Senior strategic advisory

Powering what's next for financial services, insurance & technology leaders.

OpticIntel is the senior sounding board for leaders facing their most consequential decisions — technology investments, transformation programs, growth bets, and the strategic moves that define the next chapter.

Founded by

Greg McCutcheon — Former Managing Director of Verisk Canada and President of Opta Information Intelligence. 30 years leading digital transformation across Canadian insurance and financial services, including the 2022 sale of Opta to Verisk (NASDAQ: VRSK).

If any of this sounds like your week, we should talk.

OpticIntel works with a specific kind of leader — the one who's been handed the hardest decision in the room and needs an experienced voice beside them. You may recognize yourself in one of these.

Insurance & financial services

You're weighing a major technology investment and the stakes are high.

Core systems, underwriting platforms, data strategy, analytics, AI. You need someone who's actually built these systems in this industry — not a deck-wielding generalist — to pressure-test the decision before you commit.

Growth-stage technology

You're scaling a product and preparing for the next funding stage.

Product direction needs sharpening, go-to-market is fuzzy, and your investors want a story they can believe. You need a strategic advisor who's lived the operator side and can help you get the narrative, the roadmap, and the readiness in order.

Private equity

You inherited a portfolio company and the value creation plan needs teeth.

The thesis is there on paper. Now you need someone inside the business who understands PE pressures, can translate strategy into execution, and won't need six months to get up to speed. OpticIntel has lived inside PE-backed organizations for most of a career.

Executives & boards

You need a senior sounding board who's actually been in the seat.

Some decisions are too big for your internal team and too nuanced for a traditional consulting engagement. You want a trusted, confidential advisor who's run the business, sold the business, and will give you the honest read.

Senior-level advisory where it matters most.

Every engagement is tailored. These are the areas where OpticIntel adds the most — backed by three decades of first-hand experience.

01 — Technology & Transformation

Technology strategy & digital transformation

Clarity on what to invest in, what to retire, and how to sequence the work. We help you modernize without the noise — pressure-testing roadmaps, evaluating vendors, and making sure the work actually lands.

  • Modernization roadmaps
  • Platform selection
  • Vendor evaluation
  • Program assurance
02 — Insurance & Financial Services

Insurance & financial services innovation

Deep expertise for insurers, brokers, MGAs, and insurtechs. From underwriting and analytics to product design, partnerships, and the operating model changes that separate leaders from laggards.

  • Underwriting strategy
  • Data & analytics
  • Insurtech partnerships
  • Operating model
03 — Startup & Growth Stage

Startup & growth-stage strategy

Practical strategic advice for technology companies ready to scale. Refining product direction, sharpening go-to-market, building investor-ready narratives, and preparing for the next funding stage.

  • Product strategy
  • Go-to-market
  • Fundraise readiness
  • Investor positioning
04 — Private Equity

Private-equity value creation

Operational advisory for PE-backed portfolio companies and deal teams. Focused on the strategic levers that move enterprise value — and, when the time comes, position the business for its next chapter.

  • Value creation planning
  • 100-day plans
  • Operational due diligence
  • Exit readiness
05 — Executive Advisory

Executive & board-level support

Ongoing counsel for CEOs and leadership teams navigating complexity. A confidential, experienced voice in the room — not a report on your desk — available when the decisions that matter land on your agenda.

  • CEO advisory
  • Board support
  • Strategic offsites
  • Decision reviews
06 — Fractional Leadership

Interim & fractional executive roles

When you need senior leadership capacity in the business itself — on an interim, fractional, or part-time basis — to lead a critical initiative, steady a transition, or bridge to a permanent hire.

  • Interim executive
  • Fractional CSO / COO
  • Transformation lead
  • Transition bridging

Not just another consulting firm — your strategic partner.

We keep things simple. Senior people. Straight talk. Plain-language strategy you can actually act on.

Most consulting engagements fail for one of three reasons: the advisor doesn't know the industry, the advice doesn't survive contact with reality, or nobody senior enough actually shows up. OpticIntel solves all three.

You work directly with a principal who has run businesses in your industry, scaled them through private equity, and exited to strategic acquirers. No layers, no rotating junior teams, no recycled playbooks — just the clarity and recommendation you actually need.

"I hate to take an axe to a problem when you can use a scalpel or a laser beam."
  • 01

    Senior perspective, always

    Every engagement is led personally by Greg. You get 30 years of judgment in the room — not a slide deck prepared by someone else.

  • 02

    Industry depth, not theory

    Thirty years inside insurance, financial services, and technology. If we're advising on the space, we've operated in it.

  • 03

    Private-equity fluency

    Real understanding of the pressures, timelines, and value-creation mechanics inside PE-backed organizations. Earned, not read about.

  • 04

    Clarity over complexity

    No jargon. No shelfware. The deliverable is a decision you trust and a path you can take on Monday morning.

Thirty years of powering what's next in insurance, data & financial services.

