SPG Newsletter Q4 Fall 2023 by specialtyprogramgroup.com

SPG Newsletter Fall 2023 Q4

Helping industry leading specialty businesses grow .

SPG Rankings Latest 2023 Business Insurance Wholesale/MGA rankings! The hard work and dedication of SPG and its portfolio of brands has reflected in this year's results as we continue climbing the ranks!

#4 in 2023 MGA/Lloyds Coverhold SPG jumped from 6th in 2022 to now 4th in 2023.

#6 in 2023 Specialty Intermediaries SPG climbed from 7th last year to 6th spot this year.

Table of Contents

State of Business page 2

Announcements page 3 - 4

Happy Fall & Company Game page 5

Business Spotlight page 6

Team News page 7 - 13

SPG on the Move page 14

SPG Employee Appreciation Day page 15

HR Happenings page 16

SPG VIBE's Gratitude Tree page 17

SPG Portfolio Guide page 18

State of Business Chris Treanor CEO & President, Specialty Program Group

Chris Lamitola Chief Sales Officer, Specialty Program Group

Organic Growth:

12.2 % YTD

OG YTD

Budget YTD

Business OG %

Business Var %

SCIS SBR JDM CM&F BSMG

49.9% 40.6% 34.1% 32.7% 30.5%

SCIS JDM BSMG Birdsong SBR

24.9% 22.7% 18.4% 17.4% 17.0%

Click here to see full list

HUB Results – Lift Report October YTD SPG is -2% YOY providing ~$14,430MM in Revenue Lift for the organization October YTD YOY Revenue Lift 16,000.0

14,798.9

Top Performers by Revenue Lift

14,430.4

14,000.0 12,000.0 10,000.0

8,898.1

8,000.0 6,126.8 6,000.0 4,000.0 2,000.0 0.0 Revenue Lift 2020

2021

2022

2023

Announcements SPG’s Digital Expansion: Insureon’s AON/Coverwallet Book Acquisition SPG’s digital insurance agency, Insureon, has acquired the AON/CoverWallet legacy direct-toconsumer book of business. CoverWallet, AON’s digital agency, is exiting the direct-toconsumer channel to focus on AON business and affinity opportunities. This acquisition will further strengthen Insureon’s industry leading direct-to-consumer position and marks a significant milestone in our journey toward digital excellence. At SPG, we are committed to developing our digital capabilities and finding tech-enabled solutions to meet customers where they are and how they want to secure insurance. Our dedication to this mission is evident in our recent acquisitions of leading digital insurance platforms CM&F and Squaremouth, as well as our partnership with VIU by HUB. The integration of the CoverWallet book of business into Insureon’s operations will grow our client base, enhance our service offerings, and elevate the customer experience. Insureon is dedicated to working collaboratively with AON/CoverWallet to guarantee a smooth transition for every small business owner associated with this book of business. If you have any questions or need further clarification, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jeff Kroeger, President of Insureon, at jeff.kroeger@insureon.com.

Specialty Program Group LLC (SPG) has acquired the assets of Insurance Allies LLC (Insurance Allies), an industry leader in the axe throwing and sports and entertainment industry operating the website AxeThrowingInsurance.com. This move is a testament to SPG's commitment to strengthen expertise in sports and entertainment field with industry-leading specialists. Insurance Allies proudly services approximately 700 entertainment venues including numerous mobile-only venues across the United States. Their expertise is not limited to axe throwing; Insurance Allies has notably expanded their services to cater to the insurance needs of various sports and recreational activities, including pickleball venues, haunted houses, smash rooms, go-kart tracks, escape rooms, and laser tag arenas, among others. Insurance Allies has gained significant prominence in the industry under the dynamic leadership of President, Brett Pollak. Known for his hands-on approach to meeting clients' needs, Brett has steered Insurance Allies to its success. His strategic marketing efforts to showcase his industry expertise, combined with his unique blend of innovative solutions and unwavering dedication to client satisfaction, have set a high industry standard. Learn more about this acquisition here

Global Marine Insurance Agency, a division of Specialty Program Group LLC (SPG), announced the launch of Global Product Protection, Inc. (GPP). GPP offers a full menu of extended marine service contract coverages relevant to today's recreational watercraft. Designed to meet the demands of boaters, this protection plan encompasses comprehensive, customizable, and competitively priced coverage for all popular marine engine configurations and familiar mechanical components found in today's recreational watercraft. Dealers benefit from GPP's wide range of extended service contract coverages, while boat builders gain access to tailored limited warranty products and administration services.

