INSURING THE FUTURE IN IOWA

A Profile of Zach Witte and Geoff Matlock at the Dana Company

By Patrick McConville

March 19, 2026

A few years ago, Geoff Matlock visited a client for an annual renewal. The type-A personality clients immediately peppered him with questions. Geoff answered, but he didn't have the correct data on his proposal sheet. As the Chief Operating Officer at the Dana Company, Geoff likes to come prepared. This first impression embarrassed him.

That problem no longer exists. Now, Matlock performs every annual review armed with a single page containing everything a client could ask for, generated by the Dana Company's in-house AI tool. "If you have everything you need, you'll never not have what you need."

It was a tool developed internally by Zach Witte, Commercial Insurance Strategist, after consulting the AI Lab.

The AI Lab plays a role in what follows. But this is not a story about AI. It's a story about what two people were able to accomplish when they found the right tool — and what that meant for their company and their customers. AI was the key to unlocking this productivity. Zach and Geoff did the work that turned the key.

INSURANCE
Insurance is a deliberate industry; an essential product one hopes they never need to use. Iowa is the "Insurance Capital of the Nation", ranking the top state in the US in Insurance Industry output as a percent of GDP. The Dana Company is an insurance company based in Des Moines, Iowa's capital city. Going back to the riverboat days before statehood, the standard insurance model in Iowa has remained the same. Policies are lengthy documents laden with fine print. Insurance policies were the original Terms of Service.

Insurance remains a manual process. Zach Witte saw room for improvement. As he compared multiple documents one day, he began to wonder if an AI tool could streamline Dana's claims review process. Both Zach and Geoff experimented with early versions of ChatGPT for personal tasks. Using ChatGPT to plan a family vacation to Italy opened Zach's eyes to what AI could do to simplify logistics.

Zach suspected AI was capable*, "But we didn't know exactly what it could do."* That's when the Universe offered guidance. "I happened to be on LinkedIn one day and saw Ryan (Kurt) with the AI Lab. I saw Ryan's post about his new venture." That new venture was the AI Lab.

The AI Lab is a hybrid between a matchmaker and a think tank, advising C-Suite execs on the most effective strategies for implementing AI in their business. Zach came to the AI Lab for answers to three questions that only the insurance industry would understand.

1. Can this tool compare two policies side-by-side in a language the average person understands?
2. Can it tell us what other coverages we can try?
3. Can it help me summarize a policy?

The answer to all three questions was "yes".

EXPERTISE
There's an anecdote in the DVD commentary for ARMAGEDDON. You may recall the 1998 blockbuster where NASA launches a team of oil drillers alongside astronauts to land on an asteroid, drill deep into its core, embed a nuclear weapon and blow the asteroid in two. Ben Affleck notes that he asked director Michael Bay, "Why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts, then it would be to train astronauts as oil drillers? And he told me to 'shut the f*** up.'"

Zach referenced this scene to illustrate the difficulty conveying insurance to software developers, "They weren't insurance experts. We would have to tell (software developers) how to build the tool." The dynamic has reversed. The experts know how to develop. Whether they're the astronauts or drillers in this paradigm remains unclear.

At a conference in Las Vegas hosted by the company responsible for Dana's internal systems, Zach noticed a heavy focus on AI. The vendor announced they would roll out their own internal AI chatbot system, for the charge of $75,000 a year. The price tag gave Zach pause, "It's an employee's salary just to pay for a service like this."

When Zach returned from Vegas, he and Geoff called the AI Lab. "I asked, maybe this is too futuristic to ask, but can I drop in two PDFs and the tool will read every single line?" The AI Lab suggested they try Claude. "That was when I started with a blank page, zero technology experience," Zach noted, "and a couple hundred hours later, we're where we are now." They signed up for $30 a month.

Instead of comparing policies by reviewing 300-page documents side-by-side, AI helped Zach accurately summarize policy declarations to argue a claim on behalf of their clients. Zach recounts, "They're (the carrier) denying under this coverage, but you (AI tool) know what other coverages we can use?" When he checked the tool's work, he was impressed that AI provided the correct answer.

BUILDING THE TOOL
AI is often framed as the evolution in software. That misconception clouded Zach's initial use. Claude was different.

"It (the tool) started with me telling (Claude) what we needed, but it (the tool) never looked the way I wanted. So I changed my approach, where my prompts started." Through this back and forth, Zach discovered that Claude would not do the work for him. He would have to manage Claude, "I have zero technology experience, but I'm very confident in asking dumb questions."

Claude was closer to a personal assistant than Microsoft Office, "Here's what I'm trying to do. Help me get there." With each question, the desired product came sharper into focus. "If I were to go back and read all my conversations with it, there's zero coding language. It's all in English. Coding is another language that I don't speak."

Claude offers the layperson what's eluded us since the dawn of the Information Age: translation. AI interfaces with us in conversation, but interfaces with our systems through code.

Claude served as an interpreter. It's similar to if Zach were dictating a press release for translation into Mandarin Chinese. You have to trust that this go-between is translating your thoughts accurately. Trial and error establishes trust.

The AI Lab offered the Dana Company what clients typically want: tutorials teaching companies how to work with AI Tools. However, they advise a more practical approach. Zach notes that Ryan advised him to experiment with the tech, "You're going to learn a lot more if I don't show you anything, and you come back to me in three months."

