Insurify Taps Former KAYAK AI Lead Jake Bouvrie as First Chief AI Officer

Bouvrie arrives with a background in computational neuroscience, having earned his PhD at MIT under the mentorship of AI pioneer Tomaso Poggio. His remit at Insurify includes driving conversational shopping, refining customer-carrier matching, and establishing governance frameworks for model ethics and privacy. Co-CEO Giorgos Zacharia, who previously collaborated with Bouvrie at both MIT and KAYAK, noted that the company intends to launch its first agentic insurance shopping experience before the end of the year.

The appointment deepens a significant talent pipeline between KAYAK and Insurify, with Bouvrie becoming the 27th alumnus of the travel search giant to join the company’s ranks. Prior to this role, Bouvrie led AI and R&D efforts at Nestlé and served as the head of AI and data science at Gradient AI, where he focused on underwriting and risk analytics. His arrival is part of a broader strategy to replace traditional comparison tools with an AI-native infrastructure, aiming to simplify the notoriously complex process of purchasing insurance coverage.