Scan here to visit the Global Product Protection website

SPG Panelists at Women in Insurance Summit Yiana Stavrakis CPCU, President of Monarch E & S Insurance Services, A Division of SPG Insurance Solutions, LLC. was a distinguished panelist at the Women in Insurance Leadership Summit 2023 in Los Angeles. She provided valuable insights on "Accelerating Your Career The Latest Scoop on Skills Development."

Happy Fall! On Halloween, our colleagues had some fun either dressing up for the office or participated in a virtual costume contest. Some even had their furry friends dress up as well!

SPG Game: Guess Who is Who! SPG Family! Let’s have some fun guessing which leader is who from their baby / childhood photos! Click the game button or follow the link below to the game on outlook:

Click here to start Guessing!

Business Spotlight

Jay Sullivan Vice President & CEO, CM&F

CM&F has been protecting healthcare professionals since 1919 with comprehensive, affordable malpractice insurance.

Scan here to visit the C&MF website

Team News In the first half of 2023, Avant Brokerage implemented improvements in modernizing our company in the areas of accounting, customer relationship management, creating a new interactive website, establishing a new marketing and advertising campaign, and internally creating dedicated leadership teams for both Program and Wholesale distribution. Over the last four months, we have begun executing these changes throughout our organization, and we are beginning to see improvements to both the top line in sales growth and the bottom line in added efficiencies. We have converted 75% of our agents to ACH payments and transferred accounting to the SPG team. We rolled out an automated FedEx insurance certificate verification system to 1400 insureds, improving our services to our agents and making our relationships stickier. On the top line, we recently added ten new agency partners, which is increasing our at-bats, quotes, and binds on new business in both the Program and Wholesale departments. Additionally, we have also opened two new transportation insurance carrier contracts in the areas of Non-Emergency Medical and Artisan Contractor and bound our first accounts in these brand-new AB industries. As we look forward to closing out this year, we want to thank our team members for their hard work, dedication, and loyalty to our company for delivering a YTD 19% growth in revenue over the prior year.

The Avant Supermarket team has been busy this year. We have appointed new agencies to help us broaden our footprint across the US. While we continue to search for additional partners in underserved areas, we have added 38 new policies to our program YTD. ASG is on track to achieve our targets for the year! The retention rates continue to be at 95% and higher each year of our program. The team at ASG makes our continued growth possible; our business unit has maintained a 100% employee retention ratio since becoming a part of Avant in 2017.

Avant Underwriters has been very busy getting out from behind their desks. We got the whole band together in June in Nashville for mid-year planning and friendly competition. For some, this was the first time they met in person. Between marketing and underwriting, we have been applying a divide-andconquer concept to attend as many industry and agency events as possible, which continues into the 4th quarter. The big win in the 3rd quarter was a re-acquisition of a lost account. We wrote the Auto Liability in April in our Large Deductible program ($3M in premium), and then we added the Owner-Operator line for an additional $1.1M in September.

We are excited to share some of our third quarter updates as we continue to work to sustain our growth and offer our agents superior environmental products and service. In Q3, the Beacon Hill and PartnerOne Environmental teams achieved renewal retention percentages of 91.5% for Beacon Hill and over 102% (premium basis) for PartnerOne Environmental. We are finding success in a variety of industries, providing environmental insurance solutions for companies in manufacturing, alternative energy, abatement services, and other sectors. In August, PartnerOne Environmental welcomed new team member Shannon Leinweber-Bowling as an Underwriter. Shannon has nine years in the industry working with several different types of business and coverage lines. In other news, Beacon Hill’s Broker Tyler Moneymaker and his wife Rachel welcomed TWINS in July! Tristan James and Harper Leigh arrived on July 28th. Both babies are healthy and growing fast.

