Software program catching on with insurers

St. Peter’s grad co-founds company while attending college in Boston

A former St. Peter’s Secondary School student is making inroads in the insurance and software industries while he finishes post-secondary school in Boston.

Cameron Jacox, 20, is one of three partners behind the JacoxHilton Corp., a company that created a software program that helps insurance companies organize their client database.

Jacox said he got his start in business in Peterborough. When he was 13 a friend gave him $100 to invest, so Jacox made his way to Money Managers on Simcoe St.

Eventually that turned into a high school job and Jacox took his first few steps into big business.

He’s currently a student at Babson College and said he has one year left before he completes his program.

Jacox met business partner and fellow student James Hilton at Babson.

Banking on Jacox’s experience in insurance Jacox, Hilton and Karan Kanodia developed a program, life assist, which searches an insurance company’s database for expired, lapsed or problematic policies.

Companies can then use that information to offer clients better rates or policies and increase its sales.

“It essentially helps them manage their clients,” Jacox said.

So far, he said, the industry has been receptive.

The company is based in Mississauga, but Jacox spends a lot of time in Boston.

He also travels throughout Canada talking to companies about his software. He said the company is trying to expand into the United States.

He acknowledged that juggling school and a business can be a little tricky.

With a laugh, he joked that his grades during his first year at Babson were a little better than they are now.

“But it’s OK,” he said. “It’s sort of a trade off.”