OUR
JOURNEY
TOGETHER
E D I T I O N 15
(Left to right): W. Robert Berkley, Jr., President and Chief Executive Office William R. Berkley, Executive Chairman
Happy Thanksgiving. There has rarely been a time when I appreciated Thanksgiving as much as I do this year. Truly, a moment to be reminded to stop and think about all the good things in our lives and the many things for which to be thankful. It has been a difficult year. Life has been full of stress and uncertainty so that most of us have not had time to think about the good fortune in our lives. Every day there have been new challenges and new issues to confront that create anxiety. The good news is I recognize this is not a unique time in history; we have been in periods like this before and we survived and prospered subsequent to these challenging times. Because of current global communication, we see the state of affairs extended throughout the world. A retrospective examination allows us to note that the status of the pandemic and other global crises were not recognized because people were not contemporaneously aware. This was also true of civil unrest throughout the world. Instant communication changes our emotional reaction to all that is happening. By most measures, the world, in reality, is not as bad off as it feels. In the United States and Western Europe economic activity is positive, the job markets are strong and businesses are searching for employees. China is faced with economic challenges because of its construction industry but much of the rest of the world has already started on an upswing. Things are looking better and while the case count for COVID-19 is increasing, the vaccine and treatments have lowered the death rate, the numbers of severely ill, as well as lowered the needs for hospitalization.
The general dissatisfaction with both the social and political environment has created great tension and anxiety, bringing about challenges to all political processes. We see the extremes failing to reach compromise and attacking the other side instead of seeking to reach a middle ground. This is the climate that exists throughout the world. We have divisions of thought. Absent is the goal of achieving a shared outcome. Rather, the objective appears to be battling it out to get what one wants as opposed to what is best for your country. I am optimistic. Looking back 400 years to our first Thanksgiving in 1621 to the present, our country and the world have survived many crises. Each of these, on its own, seemed to predict the collapse of our society. Fortunately, the best of human nature prevailed. People realized understanding was the one thing that could lead to success. No matter how strongly held your view was, you needed to listen to the other person’s view in order to reach an outcome that would produce a satisfactory conclusion. On innumerable occasions over these past 400 years, things looked hopeless but somehow humanity was able to pull together. This requires listening, understanding, building trust and a shared hope for a better future. None of these things happen on their own. Political and social leadership is required. We are moving in that direction. Society has to be dissatisfied with the status quo in order to reach a common but imperfect agreement. We are beginning to move in that direction. It is moving slowly. It is disheartening to hear so many tell us it is hopeless but things are still getting done, things are getting better. Thanksgiving is the moment to appreciate all that we have and to recognize that we are in control of our future. Step forward. Have an open dialogue. Instead of speaking louder, listen better. Search for ways to compromise and move forward. We all want an even better Thanksgiving next year; it is up to all of us. Have a Very Happy Thanksgiving. Rob and Bill Berkley
Berkley Mid-Atlantic Group BMAG welcomed employees return to the office with banners, a food truck, and even a photo booth!
BERKLEY
HEALTHCARE
Welcome baskets for Berkley Healthcare’s Chesterfield office! Many thanks to Debbie Evans and Lexi Scharf for putting this idea together.
BERKLEY
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES BTS celebrates their return to the office in Delaware and Iowa with an Ice Cream event
Congratulations!
COURTNEY FENSKE (USG)
Courtney (Regional Sales Director) earned the Field Representative of the Year Award.
Union Standard Underwriting and Sales team members David Hinton, Sarah Swensen, Tanya Amason, and Wendy Taylor helped Courtney celebrate.
Welcome to Berkley VINCE MYERS
Please join Jared Abbey in welcoming Vince Myers to his team as Vice President of W. R. Berkley Corporation effective Monday, May 17th, 2021.
Vince received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Mathematics at The University of Kansas and his Master of Arts in Statistics at The University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Berkley, Vince worked as Head of Third- Party Capital at AXIS Capital. Vince lives in Mamaroneck, NY with his wife, Emily, dog Callie and their cat Pepper. They are currently expecting their first child on June 27th. He has recently started to dabble in woodworking and built two Adirondack chairs for their yard (which have not yet collapsed). Vince is a huge Kansas City Sports fan and not yet ready to talk about the most recent Super Bowl (speaking of Collapsing).