Geoff Matlock empowered Zach to use his creativity to build a tool that would serve the Dana Company and its clients. Another misconception about AI is that it's a genie that does all the work you want while you sit in a hammock crushing mai tais. Zach can attest that's not true, "I wanted to throw the computer out the window. But when I came back to Ryan and Anca for our first session, I had built up the system to the point where I could honestly ask, hey, am I doing this right?"

The AI Lab confirmed that he was. Better yet, the process he discovered is exactly what the AI Lab would have shown him. "With zero help or knowledge writing code, Claude helped me generate something that takes away the monotony of everyday work life."

CLIENT BENEFIT
The internal AI tool Zach had developed didn't replace an employee. The Dana Company working with the AI Lab led them to building a bespoke tool on Claude. The tool saved the Dana Company an add-on cost. More importantly, the tool allowed Zach and Geoff to focus on what matters most: the customers.

"AI is allowing us to do things I've always wanted to do," Geoff noted. The tool generated a comprehensive claims and loss analysis for Geoff to present customers. The tool searched Dana's records for every claim, every premium and returned a full breakdown on one sheet. "I couldn't do that before. I would have had to hire another employee just to provide that service for a customer, to help them understand what they're purchasing…and what underwriters will see when they look at their history."

The system benefits customers and salespeople alike by accomplishing tasks the Dana Company lacked the manpower to accomplish before. "My favorite part of what we're doing is rolling out new features to help us become better agents for customers."

How does the tool streamline their work process? If a client is dissatisfied with their current carrier, the Dana Company reaches out to five other carriers for quotes. Those quotes are bundled into a presentation. Compiling that information and generating that report used to take a full afternoon. The Senior Account Manager was impressed that the tool generated the company's first multi-carrier comparison. The tool can review up to 2000 pages of documents and create a six page document that was client facing in 15 minutes. Instead of keying in numbers, the Account Manager could audit the report as Claude put it together. Employees are free to serve customers if they call in or respond quicker to email.

Ironically, this massive technological leap has made business more personal.

THE PERSONAL TOUCH
Everyone wants to do the job they were hired to perform. The ever changing nature of business adjusts the scope and intent of a given position. Shakeups like the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic forced companies to do more with less. Tasks befitting multiple jobs would fall on a single employee. Soon, the 40 hour week requires 60 hours of labor to complete. Even as hiring picked up, the expanded scope remained. The promise of an AI Tool is a heightened focus on the core of your occupation.

For the Insurance Industry, and the Dana Company, that focus is people. Insurance is a business of personal trust. This AI Tool has made Geoff Matlock and Zach Witte more available to clients. This development closes the gap created by online forms, chatbots, and automated call agents over the past 15 years. When the phone rings, Insurance Agents will be free to pick it up and have a five minute phone call instead of an email correspondence.

Direct communication is possible once again. Geoff Matlock understands this reason, "People don't want to do business with a computer. They want to do business with humans." To demonstrate his point, he explains that 10 years ago independent insurance agents believed that by 2026, insurance would be purchased exclusively online. That hasn't come to pass.

Why? Because people want a personal connection. That motivated Geoff to authorize Zach's development of the AI Tool for the Dana Company, "I'm hopeful that in ten years, we're answering a whole lot of phone calls."

AN ENGINE FOR GROWTH
Since rolling out the Dana Company's AI Tool, the technology has benefitted both Zach and Geoff. Professionally, Geoff has been impressed watching Zach thrive within the company as he streamlines operations. For Zach, the freedom to create, refine and instruct coworkers in using the company's in-house AI tool has been rewarding. Importantly, they have not forced the tool upon employees. They hold voluntary training sessions every Friday for anyone curious about the tech's potential.

Personally, AI has been fulfilling to Zach. "People keep swinging by my desk. People keep emailing me, "Hey, can it do this?" The rise in stature has given Zach more confidence in the office and allows him to be present at home. There, his son tells him what commands to plug into Claude so it may design a game for them to play together. To see your thoughts come to life, "is something you can be proud of." Tapping into his creativity has driven personal and professional growth.

CLEANER COMMUNICATION
The technological shift AI is bringing is presented through a dystopian lens. For Zach Witte, Geoff Matlock and the Dana Company, AI represents something positive. It's a tool that improves the work they do, and allows for clearer communication with clients.

AI is a tool. Zach Witte and Geoff Matlock are using it for good. This story is emblematic of what the AI Lab has been seeing every single day. There are two kinds of AI adoption.

1. Efficiency AI
2. Opportunity AI

Efficiency AI makes what you do faster and cheaper, but the edge only lasts until everyone adopts the same tools.

Opportunity AI explores what a company can do that it couldn't do before?

Improving margins is not the same as growth. You can only cut so much, but providing new services for bonus customer value? That compounds growth.

The Dana Company story is a clear example of Opportunity AI. Geoff lacked the manpower to offer clients a full claims and loss analysis before. AI made a previously impossible service possible.

It's a new product line that retains customers and earns referrals. Efficiency AI protects what you have. Opportunity AI allows you to expand what's possible. It's how businesses do more with more.