Introduction
What happens to a $114 billion market when six people head toward retirement for every one person coming in behind them? That is the question hanging over the MGA channel, and it sits at the center of Vertafore's 2026 MGA Workforce and Technology Report. Josh Hollander sits down with Emily McGinn, who runs Vertafore's MGA & Wholesale business unit, to dig into what a survey of nearly 200 MGA leaders says about succession, operational discipline, and where AI is already paying for itself.
Guest Bio
Emily McGinn is SVP & General Manager of the MGA & Wholesale business unit at Vertafore, one of the largest insurance technology providers in North America, where she runs product development, professional services, and customer service for the segment. She came to insurance nine months ago from telecom and technology operations leadership at Zayo, Lumen, and Windstream, which gives her an outsider's read on an industry that keeps its people for decades.
Key Topics
-The demographic cliff - 67% of the MGA workforce is 44 or older, only 4% is under 28, and the ratio of workers 55-plus to workers under 25 runs about six to one.
-What walks out the door first - Carrier and agency relationships built over three or four decades, plus underwriting judgment that has seen full market cycles, are the things technology cannot replace.
-Growth is moderating, and it changes the playbook - MGA premium growth has cooled from double digits to single digits, so premium volume alone no longer covers for thin operational discipline.
-Operational excellence is now a carrier mandate - Carriers are demanding clean data, real governance, and bordereau reporting that ties out, and they are choosing MGA partners accordingly.
-Where AI pays for itself today - Vertafore's email ingestion agent reads unstructured submissions and fills the application automatically, turning 20 minutes of data entry into a three-minute review.
-Tech-first MGAs are table stakes, not a threat - The startups are pushing everyone to move faster, but the winners still need the industry foundation first and the technology on top.
2026 as the adoption inflection - 21% of surveyed MGAs use AI today and 50% plan to adopt soon, and Emily believes those numbers were already stale within months of the survey.
Notable Quotes
"The ratio is about six people 55-plus to one person under 25."
"It used to take you twenty minutes to read these PDFs and data-entry this all in. Now it takes seconds. You review it in three minutes to make sure it's right and move on."
"If you just start with the technology, you're probably not going to win."
"The MGAs that didn't make it, it was often a data issue. They lost the carrier's trust."
Resources
Guest:
Vertafore: https://www.vertafore.com/
Emily McGinn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-dempsey-mcginn/
Host & Organization:
Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/
Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/
Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show
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