Congratulations! BRAD LONDON
Brad joined W. R. Berkley in 2009 with two other colleagues to create Berkley Agribusiness. He has been in the commercial insurance industry for over 25 years. A majority of those years being with national carriers and 20 of them being in the Agribusiness and Food niches. He has held various roles in underwriting and operations and was most recently Chief Underwriting Officer. Brad was appointed President of Berkley Agribusiness March 8, 2021. He’s excited to get the opportunity to lead and continue to learn from such passionate and dedicated teams as those at Berkley Agribusiness and WRBC. Brad is a lifelong Midwesterner with roots in Iowa and Nebraska. He holds a B.B.A from Iowa State University as well as numerous professional designations and also serves as a mentor for the Global Insurance Accelerator. Brad and his wife Erin have been married for 25 years and live in Waukee, Iowa. They spend a majority of their time involved in just about any activity related to family, kids and dogs. Their son Shay (21) is a junior at the University of Iowa majoring in Engineering, daughter Emily (17) is a junior at Waukee High School, and son Cale (12) is a 6th grader. They recently added a new member to the family, a COVID rescue puppy named Hazel, after several great years with their senior rescue Enzo. When not at work, Brad enjoys sports, history of the world war eras, and is a saltwater reef aquarium hobbyist.
UNION STANDARD INSURANCE
WELCOME BACK USG has fun at their Cupcake Re-Meet & Greet which also included meeting their new President, John Henle.
REGIONAL Shared Services and Berkley Fire & Marine
RSS serves up a wonderful brunch to welcome employees back to the office. BFM welcomes Cincinnati employees back.
NAUTILUS “Holla-ween” Spooktacular Nautilus hosted a Holla-ween Spooktacular with three opportunities to win great prizes: ‘Pic Your Pumpkin’ carving contest, unit/department decorating contest, and the ‘Get In Your Get Up’ costume contest. Remote workers were invited to send in pictures of their carved pumpkins and, in the spirit of Halloween, walk the virtual (black) catwalk for the costume contest.
WINNER: Kevin Riley 3rd PLACE: Annie Christensen
2nd Place: Jennifer Phelps
Department Decorations (Nautilus)
Congratulations to the IT Department for winning the department decorating contest.
Left Hand Pane from top to bottom: Actuarial1, Product Development (3rd place), and UW North Region (2nd place) Right Hand Pane from top to bottom: Claims, IT (Contest winner)
ADMIRAL Insurance
Isn’t the bright orange, jack-o-lantern, mask festive?
VELA
Look at these awesome Halloween photos from the Vela Team. Nick Jandel, Jodi McKee, Nina Ouabi, and Ching Eng’s daughter Emma.
Milton Partners really decked out their office space for Halloween this year too!
Preferred
EMPLOYERS INSURANCE
Thanks to these PEI employees for sharing their Halloween pics: Zach Rask, Yara Alarid, Lani Gonzalez, David Silva, Kate Villegas, Lindsey Williams, Marc Beaulieu, Mike Leal /wife, and Konnie Howell.
BERKLEY SURETY & Berkley Cyber
Gift Basket Giveaway At Berkley Surety (NJ office) we also have “Gift Basket Giveaway” around different Holidays. Halloween—If you bring in a bag of candy you can be entered into a drawing for a Halloween themed gift basket. The candy is sent to Treats for Troops. Thanksgiving—If you bring in canned food, you can be entered
Jacob, Logan, Olivia and Wyatt Edwards (David Edwards), Brielle, Paige and Tyler Fedo (Jodi Legora), Amdanda LaPlatte, Dylan Laplatte (2) (Amanda LaPlatte), Wanda Daniel, Wanda and Clarence Daniel (Wanda Daniel)
into a drawing for a Thanksgiving themed basket (above). Food is brought to a local food pantry.
BERKLEY MEXICO Traditions in Mexico to honor the Day of the Dead— November 1st and 2nd.
Click on the photo to the left to see more pictures from our team in Mexico.