Division of Specialty Program Group, LLC

Our 22nd BSMG Annual Invitational was a great success and raised over $60,000 for three local charities: Day One, Amos House, The Outreach Program. Thank you to all those who donated, this event would not be possible without you, our carrier partners, customers, and friends. On Friday, October 20th, hosted by Amos House, the BSMG team packed 58,000 meals supporting The Outreach Program. The David B. Lea Jr. Award for Excellence was created to honor individuals who not only achieve outstanding results in their business but also exemplify exceptional character, treating people with kindness and respect. David B. Lea Jr., one of the industry’s icons, was a visionary who built strong relationships based on trust and mutual respect. The award’s recipients follow in his footsteps, both professionally and personally. This year, we were thrilled to present the David B. Lea Jr. Award for Excellence to Jon Reilly and Douglas Richmond.

The most recent quarter has been on par with the previous ones - a bit manic but filled with opportunities. We wrote one of our largest accounts ($1.2M in premium) and recently went live with a HUB focused builders risk program. This is the result of months of work across many disciplines within SPG. Hopefully our next update will be sharing news of many bound accounts. We continue to see growth in the large, wood-frame builders risk segment and have developed our capabilities significantly over the last 18 months. We have streamlined processes via technology and outsourcing but are also searching for two new production underwriting positions to further support and grow our business. Lastly, we are quickly approaching our one year anniversary with SPG (November 1st). Our team has done a remarkable job with the transition and we are thankful for the support and guidance from our colleagues across SPG. 8

We are excited to share some of the strides we've made in Q3 and highlight a few team milestones. Firstly, we've implemented an automated task assignment system to enhance our efficiency and ensure faster service. This means that certain tasks no longer require manual review before assigning them to our internal team members, streamlining processes and reducing turnaround time. In addition, we've revamped the process for submitting policy change requests. Clients can now request certain changes directly in the client portal ultimately reducing the time needed to process requests. Furthermore, we are thrilled to celebrate a milestone anniversary! This past quarter Andres Kuan's celebrated his 5th anniversary with CM&F Group! From his very first day to today, Andy has grown both personally and professionally, leaving a lasting impact on our organization. Andy's dedication, hard work, and unwavering commitment have been crucial to our success, and we are excited to see what the next five years and beyond hold for him at CM&F Group. Finally, we would like to extend our warmest congratulations to our team members Antonina Agrusa and John Madias on the birth of their daughter, Mariella Arlene. The arrival of a new baby is always a cause for celebration, and we couldn't be happier for them as they begin their journey as a family of three.

The CSRisks team spent the last few months on the road in front of our agents, old and new. We attended WSIA and have been meeting with our carrier partners to stay current on the marketplace trends. Our partner, Sayata treaded our team to an afternoon of wine tasting to celebrate our successful partnership. We hired a new producer, Averill LaCour in New Orleans, LA. She will focus on new business nationwide. Lynn Levinson retired at the end of September. We wish her all the best in the next chapter of her life.

JDM has just finished their integration in our SPG AIM/Image Right environment and survived to tell the story. CSRisks hired a new Producer, Averill Lacour. She started Tuesday October 10th, welcome Averill. Keanna Dillard just celebrated her 10 year anniversary with CSRisks. After 30+ years Lynn Levinson has replaced her computer with "garden leave". Congrats Lynn and Keanna for your service to CSRisks.

