Florida-Based Orchid Underwriters Appoints Butler As CFO

Orchid Underwriters Insurance Agency, LLC, a specialty underwriter of property insurance focusing on coastal properties, has named Lynda Butler as chief financial officer. She will also become a member of the Executive Management Committee at Orchid, along with Chairman Ken LeStrange, President Brad Emmons, CIO Chuck Fillizola, and Executive Vice President Tim Byrne.

As CFO, Butler will be responsible for all accounting and financial functions within Orchid, and will be a key interface with the company’s majority owner, Gryphon Investors. As a member of the Executive Management Committee, she will help lead Orchid’s organic and acquisition growth strategy.

According to LeStrange. Butler’s background in acquiring and integrating companies will enhance Orchid’s ability to achieve its strategic vision.

Butler comes to Orchid from Nationwide Insurance, where she has worked since 1993, most recently as CFO/VP – Nationwide Insurance Brand Property and Casualty Division. Prior to that, she was CFO at Allied Insurance, and earlier, she served as CFO at Farmland Insurance.

Butler began her career at KPMG in Audit Services. She holds a B.S. from the University of Dayton. Butler is a Certified Public Accountant in Ohio and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.

In November 2014, private equity firm Gryphon Investors made a majority investment in the company.

Orchid Underwriters is based in Vero Beach, Fla., and specializes in providing specialty insurance products for homeowners and other difficult-to-insure properties throughout the United States and the Caribbean.