Ethos Hires Insurance Industry Veteran Marty Schafer as First Distribution Officer

Schafer Joins from John Hancock, Crump; Previously Founding Member Saybrus Partners

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Nov 29, 2021, 12:00 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ethos, the insurtech leader that's transforming life insurance, has hired industry veteran Marty Schafer as its first Chief Distribution Officer to bolster the company's channel distribution. Schafer will be responsible for building a team to focus on enabling partnerships specifically with third party life insurance distributors and life, property and casualty insurance agents.

Schafer joins Ethos following more than two decades in the life insurance industry, most recently as Senior Vice President at Crump Life Insurance Services. Before that, he was Vice President of National Accounts at John Hancock, where he was responsible for management and oversight of their US Life Insurance National Account relationships. He also co-founded the distribution company Saybrus Partners, where he served as Executive Managing Director for nearly ten years. But his insurance career began long before that. After Schafer completed his professional soccer career, he became a teacher and picked up selling life insurance as an independent agent in the summers, then full time as an agent with Prudential.

"Marty is one of the most beloved people in the life insurance industry, so he's been on our radar for a while. When we were looking for someone to take ownership of enabling Ethos' distribution partners with the Ethos platform, he was top of our list," said Peter Colis, CEO and founder of Ethos. "We couldn't be more excited about adding Marty to our executive team, which will allow us to better serve our partners and policyholder families."

Schafer's hire follows a $100 million round from Softbank Vision Fund 2 that brought Ethos's valuation to $2.7 billion and total funds raised to over $400 million. SoftBank joined existing investors Sequoia Capital; Accel; GV (formerly Google Ventures); General Catalyst; Jay-Z's Roc Nation; and the investment vehicles of stars Will Smith and Robert Downey Jr.

"I've been in the insurance business a long time and have never been more motivated by a company's mission," said Schafer. "Protecting the next million families is an important cause - especially to me, as a father of four. I'm thrilled about being a driver of change for the next 100 years of the life insurance space. Peter and the Ethos team are pioneers, building something net new, and I couldn't pass up the chance to be a part of it."

Ethos has been growing at a significant rate and increasing its year-over-year momentum. Revenue and users have each grown by more than 600 percent year-over-year, and the company expects to issue $20 billion of life insurance coverage in 2021, surpassing all insurtech competitors. In addition to its revenue and user growth, the company has surpassed $100M in annualized gross profit. The company has offices in Austin, San Francisco, and Singapore, and plans to double its employee count by 2021 year end.

About Ethos
Ethos is a technology company. We make it easier than ever for everyone to protect their families with life insurance. Ethos has created the insurance industry's most advanced proprietary technology, eliminating the traditional barriers to life insurance by developing instant and accessible products that make it easy for everyone to protect their families with life insurance online, in minutes without any medical exams. We issue billions in coverage each month and an invaluable amount of peace of mind for our families every single day. Ethos is a global company, with offices in Austin, San Francisco, and Singapore. To learn more, visit www.ethoslife.com.

SOURCE Ethos