BERKLEY Asset Protection
Rafa – BAP employee Melissa Becker’s dog Rafa ready for Halloween ExcavAda – BAP employee Sue Fritz’s granddaughter Ava
BERKLEY Entertainment
William Smith and his family all dressed up for Halloween Hunter Hargis makes a cute “Little Red Riding Hood” Jenny Rieger’s boys (Emmett and Ruston) dressed up as Axl Rose and Slash from Guns N’ Roses
BERKLEY
FIRE & MARINE Tammy O’Donnell has a new grandson, Aaron (pictured with big brother Charlie) Rick Beasley’s first granddaughter Sophia Mary Pennisi’s first granddaughter Kita
...more Halloween photos from BFM
Midwest Employers Casualty
GHOSTBUSTERS
MEC celebrating Halloween in the office with a fun game of Ghostbusters in their large conference room
Introducing the “DIB” SharePoint Site Berkley actively strives to build and support a culture where everyone is valued for their skills and experiences, as well as their unique characteristics and qualities. Our inclusive culture honors differences and welcomes feedback, open discussion and new ideas. The “Sharing” page in the left-hand pane is a place to share what YOUR company is doing around DIB. Contact Yaseh Iqbal (yiqbal@wrberkley.com) or Tammie Heeren (theeren@wrberkley.com) to upload pertinent articles, videos, or newsletters to the Sharing page.
PRO TIP: Bookmark this site for easy reference
Everything Counts. Everyone Matters.®
BERKLEY
Southeast Insurance Group
BSIG Innovation Behavior Characters—how creative!
Sally is Bonnie Diehl, Leo is Mark Woods, Javier is Tim Gardner, Mae is Chris Wood, Gunther is Troy Landry, Zoe is Debbie Wills, and of course Coach is Dennis Barger.
INNOVATION Certifications Experimentation Certification is Here! One of the most important elements of an innovative culture is the ability to rapidly test our ideas in experiments. Berkley’s employees know this, considering there have been more than 50 experiments completed in SPARK! so far in 2021. If you’ve been hoping to become an expert in experimentation, and lead your team on its way to finding the most impactful ideas, you’ll be excited to hear that you can now complete an Experimentation Certification course, in I-Lab. Learn from experts like J. P. Eggers, Professor at NYU Stern School of Business, as well as from your fellow Berkley Companies.
Behavior Certification 2.0 Coming Soon Over the past 2 years, we have been introduced to each of the seven Berkley Innovation Behaviors and had the opportunity to learn more by getting certified in each behavior along the way to becoming better innovators. 2100 employees have completed all 7 of their Berkley Behavior Certifications. That’s something to celebrate! If you haven’t completed your Behavior Certifications yet, now is the time (Click here to access the existing Behavior Certifications). Beginning in December, you’ll have the opportunity to dive even deeper into the behaviors that are most important to you. Behavior Certification 2.0 is coming soon! Take your understanding of the Berkley Behaviors to the next level with in-depth articles, Skillsoft courses, videos from notable experts, and recommendations for continuing education. Choose to hone your expertise in one or several behaviors once these courses are available in I-Lab.
BERKLEY
Innovation Podcast
The Edge is an internal Berkley Innovation Podcast. Season 1 will be dropping in 2022 with monthly episodes featuring guest speakers including: Bill Berkley, Rob Berkley, Emily Urban (Berkley Life Sciences), Tracey Vispoli (Berkley Cyber Risk Solutions), and Maureen Hackett (Berkley Luxury Group). Keep an eye out for The Edge podcast trailer coming soon!
Berkley Key Risk “Best Place to Work”
We are excited to announce that Key Risk has been recognized as 2021 Best Places to Work in Insurance by Best Companies Group. The Best Places to Work in Insurance list identifies and recognizes the best places of employment in our industry. A joint effort from Business Insurance and the Best Companies Group, the 2021 assessment was a two-part process. This included a confidential employee engagement and satisfaction survey as well as an employer questionnaire on company benefit programs, policies, practices and other general information to identify the companies whose employees has the highest level of engagement and satisfaction.
Congratulations to Key Risk!
