Analytics & Insurance Operations

Joel
Shaw

13+ years building analytics infrastructure, leading high-performing teams, and turning complex insurance data into decisions that move the business. Based in Addison, IL.

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About

Where data
meets decisions

I've spent my career at the intersection of insurance domain expertise and technical analytics — managing regulatory compliance at national scale, building reporting infrastructure that VP-level leaders rely on, and modernizing how analytics teams work. My background spans personal lines pricing, state product management, regulatory reporting, and business performance analysis across books of business exceeding $3B in gross written premium.

I believe the best analytics work is invisible to the people who use it — the report is just there, it's right, and it answers the question before anyone has to ask twice.

13+
Years in personal lines insurance
$3B+
GWP supported by reporting infrastructure
99%
Regulatory accuracy over five years

Core Skills

The technical
stack

Analytics

SQL, R, Python, SAS — workflow automation, regulatory reporting, pipeline construction, funnel analysis

Platforms

SQL Server (SSMS / DBeaver), Power BI / DAX, SSRS, VS Code, R Studio, Domino, SAS, Excel, GitHub

AI & APIs

Claude API, Plaid API, Ollama (local LLM), LLM-assisted data workflows, prompt engineering, API integration

Domain

Personal lines insurance, pricing strategy, risk management, state product management, regulatory compliance

Leadership

Team building, analyst mentoring, 1:1 coaching, cross-functional stakeholder management, executive reporting

Reporting

Executive dashboards, VP-ready package design, business unit reviews, KPI frameworks, field-to-senior delivery


Personal Project

Built outside
the office

Personal Finance Intelligence App

Full-stack personal finance tracker with local AI analysis — built end to end

Side Project
The Problem

I wanted a finance tracking tool that gave me real analytical insight into my spending — not just categorized totals, but actual pattern recognition and trend analysis. Every commercial option either required trusting a third party with sensitive financial data or delivered surface-level insights that didn't answer the questions I actually had. I decided to build my own.

Architecture

The application integrates the Plaid API to pull transaction data from connected financial accounts into a local data pipeline. That data is cleaned, categorized, and structured through a custom ingestion layer before being passed to Ollama — a locally hosted large language model — for on-device AI analysis. Nothing leaves the machine. The Claude API supported the development workflow itself, helping iterate on architecture decisions and code structure throughout the build.

Tech Stack
Plaid API Ollama (local LLM) Claude API Python Data Pipeline Local AI Inference GitHub
What I Learned

Building this end to end reinforced how much of real-world API work is about handling edge cases in data ingestion — Plaid's transaction schema is inconsistent across institutions, and building a reliable normalization layer took meaningful iteration. Running LLM inference locally via Ollama was a deliberate privacy choice that also forced me to think carefully about prompt structure and context management in ways that cloud API calls abstract away. The project made me significantly more comfortable working across the full stack from data ingestion through AI-assisted output.

View on GitHub →

Experience

The career
arc

June 2026 – Present
Data Analytics Associate Manager
National General (An Allstate Company) · Addison, IL
Title reflects a company-wide restructuring; responsibilities and team ownership unchanged.
Aug 2025 – May 2026
Data Analytics Manager – Direct Auto
National General (An Allstate Company) · Addison, IL
Owned performance reporting across ~500 Direct Auto locations representing ~$3B GWP. Produced the monthly Business Unit Review — primary source of truth for VP- and SVP-level decisions. Led a team of 2 analysts. Designed a bad-actor detection report called out by leadership. Built and maintained SAS-based data pipelines publishing through SSRS and Power BI / DAX.
2024 – Aug 2025
Product Intelligence Manager – State Management
Allstate Corporation · IL
Led a team of six managing 200+ annual regulatory data submissions across all U.S. states for Allstate and Esurance. Achieved 99% accuracy over ~5 years; 100% in the final two years. Developed reusable SQL and R code sets cutting delivery time in half. Partnered with pricing and product teams on state-level market strategy.
2021 – 2024
Product Intelligence Associate Manager – State Management
Allstate Corporation · IL
Migrated analytical workflows from Excel and Access to Python and R. Brought outsourced work back in-house, achieving full team self-sufficiency. Built version-controlled GitHub repositories for state reporting workflows.
Apr 2020 – Mar 2021
Data Delivery Lead Consultant – Property Pricing
Allstate Corporation · Addison, IL · Remote
Briefly led the data analytics function supporting Allstate's internal pricing team, actuaries, and quantitative analysts. Oversaw the classification ratemaking data process — ensuring accuracy of historical and current data used to calculate rate differentials across rating variables. Managed workload delegation across analysts, drove automation of manual data processes, and collaborated with pricing teams to support rate equity and data integrity. Transitioned to the State Management regulatory team after this role was restructured.
Mar 2019 – Apr 2020
Senior Consultant II & Supervisor
Allstate Corporation · Northbrook, IL · Hybrid
Led a countrywide refund project requiring correction of ratemaking tables across years of prior work — a high-stakes, time-sensitive remediation effort. Identified an error in the correction code being used across the project before it caused significant financial exposure; escalated to leadership and was recognized with a bonus and substantial compensation increase. Managed a team of up to 3 analysts through the remediation effort. Continued to serve as de facto team lead from the Senior Consultant I period, training 5 new hires and managing day-to-day operations.
Aug 2018 – Mar 2019
Senior Consultant
Allstate Corporation · Northbrook, IL · Hybrid
Stepped into a team lead role as senior leadership shifted focus to product ownership — effectively running day-to-day operations for the pricing data team while continuing to deliver analytically. Trained and onboarded 5 new analysts. Led a countrywide table conversion project, writing R automation scripts to handle creation and validation of converted tables at scale.
Mar 2016 – Aug 2018
Consultant II
Allstate Corporation · Northbrook, IL · Hybrid
Took on expanded ownership and led the team's first major countrywide implementation project — a table conversion effort spanning the full organization. Designed and built an R script to automate creation and quality-checking of converted ratemaking tables, enabling a consistent, scalable process. Modernized core team workflows using R and SQL, reducing manual effort and improving accuracy across the ratemaking data process.
Mar 2015 – Mar 2016
Consultant
Allstate Corporation · Northbrook, IL · On-site
Transitioned from the Southwest pricing team into Product Operations — shifting from actuarial ratemaking support into the data and analytics infrastructure that powered it. Built ratemaking tables used in system-side rate calculations, applying actuarial concepts like current rate leveling. Learned R on the job to automate table creation, replacing repetitive Excel-based workflows. Developed foundational fluency in SAS, SQL, and ratemaking methodology.
Oct 2012 – Mar 2015
Quantitative Analyst
Allstate Corporation · Northbrook, IL · On-site
Entry point into the insurance industry — built foundational knowledge of actuarial concepts, rate filings, and insurance product structure. Ran rate indications and prepared rate filings, gaining hands-on experience with the regulatory and actuarial mechanics of personal lines pricing. Implemented the House & Home product across 3 of 5 regional states, managing the data and analytical work required to bring a new product to market.
Oct 2008 – Oct 2012
Senior Financial Representative
Career Education Corporation · Schaumburg, IL · On-site
Managed federal financial aid processing for students across CEC's school network — originating loans and Pell Grants, determining eligibility based on FAFSA, and ensuring funds were accurately disbursed. Maintained a 98%+ accuracy rate across all financial documentation and compliance standards.

Contact

Let's talk

Email
jshaw244@gmail.com
LinkedIn
joel-shaw-professional
GitHub
github.com/jshaw244