2018
PROFESSIONAL AND MANAGEMENT LIABILITY
JEFFREY L. HAYS President RLA INSURANCE INTERMEDIARIES
LAWYERS’ PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY
SCOTT R. AMMER
Jeff Hays joined the insurance industry in 2001 as an underwriter at Lexington Insurance, became part of the AIG Lloyd’s box in London and worked for CRC Insurance Services as a wholesale professional liability producer before co-founding RLA Insurance Intermediaries
eight years ago. Originally a specialty wholesale broker for professional liability and casualty business, RLA later expanded to cover property, healthcare, MGA and program business. Throughout his career, Hays has remained focused on placing complex professional liability accounts and has amassed a wealth of experience in working with complex public and private companies. “Jeff is a very young insurance professional who represents all that is excellent about our industry, especially for young people entering our business,” a colleague says.
Vice president ECC INSURANCE BROKERS
A firm believer in the importance of teamwork, Scott Ammer strives to forge strong relationships with all underwriters. “Bo Schembechler, head coach of Michigan football for 30 years, always said, ‘It’s not the individual, the all-American, the great catch or the open field tackle. It’s the team, the team, the team,’” Ammer says. “I have one of the best teams in the industry.” In 2001, Ammer entered the insurance world as an underwriting trainee for specialty lines at Philadelphia Insurance, where he worked his way up before being asked to join his largest retail client, HUB International, as a producer in 2004. There, Ammer led the lawyers’ professional liability book and a team of seven brokers. “I’ve always enjoyed working with lawyers,” he says. “My underwriting team at PHLY did not have anyone underwriting LPL. I jumped at the opportunity.” In 2007, Ammer was asked to create a wholesale book of lawyers’ professional liability by a former co-worker who had been recently been promoted to profit center leader at ECC Insurance Brokers. “Starting a ground-up book of business is never easy,” Ammer says. “However, maintaining contacts throughout the country assisted in building the foundation of a strong practice. With 10 years now at ECC, I assist in mentoring our broker in training program and continue to strive for excellence on our team.”
CYBER LIABILITY
RICHARD FERNANDEZ Executive vice president, professional lines AMWINS BROKERAGE OF GEORGIA
A 21-year veteran of the insurance industry, Richard Fernandez specializes in cyber and financial institution placements. He currently leads the financial lines practice at AmWINS Brokerage of Georgia, overseeing a team of 13 brokers and support staff, as well as serving as the leader of AmWINS’ national professional lines practice. “Over the past 11 years, our team has focused on mergers and acquisitions and private equity business,” Fernandez says. “What started out as a general focus on professional liability morphed into a focus on cyber and network security/privacy as that threat became more pronounced.”
Fernandez has encountered plenty of challenges in this space, including misunderstood product offerings, confusing forms and the ever-changing nature of threats. “There is little historical information by which to guide potential insureds, [such as] benchmarking and historical losses,” he says. “It is not yet a part of every company’s insurance spend the way mainstay products like GL, property and D&O are. As a result, some companies do not purchase this insurance or buy insufficient limits for the exposures they possess.” Prior to joining AmWINS in 2006, Fernandez spent 10 years at AIG, where he served as vice president of the firm’s financial institutions management liability practice. Prior to that, he worked in banking on Wall Street. Recently, Fernandez was featured in Hispanic Executive magazine, where he provided insight on the importance of cyber insurance.
www.ibamag.com
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