BERKLEY ASSET PROTECTION The BAP team is “Thinking outside the box” and being very creative with the innovation characters
PREFERRED Employers Insurance Lindsey Williams (PEI), dresses up in silly and fun costumes to celebrate their “Innovator of the month” during their monthly town hall meetings.
PREFERRED
Employers Insurance Click on the link(s) below to see how PEI celebrates their Innovators, Ideas, Successes, and Failures
Link to 9/15/20 Town Hall
Link to 12/8/20 Town Hall
Click on this photo to watch the PEI Forrest Gump video
CAROLINA CASUALTY
Carolina Casualty celebrates Halloween as the Berkley Innovation characters too! The following CCI employees are pictured below: Bryan Fortay, (InnOVader), Debbie Burgess, Tiff Burke, Patty Caviness, Bill Hannah, Krystal Bourbon, and Kendra Perdue.
Berkley Life Sciences
Mildred McPherson’s grandchildren, “Our two favorite scarecrows!” Jennifer Widmer’s daughters Abigail as Luna Lovegood and Kate as an UNO card and her dog Bailey getting into the Halloween spirit Erica Smith’s daughter “Elsa from Frozen”
BERKLEY
HUMAN SERVICES Our pets enjoyed Halloween as much as we did!
BERKLEY Small Business Solutions Entries for Berkley Small Business Solutions Pumpkin Contest
BERKLEY
Risk Administrators
Kelly Bierman “NACHOOO!” Barbara DeCosta warns us to beware of the cat that lurks behind the monitor Michael Neff’s dog Rue enjoying the apple orchard in Stillwater, MN
BERKLEY Technology Underwriters The pumpkin contest at BTU was a “real hoot”
BERKLEY Insurance Australia PumpKIM scared us in the dead of night! The team in Australia had a scream at a nationwide Hallowe’en event with Kimberly Maisey (Berkley Insurance Australia) winning BEST DRESSED!)
MORE COOL
Halloween Photos
Gina Giorgi’s (Berkley Crime, a division of Berkley Financial Specialists) son Leland is adorable next to the scarecrow Triena Edwards (RSS) makes a great hippy in her Halloween costume Sacha Gonzalez (Union Standard) and Jerry make a great Harley Quinn and the Jokerists)
BERKLEY ONE
Christi Bohnsack’s daughters are adorable in wheelbarrow and the Jurassic Park Jeep Nancy Rawley and her pups are all ready for Halloween Joel Corallo’s daughters enjoy getting dressed up for Halloween Mike McKernan’s cuties all ready to trick-or-treat
DIWALI Celebration Diwali is one of the biggest festivals celebrated by Hindus all around the globe. The festival of lights signifies peace and joy, the victory of good over evil, and light over darkness every day. During this festival, people clean their homes, decorate every corner with lights, lamps, diyas, flowers, rangoli, and candles. The celebrations of Diwali 2021 lasted for five days, from November 2nd through the 6th.
Phani Penumarty’s (Berkley One) adorable children celebrating Diwali
BERKLEY ONE
Morristown Employee Office Outing Fall festivities include a hayride, pumpkin line up, pumpkin patch and tractor pics
Berkley Healthcare
HALLOWEEN PARTY
Click on the photo below to see the Pumpkin Contest hosted by the S.E.A.L.S. (Special Events & Activities Leaders) at Berkley Healthcare—congratulations to the winners!
BERKLEY KEY RISK The Pumpkin carving contest at Berkley Key Risk had some great submissions
Click on the photo to the left to see all the carved pumpkins along with the winners. Congratulations to Corey Tucker for this winning, smokin’ hot pumpkin!
WRBC
Home Office Pumpkin Carving Contest
“Melvin” (bottom left corner) and submissions by: Tony Ciambriello, Brett Dubin, Janeth Zenhausern, Christina Rundbaken, Gina Orlins, Dana Frantz, Liana Fairchild, Kaitlyn Adamini, and Steve Kennedy
Bill and Rob Berkley stopped by to see “Melvin” and all the carved pumpkins
Thanks to Karen Schlanger (Ellie), Haydee van Middelkoop (Sofia and Eva), Leo Balestri (Josephine), and Nancy Tejeda (Jake & Leila) for sharing these little cuties.
