Lloyd ’07: “A Great Story to Tell”

The Institute was a natural fit for Mike Lloyd ’07.

While at VMI, he first envisioned his career journey—one that led him to earn graduate degrees at two of the nation’s most prestigious universities and co-found Corvus Insurance, a cyber insurance company, which was acquired by the Travelers Companies, Inc. early last year for $435 million.

Lloyd, who came to VMI on a soccer scholarship, originally committed to play soccer at the University of Michigan, but one visit to the Institute changed his mind. “As I was walking around post, I felt that it was just such a different experience,” said Lloyd. “And I frankly told myself if I hated it, I could always transfer to a school like Michigan, and if I loved it, it’d be a great story to tell someday.”

Not only did Lloyd love it, he also thrived. Matriculating from Saline, Michigan, Lloyd excelled as a cadet-athlete, becoming a Three-Legged Stool Award recipient. He also soared academically and was the valedictorian of his class. “I loved it from the beginning,” he explained. “I know that a lot of people don’t necessarily share that opinion, but it was very clear what you needed to do to be successful.”

Taking notice of his talents was Matthew Hyre, Ph.D., a professor of mechanical engineering at VMI during Lloyd’s cadetship, who encouraged Lloyd to pursue a master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lloyd was at first incredulous at the idea, but he credits Hyre’s and other faculty’s support for guiding him through the rest of his cadetship and beyond.

“[Hyre] was instrumental. He went to MIT for his Ph.D., and he was the one who said, ‘Hey, I think you could get in if you wanted to.’ Meanwhile, I grew up in a small town and didn’t know one person who went to MIT. My parents didn’t go to college, let alone a school like MIT. So, it was something where I thought, ‘If someone who went there thinks I could get in and thrive, I should at least try.’ I did all of his advice and was fortunate to get in.”

Mike Lloyd ’07 introduces his daughters to the Institute at his 15th Reunion.—Photos courtesy Lloyd.

At MIT, Lloyd became interested in technology startups and found his passion for entrepreneurship. “I became obsessed with being an entrepreneur. In my opinion, entrepreneurship is a great career choice for people who want to move the world, and that is what I wanted to do.”

Like VMI cadetship and engineering, starting his own company complemented Lloyd’s intrinsic characteristics and skills—many of which he says were honed at the Institute. At the core of entrepreneurship, he explained, are hard work, innovation, and leadership. “[Entrepreneurship] really resonated with me; I like to work hard, I like to take smart risks, I am comfortable with uncertainty, and I like to lead more than follow,” said Lloyd.

After graduating from MIT in 2010, he worked for two startup companies in big data. Two years later, Lloyd began work on a Master of Business Administration degree at Harvard Business School.

After graduating from Harvard in 2015, Lloyd was introduced to Phil Edmundson, a longtime insurance executive and his eventual Corvus co-founder, who was looking to build a new company focused on cyber insurance. Lloyd was excited by the opportunity and the realm of insurance. “Insurance is a societal good. If you were to remove insurance from the world, people would not be as bold, and the velocity of the economy would significantly slow down,” said Lloyd.

Corvus provides cyber insurance for businesses in the U.S. and Europe. Founded in a climate of increasing cyber risk, Corvus grew quickly by responding to heavy market demand with comprehensive cyber coverage and a suite of preventative solutions.

On the tech side of the company, which was largely Lloyd’s focus, Corvus developed a unique program to assess a company’s risk of suffering a cyberattack. It detects what is seen publicly on a website regarding IT assets, and it spots the weaknesses factoring into a company’s vulnerability to hackers like email servers, open ports, passwords in plain text, and more. The goal, of course, was to sell the insurance policy, but the hope was to reduce Corvus’ risk as an insurance provider and simultaneously protect customers by giving advice and feedback.

Asked whether the company is more of a tech or an insurance company, Lloyd says it was always important to be both. “We always said we were 100% insurance and 100% tech,” explains Lloyd.

After selling Corvus, Lloyd created Five Bays Capital, which invests, advises, and incubates high-potential companies. One of the companies that Lloyd is incubating as a part of Five Bays Capital is called Pine View Insurance Group, a property and casualty insurance agency for personal insurance—such as homes, vehicles, and the like.

Lloyd, who now lives in Boston with his wife, MaryElizabeth, and their three children, still stays connected with the Institute and recently got to share VMI with his family at his 15th Reunion. He also has understood the importance of giving back and has been a consistent donor to VMI over the last 11 years, beginning at graduation. Looking back on his VMI story, Lloyd said his cadetship was a large part of preparing him to be an effective leader and entrepreneur. In many ways, he said, VMI and the rules governing the Corps felt like a “small society within the larger society” that prepared him to lead in his eventual real-world career.

“I love the fact that VMI is a place where you get out what you put in,” said Lloyd. “As cadets and as citizens, we must learn how to operate within sets of rules to influence people and achieve our goals. I learned a lot at VMI about how to be effective and am now using that skill set as a business leader to hopefully move the world forward.”