Special Section sponsored by TMPAA

Professional Underwriters

Key programs administered: public entities—including municipalities, school districts, sewer and water districts

Professional Underwriters is on a mission. That mission is to become the premier public entity specialists in the United States.

According to John Solari, president and chief underwriting officer of Professional Underwriters, “We want to be the best there is, the go-to market for the public entity sector. It’s a vision and spirit that embodies every single person at Professional Underwriters.”

As a provider of specialized public entity underwriting and loss control services, Professional Underwriters possesses the expertise and knowledge to help retail brokers and agents succeed in school and municipality markets nationwide. The company’s Textbook, Community Works, and SafetyFirst insurance programs are designed specifically to service the needs of schools, municipalities, specialty districts and independent school bus contractors. “With our public entity programs,” says Solari, “retail brokers and agents have access to a comprehensive array of products and services, including the financial strength of A.M. Best “A” rated carriers, a broad range of coverages and eligible classes, long established loss control, and claims handling expertise.

“Retail brokers and agents, along with public entity clients across the country, access Professional Underwriters because we are truly a ‘public entity specialist’ in every sense of the word. In essence, every member of our organization is a public entity specialist.”

Solari adds, “If agents or brokers contact their respective school or municipal underwriter within our organization, that underwriter can thoroughly discuss, in detail, the specific coverage enhancements we offer, and precisely describe how we stack up and compare to our competitors in that geographical area for their prospective and existing public entity clients. In addition, our risk control team truly provides value-added services. Every risk control team member is a school or municipal expert with extensive experience in that industry segment. This wealth of experience and knowledge is shared with our public entity clients to enable them to benefit from the best practices of other public entities throughout the country.

“Last, but not least, our claim representatives are very experienced in handling claims for public entities. They are well versed in all of the governmental immunities, limits, and caps available to public entities and they use them to their best avail to mitigate all claims on behalf of the public entity.

“Essentially, all of the touch points for retail agents and brokers, and public entity customers are connected with a true public entity specialist who knows and understands their business,” notes Solari.

Currently, Professional Underwriters’ largest market segment is school business, providing insurance products and services for K-12 school districts, both public and private, as well as community colleges through its Textbook school program. With the Community Works municipality program, retail brokers and agents have access to coverages for cities and towns, as well as water and sewer districts. Solari says, “Our school business has a long history and we plan to continue to grow that segment of our business. However, building our municipal and utility book of business is a major priority for our organization, as is our SafetyFirst insurance program for independent school bus contractors.

“Our commitment to the public entity marketplace,” says Solari, “is reflected in our ability to attract some of the finest underwriting, risk management and marketing talent in the market today.”

Solari concludes, “The great thing about this particular business is that public entities are everywhere. We encourage all retail brokers and agents, including those unfamiliar with public entities, to feel confident to solicit their local schools and municipalities, and then rely on the public entity specialists at Professional Underwriters to guide them through the process.” *