DES MOINES—The Global Insurance Accelerator announced Wednesday that Tej Dhawan will act as the program’s interim managing director through the end of 2014.

“Since the role is interim, I’m not going to be the one who’s running the class next spring, but my core role is going to be to get the organization to a point where the class and the managing director can come in and have the accelerator run smoothly,” Dhawan told SPN.

The organization says the role will be crucial in two ways: to prepare the accelerator for its inaugural class in February 2015 and to allow the Accelerator’s board of directors time to find a candidate to be the permanent leader of the program. Dhawan says setting up the Global Insurance Accelerator offers up some unique challenges, particularly that there are seven separate corporate entities involved in its funding and leadership.

“Everything up until now has been one company creating an accelerator within their purviews,” he said. “This one is being led by a segment of an industry, which means the investment and equity piece will be a little more challenging. So I’ll be working with legal counsel to get that done.”

Dhawan says the accelerator will likely be 120 days as opposed to a more standard 90-day program, meaning the Global Insurance Accelerator’s demo day likely will be in late May 2015.

“Tej brings a unique perspective to the Accelerator based on his own entrepreneurial experiences,” said Jeff Russell, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Iowa and one of the investors in the Global Insurance Accelerator, in a release. “We are fortunate to have a local resource such as Tej to begin this important foundational work as we prepare for the 2015 launch.”

Currently the Global Insurance Accelerator is backed by seven local insurance companies: Principal Financial Group, Delta Dental of Iowa, American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, The IMT Group and Farm Bureau Financial Services.

Read more about the Global Insurance Accelerator through our previous coverage: “After only 60 days, insurance accelerator plans begin to take shape.”