ACADIA INSURANCE
Happy Halloween from Acadia Insurance
The Acadia team has some great costumes, which is your favorite?
Congratulations Congrats to the following employees that have been recently married
Matt Harrison (Berkley Asset Protection) at his recent wedding with BAP employees Greg Smith, Phil Morelli, Matt Harrison and wife, Ashley Mehyo, Betty Niebanck, and Jay Viray Jenna Belous (Berkley Cyber) has a virtual bridal show, along with her wedding photo Chris DeCandia (Berkley Entertainment) and his new wife Yaxira celebrated their “COVID-delayed” wedding at The Hamilton Manor in Hamilton Township, NJ on August 19th, 2021. Though legally married on August 15th, 2020 with an intimate family ceremony, they were finally able to safely celebrate this past August at their venue, surrounded by their closest family and friends
ADMIRAL
INSURANCE
Admiral employees spend time together at their annual employee appreciation event
Berkley Financial and
Statutory Services (BFINS) Christmas in July (July 19-22) - BFINS did a Beach theme with the greeting “Happy Huladays.” They had a daily stocking stuffer that was passed out for those in the office and they sent a package with all the stocking stuffers to those working from home. They also had daily treats: Icee Pops and Hawaiian Punch, Christmas donuts and Christmas cookies.
CY-HAWK Week (September 7-10) - This is the big football game between the Iowa State Cyclones and the Iowa Hawkeyes. To celebrate, the BFINS team had a daily prize drawing along with a daily game. They did a Football Toss, Bags Tournament and guess the M&M’s (winners won the M&M’s). They also had a tailgate lunch to round out the week.
BFINS dresses up for Halloween
Berkley Insurance Asia/ Hong Kong Branch
Roden Tong CEO of the Hong Kong Branch Berkley Insurance Asia with his amazing team at the Hong Kong branch celebrating 5 years with characteristic energy and cheer.
Betty Niebanck (BAP) BAP employee Betty Niebanck grew her hair during COVID and recently donated it to Children with Hair Loss. The kids love gray hair because they can die it any color they want!
BERKLEY SURETY
& Berkley Cyber Celebration TGIF Every Friday they send out either a “TGIF Humor” or a “TGIF Trivia” (Holiday related if possible). Here are a couple recent examples
Contact Amanda LaPlatte for the answer!
BERKLEY KEY RISK
The Key Risk office enjoyed a baseball outing together
Berkley Mid Atlantic Group BMAG Night at The Diamond with our local Double AA baseball team, Richmond Flying Squirrels
Michelle Middleton (BMAG President)
Jim Gow (BMAG)
BMAG
AGENT EVENT President Michelle Middleton and CSO Jim Gow host agents at a Yankees Phillies game
Hosting agents at the US Open
Berkley Mid Atlantic Group
& VERUS
“Berkley Boo Bash” Halloween celebration 2021
BMAG team is happy to be meeting together again
NAUTILUS INSURANCE
Berkley Journey – Nautilus’ Return to Office: Back On Campus, Back In Action! Nautilus employees returned to the office Monday, October 4, and much has been done to reestablish the feeling of community! With support from Senior Leadership, Team Nautilus has led the charge to organize a Welcome Back Ice Cream Social with scoops served by the Senior Team. While Team Nautilus rallies the Nautilus community, it extends its focus to the community at large. The month of November is host to the internal 30 Days of Giving campaign with collection bins and financial contributions accepted for three deserving local charities. Next on the event calendar is a Veterans Day Barbecue with lunch grilled to perfection by Senior Leaders and Holiday Party scheduled mid-December. At Nautilus, they work hard and play hard!
BERKLEY Brazil
In Brazil they celebrate Kids Day on October 12; they sent a toy and chocolate to all their kids
Berkley KEY RISK The Key Risk employees had a lot of fun dressing up in the office and at home
WELCOME BACK
Key Risk had a food truck come to help welcome back their associates to the office
MIDWEST Employers Casualty Dean Mandis participates in a march with firefighter gear to honor the first responders and others who died in 9/11
BERKLEY Technology Services (BTS) Click on the photo to the left to see Jennifer Iverson dressed up as a disco dancer and several other cool costumes from the BTS team.
