Nicholas Nik Johnston

About Nicholas Nik Johnston

25+ years in the Insurance industry working within Personal, Commercial, and Specialty carriers supporting various distribution channels including Direct, Retail, Wholesale, and Program/MGA/MGU• Proven success in sales, underwriting, operations, and technology roles with a flexible, positional player mindset• Expertise in implementing diverse insurance systems & their processes for intake, policy administration, workflow, underwriter documentation, imaging, portals, and third-party integrations• Product knowledge includes Personal Auto, BOP, Commercial Package, Umbrella, Inland Marine, Lawyers Professional, Durable Medical Equipment, GL, Property, Professional Lines (Cyber, E&O, TechNet, Media, D&O, Crime) and most recently Home-Based Business• Leadership experience leading both large and small teams in both software & efficiency implementations• Comprehensive understanding of multiple SDLC approaches and insurance process frameworks (Acord insurance capability model, APQC maturity model)• Strong interpersonal, negotiating, and collaborative skills for effective internal and external stakeholder management• Experienced in developing analytical & business documentation: strategies, gap analysis, business cases, charters, requirements, business/functional specs, use cases, test cases, and training & procedural materials

Experience

1. Head of Technical Business Analysis, N a Intake & Underwriting

   AXIS (AXIS Capital)

   Nov 2025 — Present · Fort Lauderdale, FL, US

   Championing a culture of “innovation as a practice” within AXIS, by advocating for a customer-centric focus when evaluating solution opportunities, technology adoption and process improvement. • Supporting existing Lower Middle Market (LMM) solution development focused on low & no-touch workflows that deliver faster underwriting while reducing expenses.• Supporting the creation of an ideation framework that includes facilitation of brainstorming sessions that encourage out-of-the-box thinking and the adoption of emerging technologies.• Supporting our innovation pipeline, strategically prioritizing initiatives based on potential impact, alignment with market needs, and organizational capabilities to correctly “meet our business partners where they are” based on their innovation readiness.• Ensuring Underwriting & Operations have representation when evaluating and selecting of all new workflow solutions, underwriting workbenches, and rules based underwriting systems.• Supporting cross-functional teams in the development and communication of compelling business cases for innovative projects, clearly articulating the value proposition, ROI, and strategic alignment across stakeholders.• Working closely with operations, underwriting, and technology teams to ensure solutions that enhance operational efficiency and customer engagement have a smooth transition of projects from ideation through implementation.• Utilizing well-honed people skills to collaborate with internal AXIS partners (e.g, underwriting, IT, operations, distribution, actuarial) and external partners, ensuring technology solutions meet business strategies.• Consulting, guiding and/or supporting internal teams’ post-implementation business case validation exercise, focusing on maximizing business value and ensuring the adoption aligns with the defined use cases.

Education

• Mercer University - Stetson School of Business and Economics

  BA, Business Science

  1993 — 1996

• Babson College

  IT Leadership Development Consortium

  2011 — 2011

• The University of Alabama in Huntsville

  Accounting and Business/Management

  1991 — 1993

• Spring Hill College

  International Business and History

  1990 — 1991

Skills

• Business Process Improvement
• Underwriting
• User Acceptance Testing
• Project Management
• Qualitative Research
• Process Improvement
• Risk Management
• Pmo
• Leadership
• User-Centered Design
• Financial Services
• Commercial Lines
• Requirements Gathering
• Insurance
• Business Architecture
• Business Requirements
• Information Analysis
• Informatics
• User Experience Design
• Software Development Life Cycle (Sdlc)
• Business Process
• Property & Casualty Insurance
• IT Strategy
• Research
• Requirements Analysis
• Management
• Business Development
• Software Documentation
• Sdlc
• Requirements Management
• General Insurance
• Business Analysis
• Vendor Management
• Commercial Insurance