SPECIAL REPORT
TOP SPECIALIST BROKERS TIMOTHY M. PEDERSEN JR. Senior vice president, transportation practice leader BROWN & RIDING SPECIALTY: EXCESS TRANSPORTATION
When Brown & Riding acquired his former employer about six years ago, Tim Pedersen Jr. saw an opportunity in oil & gas and began writing excess on fuel haulers. After re-evaluating his book at the end of the year, he realized he was hitting on excess transportation and decided to head in that direction. “Sometimes you take a path, thinking you know where it will lead, and find yourself heading to a different destination that ends up working out better than you had ever thought,” Pedersen says. Now, as practice leader of Brown &
JIM HAMILTON Vice president and senior broker CRC ENVIRONMENTAL BROKERAGE, A DIVISION OF CRC INSURANCE SERVICES SPECIALTY: ENVIRONMENTAL
Hailed as an environmental insurance expert by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Jim Hamilton has more than two decades of expertise in environmental insurance. He was one of the key personnel for a contract with the EPA, providing expert insurance support for various EPA divisions, as well as the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense. He was also the first broker to have used environmental cost cap insurance as a financial assurance instrument for an EPA Superfund site. Hamilton started writing environmental insurance early in his career at a time when only a few brokers
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specialized in the space. In the early and mid-2000s, he was a director at Dispute Resolution Management [DRM], an international consulting firm specializing in environmental, asbestos, product liability and insolvent carrier claim settlements against historical GL policies. After DRM, Hamilton joined JCH Environmental Insurance Agency, and from there he transitioned into wholesale brokerage, currently serving as the national practice leader for CRC’s environmental practice. “Environmental exposures and risks are evolving, and no two clients share the same risks or exposures,” he says. “It is vital we understand our client’s risk, and the process of identifying those risks through site visits and client interviews is a fun part of our job … Even though environmental insurance is a very mature product, developing a tailored insurance and risk management program for a client frequently involves creating manuscript forms and endorsements. The creative process of working with the client, underwriters, counsel and other stakeholders to develop bespoke coverage can be very rewarding.”
Riding’s transportation group, Pedersen oversees a book of business that has tripled over the past three years and is on pace to continue that growth trajectory. Within the last 12 months, he has built the practice group from three to eight producers and has established B&R as a national presence in the transportation space. “Excess transportation is a rapidly evolving marketplace,” Pedersen says. “We have markets pulling out, we have new entrants to the marketplace, and we have carriers changing guidelines. It is a marketplace with limited markets, and one relies on their carrier relationships more than some other areas. Staying on top of it takes knowing the players and not only the markets, but also the reinsurance marketplace and the competition, especially in a world where most of the markets are limited distribution.”
RICHARD LANG Assistant vice president, marine/WC/ USL&H/MEL ALL RISKS LTD. SPECIALTY: MARINE
For Richard Lang, the most exciting aspect of working in marine insurance is figuring out the very best program for agents and insureds on each account. “Most agents do not specialize in this area, so when they submit to us, they’re looking for our expertise,” he says. Back in 2001, when All Risks was writing workers’ compensation program business, it identified an opportunity to get into the US longshore and harbor [USL&H] space. “We were fortunate enough to find a carrier, AIG, who was dabbling in the USL&H space and looking to grow,” Lang says. “Seventeen years later, we’re going strong in the marine space, writing all lines. We specialize in USL&H, with over seven markets to serve our agents.”
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