s strategy as it works to modernize the commercial claims experience for insurers and their policyholders. They join Bronek Masojada, Former Hiscox CEO, and current Chairman of the Board for Sirius Point, who was appointed as a strategic advisor in June 2025.

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Launched in late 2024, Elysian combines experienced claims professionals with AI-native technology to help insurers manage commercial and specialty claims more effectively. The company’s platform is designed to reduce low-value administrative work creating greater opportunity for human workers to use their judgement, understanding, contextualization, and experience in high-stakes decision making.

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“Ian and Robin have spent their careers at the forefront of the insurance and financial services industries, and understand that AI is rapidly transforming organizations’ ability to move swiftly while optimizing outcomes for customers and claim levels,” said Grace Hanson, Founder and CEO of Elysian. “As we build Elysian, we want to challenge the assumptions on how claims are managed, rather than simply adding another technology layer or point solution to the existing process. Their experience will help us grow Elysian to ultimately influence how adjusters and insurers work with technology.”

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Ian Thompson brings more than 30 years of senior insurance and claims leadership experience across complex global organizations. During his career, he held senior executive and strategic transformation roles at Zurich Insurance and RSA, spanning strategy, operating model evolution, technology and data, M&A, and claims transformation. Today, Thompson advises private equity and venture capital investors across insurance and adjacent sectors, serves as a senior advisor to a leading global strategic consultancy on insurance and claims, and holds advisory and non-executive roles across the insurance and technology ecosystems.

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Earlier this week, Thompson and Hanson hosted a virtual fireside chat with Insurance Nerds titled “Beyond the Dashboard: How Claims Work REALLY Gets Done.” The two discussed What actually happens behind the scenes in insurance claims, and analyze why point solutions don’t work for the messy, human-driven reality of how claims get resolved.

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“There are many companies in the market offering technology solutions for the challenges faced by claim leaders and the industry as a whole, but Elysian is one of the very few founded by claim professionals that offers the capability of experienced adjusters augmented by leading-edge AI,” said Ian Thompson. “I’m really impressed by Elysian’s innovative product suite, particularly their AI-orchestrated engine which can audit entire claim portfolios for the quality of outcome. It’s these capabilities that I’m looking forward to helping Grace and the team build on as a member of The Advisory Board.”

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Robin LaChapelle joins Elysian as a strategic advisor with extensive experience in strategy, operations, and organizational leadership across financial services, technology, and other highly regulated industries. In her advisory capacity, LaChapelle will lend her knowledge in scaling organizations, strategic planning, and enterprise restructuring to assist Elysian in its next phase of growth. She currently serves as Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of ArriVent BioPharma, an oncology-focused biotechnology company, where she leads HR, IT, Communications, and Facilities. Previously, LaChapelle served as an Executive Advisor at RLT Consulting, held senior executive positions at MedImmune and AstraZeneca, Lockheed Martin, Capital One, and Bank of America.

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“Technology creates tremendous opportunity, but successful transformation ultimately comes down to leadership and the client,” said Robin LaChapelle. “I am attracted to Elysian’s ambition to rethink a legacy industry overdue for meaningful change, and I look forward to helping the organization scale through this period of industry transformation.”

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The appointments come after a series of wins for Elysian, including a $6 million seed round, winner of State Farm’s 2025 Startup Pitch competition at ITC Vegas, and selection for Lloyd’s Lab Cohort 16 to advance AI-native claims auditing. Elysian is building technology around the way claims professionals actually work, with the goal of enabling adjusters to spend more time on the work that requires expertise and judgment while giving claims leaders greater visibility into the quality and trajectory of every claim.

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About Elysian

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Elysian is building the future of commercial insurance claims with an AI-enabled claims quality platform. By combining expert hands-on claims expertise with purpose-built AI, Elysian enables insurers to manage complex claims more efficiently while delivering greater insight, consistency, and better outcomes. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in New York City, Elysian is rethinking how people and technology work together across the claims lifecycle. For more information visit their website and follow them on LinkedIn.

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Contacts

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Media Contact

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Blaire Swayze

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Director of InsurTech Comms & PR

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T Palmer Agency

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561-289-0180

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