UKON Brings Cyber Practice Leadership to Accelerate 2026

DENVER, CO — April 2, 2026 — UKON, the cyber practice operating system for independent insurance agencies, is bringing its Cyber Practice Leadership model to Accelerate 2026, powered by NetVU, April 13–16 at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

While the rest of the industry debates whether agencies need cyber expertise, UKON is already deploying it: a full outsourced cyber department that handles placement strategy, carrier coordination, cybersecurity alignment, and producer enablement so agencies can run cyber as a structured, scalable practice without adding a single headcount.

No other company in the independent agent channel operates at the intersection of cybersecurity and cyber insurance the way UKON does. Carriers write policies. MGAs bind them. MSPs manage the technical stack. Brokers place coverage. But no one has built the connective infrastructure between all four, until now.

UKON's Cyber Practice Leadership model sits in the gap between where technical risk is managed and where insurance is placed, translating security posture into underwriting language and giving agencies the discipline to sell, service, and defend cyber at renewal without hiring a $200,000 specialist.

"Agencies are being asked to advise clients on a risk category that changes faster than any line of business they have ever carried," said Matt Hightower, CEO of UKON. "We built Cyber Practice Leadership so that an agency of any size can offer the same depth, carrier access, and placement discipline as a firm with a dedicated in-house cyber team."

Conference Presentation

UKON CEO Matt Hightower will co-present a featured education session:

Cybersecurity Essentials for Agencies: The Must-Haves that Matter Most

Tuesday, April 14, 2026 | 2:00-2:45 PM PT

Presenters:

• Matt Hightower, CEO, UKON

• Casey Buchta, Assistant Director, Application Support, Brown & Brown

• Robert Pritchard, ACT Program Manager, Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America

The session breaks cybersecurity down to the protections every agency should have in place to reduce risk. Attendees will leave with a clear sense of the minimum standards they should meet, why those standards matter, and how to turn cybersecurity into a manageable part of everyday operations.

Reid Wellock Leads Cyber Practice Leadership On-Site

Reid Wellock, President and COO of UKON, leads the company's Cyber Practice Leadership offering and will be on the ground at Accelerate alongside Hightower. Wellock has been building the operational framework that connects security posture to insurance outcomes, giving agencies a clear system for how cyber gets placed, reviewed, and defended throughout the policy lifecycle.

"The agencies that win in cyber are not the ones chasing individual policies," said Wellock. "They are the ones building a practice around it, with structure, with repeatable process, and with someone in their corner who understands both the technical risk and the insurance market. That is what Cyber Practice Leadership delivers."

VIP Cyber Practice at Accelerate

UKON is offering complimentary VIP Cyber Practice Audits on-site for agency principals and decision-makers. Each audit is a focused 30-minute session where UKON's team walks through an agency's current cyber posture and delivers a personalized Cyber Guide, which includes:

• Cyber Risk Report: a financial-grade assessment of the agency's risk exposure

• Industry Attack Maps: threat intelligence specific to the agency's client verticals

• Price Benchmarking: how the agency's cyber placement compares to market rates and peer agencies

The audit is designed to give agency leaders a clear, honest picture of where their cyber practice stands and what it would take to build one that runs with discipline and confidence.

To schedule a VIP Cyber Practice Audit at Accelerate, click below. Attendees can also find UKON at Booth #118 in the Exhibit Hall throughout the conference.