Fenris Expands Sales and Promotes Data Science Leadership as Demand for Real-Time Intelligence Grows
Richmond, VA. — October 28, 2026 — Fenris, a provider of real-time insurance data and predictive intelligence, has welcomed two experienced insurance sales leaders to its team and promoted Dylan Blanchard to Head of Data Science, reflecting a period of both new talent and internal growth.
Chris van Roden has joined as Director of Strategic Accounts, and Mike Balaschi has joined Fenris as Director of Sales. They join Michael Toy, who recently completed his sixth year at Fenris and has grown from Sales Associate to Director of Sales during that time, helping build the company’s growth capabilities. Together, they expand Fenris’s reach across carriers, managing general agencies (MGAs), agencies, and platforms as demand for real-time prefill and predictive intelligence accelerates.
The expansion arrives as insurance technology enters a period of rapid growth. According to Technavio research, the insurtech marketing and distribution segment reached 12.68 billion dollars in 2024, and the broader market is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 44 percent through 2030. Data-driven distribution sits at the center of that growth, and demand for the real-time intelligence that powers it continues to rise.
“Mike and Chris have great experience grounded in insurance data and built on years of trusted enterprise relationships,” said Jen Linton, CEO of Fenris. “Their combined background across property data, lead intelligence, and strategic account leadership positions us to serve a growing customer base with the depth and care those relationships deserve. And seeing Michael and Dylan grow into leadership roles here shows the strength of the team we’ve built from within.”
Van Roden brings more than 15 years of enterprise selling experience across the insurance and financial services sectors. He joins Fenris from Verisk Marketing Solutions, where he spent eight years in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Director of Market Development and Strategic Accounts, managing the largest enterprise accounts across insurance and banking. His background includes deep experience with consumer journey and lead intelligence data through Jornaya, giving him a strong command of how data drives decisioning across the customer lifecycle.
Balaschi brings more than two decades of experience across insurance data and analytics. He joins Fenris from DataSearch, the property-data consultancy he founded and led for nine years, specializing in property risk, exposure, and characteristics data for the property and casualty (P&C) market. Earlier, he spent six years as a Senior Account Executive at CoreLogic, working with carriers, brokers, and MGAs on property underwriting and hazard risk data. His earlier career spans data, analytics, and financial services roles at SpatialKey, Fidelity Investments, and JPMorgan.
Blanchard steps into the Head of Data Science role after five years at Fenris. He has led the development of Fenris’s suite of predictive algorithms and its autonomous model retraining platform, the technology that powers real-time decisions from the first bid on a lead to the renewal conversation, helping customers lower acquisition costs, bind more policies, and keep their best customers, powered by Fenris data and intelligence. In his new role, he will lead the data science team and the continued development of Fenris Predictive Insights, a powerful tool that provides insurers with critical lead and buyer insights throughout the policy lifecycle.
These changes come during a period of steady product expansion for Fenris, including a recently expanded Property Data Suite spanning building characteristics, hazards and perils, and replacement cost intelligence. Together, Balaschi, van Roden, Toy, and Blanchard strengthen the teams responsible for building that intelligence and bringing it to carriers, MGAs, agencies, and platforms modernizing their intake, underwriting, and distribution workflows.
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About Fenris
Fenris provides real-time data enrichment and predictive intelligence through a suite of APIs that deliver quality information about individuals, households, vehicles, properties, and businesses. Insurers, MGAs, agencies, and platforms use Fenris intelligence to improve automation, decision-making, and customer experiences.