Kalepa Appoints Audrey Howell as Head of Product

WHY THIS MATTERS
Kalepa’s appointment of Audrey Howell reflects the growing importance of AI-driven underwriting in the insurance sector, where decision-making is becoming increasingly data-intensive, real-time and risk-sensitive. Insurers are under pressure to improve underwriting accuracy, manage portfolio risk more dynamically and drive profitability in a complex regulatory environment—making advanced AI platforms a critical differentiator.

Howell’s background in highly regulated, high-stakes industries such as healthcare and defence highlights a key trend: insurance is converging with other sectors where trust, explainability and precision in AI are essential. As underwriting shifts from manual processes to intelligent, data-led systems, product leadership becomes central to ensuring these tools deliver measurable outcomes while meeting compliance standards. This appointment signals Kalepa’s intent to accelerate innovation and deepen its role within insurers’ core decision-making workflows.

Kalepa, the leader in Professional Grade AI for insurance underwriting, today announced the appointment of Audrey Howell as Head of Product. In this role, Howell will lead Kalepa’s product vision and strategy, driving innovation and AI advancements across the platform to deliver the automation, risk intelligence, and portfolio steering that insurers rely on to grow premium profitably.

Howell brings more than a decade of product leadership experience building technology products in complex, highly regulated industries. At Palantir Technologies, she spent five years delivering mission-critical data platforms to some of the world’s most demanding organizations – building deep expertise in products that transform how professionals make high-stakes decisions using large-scale data. 

She then joined Butterfly Network (NYSE: BFLY), rising from Product Manager to Vice President of Product, where she led teams across all aspects of product development, including mobile, clinical imaging, and AI application development, shipping FDA-regulated AI products that brought affordable ultrasound technology to clinicians worldwide. Most recently, she served as Head of Product at Deep Origin, building an integrated software platform for drug discovery.

Howell holds a Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics from Duke University and a B.S. in Biology from Brown University, and completed postdoctoral research at Stanford University.

“Audrey is a rare product leader – deep technical expertise combined with a proven ability to ship products that drive measurable outcomes in some of the most exacting and regulated environments,” said Paul Monasterio, CEO of Kalepa. “She has consistently built products that professionals trust to make the highest-stakes decisions in defense, healthcare, and now risk. That is exactly what we do at Kalepa, and we’re thrilled to have her lead our product organization.”

“Kalepa is already trusted by the leading insurers to strengthen underwriting performance and drive profitable growth – and I see a tremendous opportunity to accelerate Kalepa’s penetration across the insurance value chain,” said Audrey Howell, Head of Product at Kalepa. “I’m excited to partner with Paul, Danny, and the team to build the tools that will define the future of insurance.”

FF NEWS TAKE
This is less about a single hire and more about where underwriting is heading. Kalepa is positioning itself at the intersection of AI, data and decision intelligence—areas that are becoming central to how insurers compete.

Bringing in a leader with experience building regulated AI products suggests a focus on trust and real-world deployment, not just experimentation. As insurers look to embed AI deeper into their operations, platforms that can combine automation with explainability and control will have a clear advantage. Kalepa’s move indicates it wants to be one of those core systems shaping how risk is assessed and priced in the future.