Captive power: Improving safety, efficiency and operational resilience at Impact Re, Ltd.
Risk ManagementArticleAugust 19, 2026
Across industries, captive insurance models are increasingly being recognized as more than alternative risk financing vehicles. They provide a powerful framework for sharing risk, data, expertise, and best practices across a community of member organizations. While traditional service models often align resources on a strict one-to-one basis, this approach can limit the full value that captives are uniquely positioned to deliver. By leveraging the collective experience and risk insights of the entire captive, members can benefit from broader knowledge sharing, stronger collaboration, and more impactful risk improvement strategies.
At Zurich Resilience Solutions, we are evolving the way we support group captives. Applying the same principles of risk sharing that drive captive success, we are expanding our focus beyond individual member engagements to deliver solutions that strengthen the entire captive while still addressing each member's unique exposures and operational challenges. This approach enables members to benefit from collective learning, proven risk management practices, and targeted engineering support, creating greater value for individual organizations and improving overall captive performance. This model reflects our belief that the strongest captives are built when members succeed together while receiving the specialized support, they need to achieve their own business objectives.
Impact Re, Ltd. was created for companies that want to take more control of their risk. Over time, its focus has expanded from traditional sustainability topics such as calculating emissions and emissions reporting to more of an “operational sustainability” focus, making safety, efficiency and resilience part of how the business runs every day.
The captive’s value is driven through a collaborative effort - Innovative Captive Strategies (ICS), as captive consultant and manager, sets the strategic direction and helps members turn risk insights into action, the captive board and member leadership decide which exposures to prioritize and how ambitious they want to be, and Zurich Resilience Solutions, provides risk engineering and risk management expertise and practical tools tailored to the captive members.
Emmett Witt, Director of Underwriting at ICS, explains, “We knew if we were going to do this right, we had to have Zurich’s risk engineering at the table because they really help these companies think differently about their operations. They can sit down with a member and say, ‘Here’s where your losses are coming from, here’s what we’ve seen work elsewhere,’ and then help them build a plan. That’s where the value really shows up for these companies.”
Together, ICS, the captive board and Zurich have reframed sustainability from a compliance exercise into a business performance lever by addressing key exposures, like continuous motor vehicle record monitoring, the captive helps members reduce unnecessary claims and improve their bottom line.
Turning sustainability into everyday decisions
One of the biggest challenges for captive members is moving from intent to implementation. ICS and Zurich worked with the captive leadership to build a clear roadmap: a framework and self-assessment that translates broad sustainability goals into practical questions about waste, energy use, fleet safety and workforce practices.
To support this framework, Zurich introduced a digital sustainability platform designed for small and mid-sized enterprises. It allows members to calculate emissions, benchmark progress and see how changes in operations can reduce risk and cost over time.
For Eric Jones, Owner of Spine Moving and Sustainability Chair for the captive, the key is usability: “Zurich brought in a tool that felt like the perfect emblem of this transition because they understand our capacity. It was designed for small and medium-sized businesses, so it is much friendlier and far more usable for companies like ours.”
With ICS guiding the process, the captive board encouraging participation and Zurich providing the technical backbone, members now have a shared language and set of metrics to talk about sustainability in practical, operational terms.
Eric sees that structure as a source of accountability and motivation: “Having an accountability partner and knowing we’re accountable for our score has been powerful. It’s not officially a competition, but wanting to be a good community member pushes you to improve. It has taken sustainability out of the abstract and put it into our everyday operations—we’re talking about measures we can actually implement.”
Tim Flattery, Vice President at ICS shares, “The conversations our members have with Zurich Risk Engineering are just different. They’re focused on problem solving around new and emerging challenges, going beyond traditional risk control to drive innovation.”
Fleet safety: where risk and sustainability meet
For many Impact Re, Ltd. members, fleet risk is one of the most visible exposures. It affects employee safety, customer service, fuel consumption and liability costs. The captive leadership chose fleet safety as a priority area where operational sustainability and risk control clearly overlap.
Working together, ICS, Zurich and the captive board rolled out:
- Continuous motor vehicle record (MVR) monitoring, with full member participation
- A structured fleet safety plan, supported by Zurich risk engineers
- AI-based tools to monitor driver behavior and reduce distracted driving
Member organizations have seen a massive shift in how they look at fleet safety since joining the captive; it’s now the primary thing members focus on day to day. Zurich brought in fleet telematics and other fleet management tools, and members work closely with Zurich risk engineers to leverage the tools. Through these solutions, including AI tools that monitor driver behavior, members have seen risky driving behaviors like cell phone usage drop significantly.
These changes are not just about loss prevention. They support broader sustainability goals: fewer accidents, more efficient routes, less fuel wasted through poor driving behavior and a stronger safety culture that supports retention and reputation.
Flattery explains, “When I see Bill Rudersdorf and the Zurich Risk Engineering team interacting with our clients, they are talking in almost a separate language because they understand their challenges and their initiatives so deeply based on their experience, it gives me comfort that we’ve got the right group of people together.”
Why this model works for mid-sized companies
Impact Re, Ltd.’s experience highlights why captives can be powerful platforms for operational sustainability. The captive board and ICS define a shared purpose and common standards, so members are not working in isolation. Zurich’s tools and engineering knowledge provide specialized support that is tailored to the realities of smaller and mid-sized enterprises, rather than assuming large-company resources. At the same time, improvements in safety, efficiency and sustainability show up both in captive performance and in members’ own P&Ls, creating strong financial and operational alignment.
Instead of seeing sustainability as a separate initiative, members now approach it as part of how they manage risk and run their businesses.
Flattery says, “I really don’t know if there’s any better way to drive innovation in the insurance industry than the captives because of how they are created and grow, the type of members that join, the reasons that they’re joining, and the partners that you have with shared objectives. You can really drill down on some unique challenges and innovations to benefit the member organizations.”
Building resilience for the long term
The collaboration between ICS, the captive leadership and Zurich Resilience Solutions has helped Impact Re, Ltd. move beyond traditional insurance outcomes. By bringing together capital, governance and technical expertise, the captive has become a mechanism for members to identify and prioritize their most material operational risks, access frameworks and tools that make those risks manageable, and turn sustainability from a “nice to have” into a driver of tangible performance improvements.
As Impact Re, Ltd. continues to grow, its focus remains clear: helping members stay safe, efficient and competitive, not just this year but over the long term, and building organizations that are operationally sustainable and resilient.