Sarah Barrett is the Chief of Staff at Hippo Insurance. Hippo is a technology-driven home insurance company. Sarah has spent five years there across innovation, operations, and leadership roles. Her work has focused on creating new coverages, endorsements, and insurance products for homeowners. She looks for ways to bring new devices and technology into home insurance. Her background pairs deep scientific expertise with practical product development. Sarah spoke at a past InsurTechNY event.
Sarah joined Hippo as Senior Manager of Insurance Innovation. She later served as Director of MGA Operations. She was named Chief of Staff in 2025. Across these roles she has helped build and launch new insurance products.
Before Hippo, Sarah spent nearly six years at Swiss Re. She began as a graduate earthquake specialist, developing the reinsurer’s internal earthquake models. She advanced to Assistant Vice President in Catastrophe and Perils. She later became a Vice President and Senior Product Manager in Public Sector Solutions. There she structured parametric natural catastrophe solutions for earthquake and tropical cyclone risk. Her team’s work included the 2018 Pacific Alliance Catastrophe Bond, one of the largest sovereign risk transfers ever completed.
Sarah is a trained scientist. She holds a PhD in Geophysics and Seismology from Stanford University. She also earned an MS and a bachelor’s degree in Geosciences from Penn State University. She was the first student there to complete the integrated BS/MS Geosciences program.
