Business Moves
SUA, American Patriot
Chicago-based Specialty Underwriters’ Alliance Inc. has signed a new contract with Westchester, Ill.-based American Patriot Insurance Agency Inc., a wholesale agency that specializes in roofing contractors. American Patriot provides commercial general liability and commercial auto liability both directly and through retail brokers. It will focus initially on 14 states in the central and southern regions.
Courtney Smith, president and chief executive officer of SUA, said that American Patriot will provide an opportunity to serve the small to medium-sized roofing industry. American Patriot is owned by the same principals as ABC Supply Company, the largest roofing materials supplier in the country.
American Patriot will begin writing business in the first half of 2006. In conjunction with the partner agent contract, American Patriot has agreed to purchase $1 million of SUA’s series B stock.
Wichert Insurance Services, Starkey, Schultheis-Davie
Wichert Insurance Services Inc. of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, recently acquired the Starkey Insurance Agency in Somerset, and the Schultheis-Davie Agency in Logan. Jay C. Hutchinson, vice president of Wichert said the acquisition was made to further the goal of providing professional services to all areas of the state of Ohio. Wichert Insurance Services Inc. currently employs 56 professionals at eight locations in Ohio.
Michigan’s Accident Fund,
Miles & Finch
Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, a national workers’
compensation carrier that does business with over 700 independent insurance agents, announced that Miles & Finch Insurance Agency as its Agency of the Year. The award is first given by Lansing, Mich.-based Accident Fund outside of the state of Michigan.
Miles & Finch Insurance Agency, with offices in Kokomo and Carmel, Ind., has worked with Accident Fund since 2002. In the past four years, they have written more than $5 million in insurance premium, including $1.4 million in new business in 2005. They’re loss ratio has remained solid and consistent at 44 percent. The agency was awarded during a presentation at Accident Fund’s Annual Employee Meeting last month. The company will again be honored at an agency recognition event in March 2006.
Miles & Finch has been in business since 1910, and specializes in insurance products and services to a wide range of businesses and families in central Indiana, as well as throughout the United States. The agency employs more than 40 professionals at their Kokomo and Carmel offices.
Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, established in 1912 and headquartered in Lansing, Mich., is a wholly owned and independent operating subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Accident Fund, operational in 43 states and the District of Columbia, is the 15th largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance in the United States.
ASPN, BISYS/Tri-City Brokerage,
BISYS Commercial
Agency Specialty Product Network (ASPN), a unit of Aon Corp. announced it has joined with BISYS/Tri-City Brokerage and BISYS Commercial Insurance Services, Inc. to provide independent agents and brokers with a wide array of domestic and international commercial insurance products and services that will offer business opportunities for independent agents and brokers.
The commercial insurance solutions offered by BISYS/Tri-City Brokerage and BISYS Commercial Insurance Services Inc. will give ASPN agents access to new programs and products that facilitate business growth, create opportunities for new revenue streams, diversify product platforms, strengthen and expand partnerships and increase revenue while reducing acquisition expenses.
BISYS/Tri-City Brokerage, an independently-owned property and casualty broker and BISYS Commercial Insurance Services, Inc., an independently-owned group of managing general agencies, have a 20-year track record in assisting independent agents and brokers with standard market and commercial insurance solutions.