The Euclid Fiduciary team has been busy this year. We are delighted to welcome Keith Lavigne, CPA to the Euclid Fiduciary team as our new Chief Underwriting Officer for Management Liability Insurance! Keith brings over 25 years of underwriting, finance, and accounting expertise to our organization. With his extensive experience and deep knowledge of the industry, he is well-equipped to lead our management liability expansion plans. Click link to view press release In Additional news, Dan Aronowitz, President of Euclid Fiduciary, has posted over 20 expert articles to the Fid Guru Blog, including the two-part post on the 2023 Mid-year Review of Excess Fee and Performance Litigation. We have hosted several webinars including the annual Fiduciary Claim Trends Webinar and our Excessive Fee Litigation Webinar. Dan has been busy on the speaking circuit presenting at the NAPA ERISA 403(b) conference, the PLANSPONSOR 2023 National Conference, the Retirement Advisor Council 2023 Annual Planning Meeting, and the NAPA 401(k) Summit. Our team of Michael Saa, Kathleen Santos and John O’Brien attended and exhibited at the IFEBP US Annual Conference, with close to 5,000 trustees, administrators and plan counsel attending in Boston, MA.

It's been productive and eventful at Global Marine Insurance. Leah Frost has earned the role of “Senior Marine Underwriter" and is now focusing on larger & higher-value vessels. Global Marine grew when Lucas McGreaham joined the commercial marine team, and Gretchen Gran and Thomas Worm joined the small boat sales team. Several team members have been at the boat shows, and we sponsored the Newport International Boat Show, the Ranger Tug Rendezvous and exhibited at the Applied Net Conference.

Insureon Finished September with Total Revenue +9% to Prior Year. Our eCommerce Book of Business has grown +7% to Prior Year and our Partnership Book of Business is +9%. SMART is now +$36M and has grown by 39% Year to Date. We also successfully acquired the legacy CoverWallet customer base in late September. Lastly, we got out in the community at Breakthrough in Chicago.

We are proud to promote Carly Ciminello to a Level I account manager. Carly came to us in the beginning of 2022 with no insurance experience and proved her mettle as fast as anyone we've ever promoted. Congratulations to Carly.

We have added several new homeowners' markets for your E&S needs! MSI is now available in AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, MA, MD, ME, MS, NC, NJ, MN, NV, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, UT, VA & WA. Competitive appetite in hard-to-place states, accepts up to PC 9. They can write owner, secondary, annual rentals & short term. Wind coverage available for Teir 1 & 2 counties with as low as 1% NS ded. This is a 3M TIV max, however in AZ, CA, CO, CT, GA, NVC, NJ, NY, SC & TX - they can write up to 10M TIV! Book roll opportunities with limited amount of work for your staff is also available. For the hardest to place wildfire CAT exposed locations we also offer Excess Fire markets & affordable HO options with wildfire exclusions. Monarch E&S group at Insurance Business America, Woman in Insurance Summit, Los Angeles. Dena Martin, Yiana Stavrakis, Stefanie McLeod & Liz Espinoza Monarch's Commercial Lines team welcomed 3 new underwriters in Q3. Misty Lynch, Carly Wright, and Claudio Smith will all be underwriters reporting into the western division of Monarch. Monarch Southeast has seen wonderful team growth in 2023! With the Branch Leader retiring earlier this year, we were fortunate to have Richard (Ricky) Darrow step into the role in July. Along with bringing his positive professionalism to our team, he also became a proud parent of a baby girl. Indianna arrived in all her glory on Sept. 21, 2023. In addition to Ricky joining our team, we also welcome Claire Plowden. As of October, Claire is our newest PL UA, and she is quickly learning the ropes. Team growth is key, however long-term team retention is supreme! We commemorate Gary Golnick for 30 years and Emilio Rodriguez for 15 years! We also celebrate Jessica Dominguez and Lisa Ackerman for 7 years.

New Heights is in developments with some new products to be shared in 2024. Megan & Shauntelle just got back from the SC&RA convention in Oklahoma where they were able to meet with current agents and connect with new ones. During Employee Appreciation Day, the team had a group lunch over Teams and had a lot of good laughs.

