Berkley Underwriting Partners has a unique attitude toward today’s challenging economic environment: it sees opportunity for growth—right now. While market conditions have caused many other experienced program carriers to stop adding new business or even to cut back, Berkley Underwriting Partners is actively seeking to grow.

Just recently, Berkley Underwriting Partners established five programs, taking them from initial consideration, through due diligence and approval, to complete setup—all within one three month period. “For one of the five new programs,” says Berkley Underwriting Partners’ Vice President of Business Development Steve Strauss, “we helped the program administrator develop the product because we believed so strongly in the program’s long-term viability.”

Seeing opportunity now means that Berkley Underwriting Partners is fully prepared for the future. “We already have our backroom and frontline staff positioned for the market’s eventual turnaround and can quickly complete rollovers and round out product offerings for established program administrators,” adds Strauss. “Our company is very flat, so program principals and administrators can get prompt decisions from us and we stay accountable to them.”

The results of a mid-2009 survey conducted on behalf of Berkley Underwriting Partners clearly confirmed that its program clients were pleased and would recommend Berkley Underwriting Partners to others. So what makes Berkley Underwriting Partners so attractive to program principals and administrators?

High quality program business is Berkley Underwriting Partners’ sole focus. Its due-diligence process is defined and thorough—but also quick. Throughout the process, Berkley Underwriting Partners keeps communication alive with the program candidate with clear, honest discussion about where the process is headed well before it concludes. Usually, Berkley Underwriting Partners can complete due diligence within 30 days—sometimes within two weeks.

Berkley Underwriting Partners understands and respects the program administrator’s entrepreneurial spirit and places great value on the expertise of PAs who are true specialists in their industry niche.

Berkley Underwriting Partners’ exceptional client service results from its accessibility. PAs don’t have to struggle through hierarchical layers to reach a decision maker—they simply go to their program manager. Each PA has defined authority to quote, bind, and issue policies—and when opportunities fall outside a PA’s authority, he or she has direct access to additional underwriting support through program management.

Excellent, reliable support services, which are crucial to program operations, typify Berkley Underwriting Partners’ backroom. From program management and actuarial to accounting, IT, filing, regulatory compliance, and claims oversight, Berkley Underwriting Partners’ competent backroom staff assists with filings, referrals, and coverage requests properly and promptly.

Berkley Underwriting Partners—a member company of W. R. Berkley Corporation, which is a premier commercial lines property and casualty insurance holding company—underwrites on behalf of Gemini Insurance Company for nonadmitted markets, and StarNet Insurance Company for admitted markets. Gemini and StarNet—also W. R. Berkley Corporation member companies—are both rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company, Inc., with a Financial Size Category (FSC) of XV. Berkley Underwriting Partners is an active “Carrier Member” of the Target Markets Program Administrators Association and participates regularly in its mid-year meetings and annual summits.

For more information about Berkley Underwriting Partners, contact Steve Strauss, vice president of business development, by phone at (630) 210-0363 or by email at sstrauss@bupllc.com, or visit our internet site at www.bupllc.com.