Next Insurance Names Melanie Chase As CMO And Effi Fuks Leichtag As CPO

By Noah Long ● Nov 21, 2019
  • Next Insurance has named former Fitbit executive Melanie Chase as Chief Marketing Officer and former Yelp executive Effi Fuks Leichtag as Chief Product Officer

Next Insurance — a leading digital insurance tech company transforming small business insurance — announced the appointment of former Fitbit executive Melanie Chase as Chief Marketing Officer and former Yelp executive Effi Fuks Leichtag as Chief Product Officer.

How does Next Insurance work? Next Insurance provides digital small business insurance coverage across the US and is upending the traditional industry model by enabling businesses to acquire all P&C insurance products in one place and at any time. And Next Insurance provides insurance coverage to over 1,000 unique types of business with policies that are tailored to their needs, simple to understand, and affordable.

This news comes on the heels of Next Insurance raising $250 million at a $1 billion valuation in October. Along with these hires, Next Insurance is embarking on a strategic hiring journey to bring onboard world-class executive talent that will take the company growth to new heights.

“We’ve come a long way and we’re just getting started,” said Next Insurance co-founder and CEO Guy Goldstein. “We are striving for excellence here at Next Insurance and we believe a large part of that is bringing onboard new executive talent with proven success to help take our growth to the next level. We are extremely excited to be welcoming Melanie and Effi to the team, both of whom bring with them a vast amount of experience and knowledge, and I look forward to working closely with them both.”

At Fitbit, Chase held the role of Vice President of Marketing where she spent the past 6 years developing the company into one of the world’s premier health and fitness brands. And Chase brings many years of experience in high-growth consumer electronics and software marketing, brand building, advertising, and product strategy. Chase started out working in marketing at General Mills and Clorox where she worked on major CPG brands. And in her role as Chief Marketing Officer at Next Insurance, Chase will oversee the company’s marketing brand, strategy, and operations.

“I’m proud to be joining a company committed to supporting America’s small business. Next has already built a great service that customers love. Now it’s time to accelerate the company’s growth and make Next a household name,” explained Chase.

Leichtag was most recently the Vice President of Product Management at Yelp where he managed the company’s overall consumers’ growth, core products, search, personalization, and other key initiatives. And Leichtag started his career in product management at Kifi (acquired by Google) before serving as Chief Operations and Product Officer at Complete Labs. Plus  Leichtag founded and led the product management teams in several other startups such as ExPOS and Fribiz. Effi also holds a Major Rank in the Israeli Artillery Corps where he commanded and trained various field units throughout his 6 years of active duty. As Chief Product Officer, Leichtag will oversee Next Insurance’s product management and design.

“Next Insurance’s innovative insurance products are changing the game for small businesses and independent traders across hundreds of classes of business,” commented Leichtag. “I am honored to be given the opportunity to take Next’s product offering to the next level.”

Next Insurance was launched in 2016 by a group of serial entrepreneurs in Palo Alto. Since being founded, Next Insurance has raised a total of $381 million from MunichRe, Redpoint Ventures, Nationwide, Markel, American Express Ventures, Ribbit Capital, TLV Partners, Group 11, and Zeev Ventures.