Paul Hanson Partners Celebrates Several Work Anniversaries! Sue Ortiz is the Executive Underwriter with Paul Hanson and Mover's Choice celebrating 25 years. Michelle Whitecotton is the Executive Underwriter & Bond Account Manager with Paul Hanson and Mover's Choice celebrating 20 years. Brandom Laam is the Assistant Vice President with Paul Hanson and Mover's Choice celebrating 5 years. Terri Moran is the Chief Underwriting Officer with PHP/Mover's Choice celebrating 5 years. These impressive milestones were celebrated with a company luncheon featuring tributes from co-workers and broker partners. Thanks to Chris Treanor for joining the celebration! The Paul Hanson team is appreciative of all their hard work and dedication to the transportation industry over the years. Cheers to many more!

This past quarter has been quite packed. With how quickly the industry and the world seems to be changing around us, our favorite word has become "Pivot" (think Ross in Friends with the couch). We enjoyed our Employee Appreciation party in July with an Island Vibes theme. Part of the management team performed the "PPIB Pivot" song for all in attendance, written by President, Susan Etter. Rumors are there is a video floating around of it. Our newly launched Agritainment Liability program is gaining traction and is led by Underwriter, Hillary Cabaud. Our client/broker portal is live and will continue to become more robust over the next few months. We've welcomed onboard Colleen Ryan, a highly experienced Business Development Manager that will focus on broker/ association relationships and new program growth. We are headed to Target Markets and are in the season of Carrier Visits. The whole PPIB staff will have come in for team building, carrier meetings, and charitable work for "1000 Petaluma Bowls" to help feed the hungry by the time this is published. To echo the words of Janine Lewis, PPIB Account Manager, everytime she answers the phone, "It's a great day here at PPIB!"

SafeHerb continues to cement itself as the leader in middle-market cannabis P&C insurance. We are excited to announce that we have doubled our available property capacity to $40M per location to serve our larger MSO clients. We have also recently announced more competitive rates for our package offering, which will dramatically help us win more of our core target customers. One of our main goals has been to increase our underwriting bandwidth so that we can meet the demand for our product. Thus, we are thrilled to welcome Amber Brown to the SafeHerb team as our newest Underwriter. She brings years of general P&C experience and even cannabis experience to the table to accelerate our growth. Finally, on a high personal note, we are extremely proud to announce that Stephanie Fernandez welcomed her first child, Franco, on June 7th! He’s ridiculously adorable, and we’re lucky he let her come back to work! 12

SCIS continues to have a terrific year with unprecedented growth and profitability. We are having a record year for new business written and hope to close the year out with $100M new business premium for 2023. Huge kudos to our underwriters: Mike Beck, Matt Feury, Barbara Drollinger, Rachael Kashow, Sue Bridges, Kelly Sartain, Ken Metz and Lori Fleissner. In addition, we've launched several new initiatives to increase our submissions and bound accounts with HUB Agents. We are proud to be named Top Specialty Insurance Company for 2023 by Insurance Business Review. We are thrilled to have added Peter Brezgiel to our team as AVP Underwriting in Q3. Peter comes to us from the Accident Fund and will enable us to broaden our distribution network nationwide.

The SUIS team has been busy expanding our brand and HABX has gained notable recognition in the marketplace. We have been marketing and contracting new wholesale brokers and it has paid off with September being our best month yet! The team recently attended the WSIA Annual Marketplace conference in San Diego and had 2 full days meeting with wholesalers, fronting carriers and reinsurers. In October, SUIS team members attended the Accredited Evolution Symposium and also the Target Markets Annual Summit, where we had meetings with program carriers and reinsurers. Next stop is the APCIA Annual Meeting in November!

These last several months for SWIS have been exciting. We have been busy adding new products and markets with a focus on builders risk and property. As these lines have continued to harden along with the standard markets pulling back their capacity, we have expanded our abilities in this space. We have been writing a wide variety of new business property for our retail agents with risks that include Cold Storage Facilities, Residential/ Commercial Buildings, Larger Builders Risks and Warehouses. Year to date we have already had 4 SWIS producers qualify for Sharp, two at Gold and two at Platinum. We are very excited to add two new producers to the team. Andrew Mitchell is joining our professional liability team and has a background in cyber. Nick Gargan is joining the wholesale team and brings us additional construction expertise. We continue to expand our geographic footprint across the country and outside of Hub Northeast, our new business with Hub is up over 107% year over year.

