Torrent Technologies, Inc. ("Torrent") announced today that James Shortley, former Director of Claims for the Federal Emergency Management Agency ("FEMA"), has joined the Company's Board of Directors. Torrent is the newest technology and business process outsource provider bringing fresh solutions to insurance carriers participating in the 'Write Your Own' ("WYO") Program, a public/private partnership offered through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program ("NFIP").

James most recently served as the senior claims officer at FEMA, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, where he developed claims policy for recommendation to the Federal Insurance Administrator / Mitigation Division Director and was one of the principal advisors to the Administrator. James moved to FEMA in 1983 as the Claims Technical Monitor at the NFIP'S Bureau and Statistical Agent.

"Jim brings an incredible wealth of knowledge, relationships and experience to Torrent after running the Claims department for FEMA," said Travis Pine, founder and Torrent CEO. "James embraced the technology-driven efficiencies that we have built into our product, TorrentFlood(R), and recognized very early that our solution both supports the flood modernization initiatives of FEMA while greatly simplifying the complexities and confusion surrounding flood insurance today," Pine added. "Jim will be an invaluable asset to Torrent's team -- we're excited and honored that he has chosen to serve on our Board."

James's insurance career began with the Government Employees Insurance Company ("GEICO"). After that, he worked for two independent adjusting firms before accepting employment with the Hartford Insurance Group. While at Hartford, James held a wide range of positions within their claims group.

"There were many tough lessons learned during Katrina for WYO Companies and their Flood Vendors. Torrent was able to capitalize on this and incorporate solutions to these problems right into their system during construction," stated James Shortley. TorrentFlood(R) was under development during the tumultuous 2005 storm season, lead by Katrina. "What attracted me to Torrent was their tireless dedication to returning a flood victim's life back to normal as quickly as possible after a flood event," Shortley added.

TorrentFlood(R) was built on a philosophy named IntuitiveCompliance(TM), which simply promotes ease-of-use, while ensuring the highest level of compliance with the NFIP. "Travis, TJ [a founder and Torrent's President / COO] and the entire Torrent team have done an amazing job in developing both the technologies and enhanced servicing solutions that are so desperately needed in the flood insurance industry today -- particularly in a post-Katrina world," said Shortley. "I am most impressed with how their platform, TorrentFlood(R), quickly and intuitively harvests all of the NFIP-required information from the agent at the 'front-end' during the quoting process as opposed to trying to reconstruct it at the 'back-end' come claims time -- adding costly time and expense," James added.

James is one of a number of recent additions to Torrent's management team including Director Aaron Richmond, Principal at Seattle-based Endeavor Capital; Business Development Executive, Phillip Wills with over 18 years of NFIP experience; and Chief Technology Officer, Kyle Swinney. "I am very pleased to see such a powerful team continue to assemble around Torrent -- these individuals are not only experts in their field, but understand and support the 'people first' culture we are building here at Torrent," Pine concluded.

About Torrent: Torrent's mission is to be the leading provider of innovative technology and flexible servicing options to insurance companies participating in the NFIP's WYO program. Torrent has developed a state-of-the-art flood insurance policy processing and claims administration system (TorrentFlood(R)) that is designed to accommodate flexible servicing strategies that allow Torrent to offer clients unparalleled ease-of-use and customer service, while reducing overall servicing costs and fees.

Release link: 

Related:  Flood Insurance - Torrent Technologies