GuideOne Announces Specialty E&S Changes

Date
May 09, 2022

GuideOne Insurance Company has announced that they will be renaming their Specialty division to “GuideOne E&S,” which will continue to serve the Excess and Surplus marketplace. This name change is consistent with the company’s renewed focus and commitment to the E&S segment, which is now one of the three pillars within the organization along with Core Commercial and Programs.

Beginning in 2015, GuideOne expanded its writings to include a Program division, led by industry executive Rick Cullen. In that time, the book has grown strategically to 2021’s $280M and has produced consistent, profitable results. At the end of the first quarter of 2022, GuideOne is working with fourteen of the country’s leading Program Administrators. In addition, the company recently hired Jim Murakami to serve as Vice President, Programs, to uphold the segment’s underwriting acumen as it continues to grow. Jim brings a strong background of underwriting acumen and discipline to GuideOne as we continue to develop underwriting depth in all areas.

In 2019, GuideOne ventured into the E&S space with a new Specialty division. Cullen was named to lead the Specialty Lines segment in 2022, bringing his significant underwriting and leadership experience to this division to help redefine the underwriting appetite. As the company redefines its appetite to more traditional E&S business and away from one-off accommodation risks, it is expected that each of the three pillars – E&S, Programs and Core Commercial (which consists of long-standing classes such as religious institutions and nonprofit organizations) – will produce approximately 1/3 of the total writings for the company long-term.

 “The term E&S clearly defines what this business was supposed to look like when we entered the space two years ago,” said Andy Noga, acting Chief Executive Officer at GuideOne. “With our renewed focus on underwriting discipline and profitability, it seems like it’s an appropriate time to move forward as truly an E&S writer.”

Cullen added, “We’ve established ourselves as a legitimate insurer within the E&S space with extraordinary distribution partners. Now it’s time for us to take the next step and leverage the proven underwriting talent within the organization.”

In recent months, GuideOne has brought on board industry veterans Patrick Daley as their new Chief Underwriting Officer and Jude DiBattista as Vice President, Head of E&S Casualty. They are joined by experienced underwriting executives Nick Batten, who leads the E&S Property team, Adam Berger, who runs the E&S Energy platform, and Dan Conway, who heads up the E&S Financial Lines segment. Additionally, over the last two months, GuideOne has added technical underwriting expertise in each line of their E&S business segment, including Casualty, Property, Energy and Financial Lines.

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About GuideOne Insurance Company

GuideOne Insurance Company supports our policyholders’ goals by providing nimble solutions for niche needs™. GuideOne reached $1.06B in written premium in 2021 driven by diverse portfolio of property and liability insurance and risk management solutions provided through GuideOne Insurance, GuideOne National, CGA Insurance Services and GC3. Our company is guided by our mission and our promise — We Help Make Positive Change Possible — by protecting the people who strengthen and support our communities. Rated “A-” (Excellent) by industry analyst AM Best, GuideOne’s corporate headquarters are located in West Des Moines, Iowa. For more information, visit www.guideone.com.

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