“Unifying all to help others in need is what excites me!” — An interview with Hunter Powell, CEO of MADSKY and CodeBlue

MADSKY & CodeBlue together offer a unique and innovative set of whole-home claims management and restoration solutions. By unifying all parties in the claims and restoration process, the firm delivers a new standard of customer service that helps homeowners get back to what matters in their lives faster than ever. The company pioneered its First Notice and Response (“FNAR”) service and built out the fastest, most-accurate claims and restoration process leveraging expert involvement and active claims management. MADSKY and CodeBlue merged in October 2020 led by Aquiline Capital Partners.

In this interview Hunter Powell shares his personal values, his vision on leadership, and the difference that MADSKY and CodeBlue make for their customers and for the claim management field.

Tell us a few things about you.

I’m a husband and a father. I believe that family is always first; it is what drives my passion and purpose for our company. Having experienced a water loss when I was out of town and my wife was at home with our two kids, I know the duress that claims come with. I know the challenge of trying to make a decision on something technical that you know nothing about, and I know the feeling of needing help. When I think about what’s most important to me, it’s so beautifully circular. It’s my family: my wife and my kids, and the opportunity to make a positive impact on someone else’s life in a time of duress. This is what drives me each and every day. I’m a blessed man.

 What is your strongest belief?

I believe that love conquers fear. And that statement is beautifully applied to our business. When you’re in a fearful situation and your most prized asset is damaged, and someone wants to tear it off or you don’t trust the advice you’re given, it needs love, you need to be cared for. And that is exactly what we’re here for. And that’s what we do so differently at this company, caring for the homeowner throughout, and delivering trust, comfort, and expertise. 

We are unifying all parties to help that human in duress. Love clearly conquers fear in that situation.

You have this quote in your email signature “Your belief is stronger than your doubt”. What does it mean to you?

It’s funny, I got it from a Peloton instructor (shout out to Alex Toussaint) and I love it because it mirrors my belief that love is greater than fear. If you believe in yourself, and you model your beliefs being stronger than your doubts, then it becomes “contagious” and helps people around you feel inspired, not just motivated.

A huge part of being a leader is that focus on the vision, the belief in what you’re doing and an unwavering ability to stay there and fight off doubt. We all have doubts, and we all have fears. But do we want to live in a world where those are dominating us or do we want to live in a world where we are guided by beliefs? I think I know the answer.

 How does this belief translate into how CodeBlue | MADSKY operates?

I hope it perforates down into how we lead and exert judgment in care and support of others. If you’re guided by the belief that we should always do the right thing and that service is defined as care and compassion in balance with capability, then I think you can positively impact the lives of others in need as you’ll innately respond to adverse circumstances with goodness, grace and mercy — traits that will change the game.

One of the things I talk about a lot with my executive coach is that you’ve got to have a strong core belief system to defend against all of the fear and the adversity out there. Belief in who we are as a business and who we are as individuals is first and foremost. You can’t lead others until you lead yourself, and yours truly is on a continuous journey of evolving as a leader. I know who I am — I’m a husband and a father, I’m a lover not a hater, I fundamentally believe in doing what’s right, I find joy in caring for others, and I believe everyone deserves grace. You’ve got to have those five or six things that really define you to help you go out into the world and be your best. How it impacts our business is simple: our values define our culture and our outcomes. When you serve people in need — anchoring to goodness, grace and mercy is so good!

How would you describe the vision for the merged company?

The one word I would say is unity. That’s what I keep coming back to. Bringing all of the stakeholders in this business, unified into a focus on one purpose, which is helping a human in need, is really what’s exciting to me. Because when you think of that unity, what’s the one thing everybody has in common? We all buy insurance. You can’t live in America and drive a car, own a home, or do almost anything without having insurance. And we all put financial capital into that transaction. 

But sometimes people don’t see the value because they don’t feel cared for. And when claims happen, this is the true test of a relationship, and there’s a lot of forces that can make that an adversarial outcome and process versus one built on trust and comfort and care. So, if we can unify together as humans caring for others in need, then we can really impact our community.

What does the merger of MADSKY and CodeBlue mean for the company, for your customers, and for the industry?

It gives stability to all of our stakeholders by diversifying our client base, our contractor networks and our service offerings. We can achieve our purpose more so now than ever before as our whole-home offering enables a broader range of opportunities to serve others in need. This means there are more growth opportunities for our contracting partners as well — year round! By expanding and having full-blown solutions, we now offer a much broader depth of capability which also enables us to serve our carrier partners on a broader level.

Financially, we are very sound. We capitalized the company for growth, and we have a lot of room to invest in support of our vision.

MADSKY and CodeBlue share the same purpose and the same belief system that underlies everything we do, and that, again, goes back to unification. It goes to trust and care and compassion, but it also goes to delivering the right outcome every time. We actively manage our claims differently than our competitors — both of these companies do. We didn’t acquire a legacy model and a new model. We put two new innovative models together that perfectly align. We really poured gasoline on our core ethos, and are tapping into a broader innovative spirit across the organizations as we seek to positively impact people’s lives each and every day.