SPG on the Move | Tradeshows WSIA Annual Marketplace 2023 Recently, we had the pleasure of attending the WSIA Annual Marketplace 2023 in sunny San Diego. It was an incredible experience where we connected with fellow industry professionals, collaborated on innovative ideas, and gained valuable insights into the ever-evolving specialty insurance landscape. We're here not just to represent SPG but to support the entire insurance community.

TMPAA - 23rd Annual Summit At SPG, we believe in the power of collaboration and networking. We recently wrapped up our participation at the #TMPAA2023 Summit, where we had the privilege of connecting with brilliant minds and forwardthinking businesses in the specialty insurance realm.

Applied Net

SPG Employee Appreciation Day Employee Appreciation Day at SPG was a heartwarming testament to the close-knit family that we've built together. As some of our team members gathered in the office, partaking in traditional festivities like lunches, bingo, and happy hour, many others joined the celebrations online, ensuring that distance did not diminish the spirit of the day. Every achievement, big or small, is a reflection of the dedication, passion, and collective effort of our team. This day was not just about expressing gratitude; it was a celebration of our shared successes, milestones, and the familial bonds that make SPG unique. Here's to the heartbeat of SPG, our esteemed team members, who together create a legacy of excellence and make every day at SPG a journey worth celebrating!

HR Happenings Coming Soon: Performance Reviews Performance Reviews officially launch on 12/5/23! The HR Team will be hosting refresher training sessions for employees and managers. These sessions will cover how to use the system in Workday, as well as tips and tricks to have a successful review. Below are dates and times for the training sessions, please click on the link to register. Please note that the content in each training will be for both managers and employees: Session 2: 12/6 at 12pm CT Session 3: 12/6 at 2pm CT Session 4: 12/7 at 2pm CT

The Winter Holidays are quickly approaching SPG Offices are closed on the following days: Winter Holiday (Christmas Day Observed): Winter Holiday (Day after Christmas):

Monday, Dec. 25th, 2023

Tuesday, Dec. 26th, 2023

Open Positions

Employee Referral Program Specialty Program Group is always looking to hire great people. We invite our employees to actively help in that search! Employees can earn up to $2000 if a referred candidate is hired. For additional information about the referral program, follow this link.

Click links below to view position details:

Branch Manager, Northeast

Assistant Underwriter

Monarch E&S

Manager, Process Excellence

Branch Manager, Northeast

SPG

Monarch E&S

Business Process Analyst

Administrative Support Associate

SPG

AgencyONE

Sales Specialist

Receptionist

BSMG

Commonwealth

Account Executive

Software Engineering

Avant

Squaremouth

Account Executive SWIS 16

SPG VIBE's Gratitude Tree A Celebration of Team Spirit Our recent Gratitude Tree event was a testament to the strong sense of community and gratitude within our team. We asked our members what they're grateful for at SPG, and the response was incredibly touching. Every leaf on our Gratitude Tree reflects the vibrant, supportive culture at SPG. We're proud of the positive environment we've cultivated together. Here's a glimpse into SPG's Gratitude Tree:

Visit the SPG Graditude Tree here

I'm thankful and blessed for the opportunity to work for an amazing company and a team that is always working together to succeed. I'm grateful for all the many blessings in my life personally and professionally. I look forward to many more years with SPG!

I am very thankful for my team! The knowledge I have gained since starting here in May is immeasurable. What a joy it is to be in an environment of support, kindness and extreme helpfulness by all members of the team, no matter the job title or role.

I am thankful for the opportunity SPG has provided me. I am also thankful for my co workers and how we all work as a team.

I am grateful for the vibrant culture and team spirit at SPG. Working with you all has been a joy and an inspiration.

I'm thankful for my amazing team and the opportunities that SPG has offered me!

SPG Portfolio Guide Our Latest Q2 Portfolio Guide is now available

Click here to download PDF

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