Greg McCutcheon

Founder & Principal

  • 30+ years in financial services & insurance
  • Former Managing Director, Verisk Canada
  • Former President, Opta Information Intelligence
  • Former President, SCM Risk Management Services
  • Introduced iClarify™ to the Canadian insurance market (2009)
  • Led Opta through acquisition by Verisk (NASDAQ: VRSK), 2022
  • Top 30 Most Innovative Business Leaders — Insights Success, 2017
  • BAH, History & Politics — Queen's University

Greg has spent 30 years leading digital transformation across Canadian insurance and financial services. As President of Opta Information Intelligence, he grew the business into Canada's largest property data aggregator — serving every major Canadian P&C insurer — before leading its 2022 sale to Verisk (NASDAQ: VRSK), where he continued as Managing Director of Verisk Canada.

He's a recognized leader in property intelligence, data, analytics, and insurance technology. In 2009 he introduced iClarify™ to the Canadian insurance market — a solution that set a new benchmark for insurance-to-value (ITV) accuracy and desktop property validation, and remains an industry standard today. His impact earned recognition as one of the Top 30 Most Innovative Business Leaders by Insights Success in 2017.

Much of Greg's career has been spent inside private-equity-backed organizations — which means he's lived the pressures, the pace, and the strategic trade-offs that growth-stage companies actually face. He founded OpticIntel to bring that experience to a wider set of leaders, on their terms.

A career timeline
1997 Industry entry

Enters Canadian P&C insurance

The first of three hard markets navigated over a 30-year career.

2000s Leadership

President, SCM Risk Management Services

~7 years leading risk and information services for Canadian P&C insurers.

2017 Recognition

Top 30 Most Innovative Business Leaders

Recognized by Insights Success magazine for impact on data and analytics in insurance.

A trusted voice on Canadian insurance, data & analytics.

Across his career, Greg has been a regular contributor to industry conversations on AI, underwriting, hard markets, and the future of property intelligence.

Canadian Underwriter Feature

Data to the rescue: predicting the winners and losers in a hard market

A featured interview on how advanced analytics separate the insurers that thrive in hard markets from those that don't — drawing on lessons from three hard markets across Greg's career.

Read article
Canadian Underwriter Industry

How AI is changing the landscape of Canadian pre-fill data

On training computer vision models to recognize building structure, occupancy, and construction features — and what that means for the future of underwriting in Canada.

Read article
Insurance CIO Outlook Cover feature

Comprehensive solutions for geocoded property intelligence

A magazine cover feature on Opta as Canada's largest aggregator of property data — covering over 10 million residential and 2 million commercial properties.

Read article
Canadian Underwriter Industry

How to make tenant insurance applications more user-friendly

On rethinking insurance application design from the consumer's perspective — and where the industry is finally catching up to the user experience expectations of digital-first customers.

Read article
Canadian Underwriter Industry

What's contributing to rising reconstruction costs in Canada?

An interview on lumber inflation, supply chain disruption, and the cascading impact on insurance-to-value calculations across Canadian property portfolios.

Read article
Canadian Underwriter Announcement

Opta and Risk Management Services combine forces

Coverage of the operational integration that strengthened Opta's nationwide field services capability — and laid the foundation for what would later become Verisk Canada.

Read article
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2017
Top 30 Most Innovative Business Leaders
Insights Success magazine
2016
Innovator of the Year
Insurance Nexus — Canadian Insurance Analytics Conference
2016
Most critical service provider
FC Business Intelligence — Future of Canadian Insurance

What to expect.

What does a first conversation look like?

An informal 30-minute call. You describe the situation; we give you an honest read on whether OpticIntel is the right fit — and if we're not, we'll often point you to someone who is. No deck, no proposal, no obligation.

Who do you typically work with?

Canadian insurers, brokers, MGAs, and insurtechs; PE-backed companies in financial services and technology; growth-stage tech companies preparing for their next funding round; and CEOs or boards who want a senior advisor on call. Most engagements are with organizations in North America.

How are engagements structured and priced?

Project work is scoped up front with a fixed fee or a clearly-defined range. Advisory retainers are priced monthly based on the time block you need. Fractional roles are structured as part-time engagements on typical consulting day rates. We'll walk through the options in the first call.

Do you work alone or with a team?

Every engagement is personally led by Greg. When specialists are genuinely useful — a data scientist, a specific functional expert, a designer — we bring them in from a trusted network. You'll always know who's doing the work.

Is OpticIntel a replacement for a larger consulting firm?

Not for every need. Large firms are right when you need deep benches and implementation muscle. OpticIntel is right when you need senior judgment, industry fluency, and a trusted advisor for the decisions that define the next chapter. The two often work alongside each other well.

Will you sign an NDA?

Always. Confidentiality is foundational to this kind of work. Happy to sign yours, or provide ours, before the first substantive conversation.

Weighing a decision, planning a transformation, or thinking about what's next?

Every engagement starts with a conversation. Tell us about the opportunity — we'll tell you honestly whether OpticIntel is the right fit.

Greg@opticintel.ca

OpticIntel · Oakville, Ontario · Serving clients across North America.