BERKLEY
Accident & Health BAH employees had fun celebrating Halloween in the office
Cindy Bright, Clinical Underwriting Team—Heather Edelman, Sharonda Broadwater and Rachael Page. Underwriting and Actuary Team—Kris Williams, Connor Pittfield, Mary Otway, Lance Williams. Claims Bugs—Janice Frascino and Shannon Fisher. Laura Giffen and Rita Torchio
MORE BAH PHOTOS (kids and pets)—BAH children: Carolyn Kniffin (twin mermaids), Matthew Bryon’s kids, Lee Davidson’s grandkids, and Don Roberts’ kids BAH pets: Frank Jancura (Senorita Grace), Linda King (Batdog Murphy), and Brenda Minns (Musician Maddie and Roxie the Lion)
BERKLEY
Entertainment BEI visits the State Fair of Texas for a Company Outing
Thanks to Laura Powell (BEI) for sharing her Fall photos
VELA
CHICAGO OFFICE VISIT
Carol LaPunzina and Leo Balestri Visit the New Chicago Office On September 15, 2021 Carol LaPunzina, SVP of Human Resources and Leo Balestri, VP Talent Management visited the Naperville & Chicago office locations. The pictures captured Carol and Leo having dinner after a full day in in the Chicagoland area with Dan Spragg, President of Berkley Select, Christoph Ritterson, SVP Marketing for Berkley One, Bill Fair, Chief Underwriting Officer for Berkley Select, Lisa Rowland, AVP Marketing for Berkley select, Nick Piechocinski, Human Resources Manager, Berkley Select 4 Underwriting Trainees – Kevin Burke, Kaylee Coyle, Michael Lux and Jenna Martin. Due to the pandemic the new Chicago office which opened in October 2019 eventually had limited employees coming in after March 2020 as the number of COVID cases increased. Carol and Leo’s visit was almost like a kick-off for the return-to-office for the Chicago location which fully re-opened on October 4, 2021.
BERKLEY SELECT Berkley Select Welcomes Employees Back to The Office – Chicago
Employees engaging in fun activities and post COVID @ Return to Office: Chicago office welcomed employees back to the office and celebrated with pizza (no photos though) Vela kept employees engaged during COVID with Vela Club. Piper Kauffman Vela Chicago office spearheaded the activities. We utilized Teams to stay in touch with each other throughout the Pandemic by engaging in fun activities. Wellness Club, Foreign Language, Cooking/ Recipes, Photography, Reading/Book Club, and Wine Club
VELA
RETURNS TO THE OFFICE
Vela (Omaha office) employees Meredith White and Ann Jenkins happy to reunite back in the office; Stephanie Hillman (Vela Atlanta office) is also happy to be back in the office
BERKLEY ONE Thanks to Berkley One for sharing these cute Halloween photos from the Morristown, New York, Chicago, and Wilmington offices
The Marketing Team dressed up as “A Berkley One Branded Halloween”
Berkley One Events
Ft Lauderdale Boat show – Deb O’sullivan representing the Rec Marine unit Berkley One E Day at the Big I in Westchester—attending for Berkley One were Alex Horowitz, Paul Cuzzola, Christoph Ritterson, Chris Waller, Katja Zigerlig and Theresa Stasny Little Boat Wine Tasting— Katja Zigerlig and Garrick Towle at an influencer event
Our virtual agency event with Tin Can Studios was a lot of fun!
Berkley Life Sciences BLS keeps employees engaged with a few rounds of cornhole
Claire Pollard & Mike DeHetre, “Let the games begin!” Kelly Newton, Jennifer Widmer and Johanna Brand “Wait, should the board be on the ground?!”
UNION STANDARD Insurance
The USI Underwriting Services team (Irving/Dallas office) is happy to be back in the office together
Back Row—(left to right): Beckett Perkins, Tracey Anderton, Linda Lucky, Robert Owen, Ivory Lockett, Melissa Baeza, Katie Womack, and Teri Brown