18 minute read
Broker Spotlight
Cowbell Cyber Now Admitted in Tennessee for Standalone Cyber
In today’s economy, every business – regardless of size – can be victim of a cyber incident. It’s a matter of “when,” not “if.” Your clients need your help to get access to cyber coverages that provide them with effective financial protection from cyber incidents.
Cowbell Cyber is excited to be partnering with Insurors to bring you exclusive cyber insurance options that are admitted in Tennessee and 30 other states. Cowbell’s standalone cyber insurance programs include Cowbell Prime 100 for companies with up to $100 million in annual revenue, as well as Cowbell Prime 250 for businesses with up to $250 million in annual revenue.
Cowbell Prime is written on AM Best “A” rated paper and offers some of the most robust standalone cyber forms in the market. Their policies are fully customizable, come with preset industry-specific packages, and even offer unique endorsements for construction and manufacturing.
With higher limits (up to $15 million) than most other programs and risk assessment services for policyholders powered by data and artificial intelligence, Cowbell provides more value to your clients. Their risk services include recommendations and even more insights through the use of connectors that reveal potential security weaknesses from cloud applications.
Currently admitted in 31 states (more coming soon), Cowbell is quickly growing to become the premier choice for cyber insurance coverage for small and mid-size businesses in the U.S.
Cowbell’s mission is to make cyber insurance easy for both policyholders and agents with a simplified application process, unparalleled clarity of coverage, expedited quoting and binding, and customized policies. In addition, ongoing risk assessments allow your client to adjust their insurance coverage as their business risks evolve.
Brokers and insurance agencies who are interested in an appointment with Cowbell can get in touch with the company at https://cowbell.insure/for-agencies/ and learn more in this 90second video https://youtu.be/xjFZYmYCfxs u
The Best Cyber Protection for SMBs on the most robust, admitted cyber insurance forms
TM
Customized policies
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at: https://cowbell.insure/for-agencies/
Cowbell Factors quantify risks in real-time and continuously. Cowbell Insights deliver recommendations to mitigate risks.
Independence can’t happen alone
Independence means freedom, but it also means responsibility. It is about staying true to the commitments you’ve made - to your clients, your colleagues, and your community.
Keystone connects you to a community of like-minded independent agencies. Our mission remains unchanged: to provide access to the expertise, resources, and relationships that sustain independent insurance agencies over the long haul.
Keystone. Independence works better together.
Contact Michele Bicknell for more information:
Association Update (cont. from pg. 35)
Under 40 class of 2020." Each year the list features the best of the best from East Tennessee's business community. The honorees are made up of individuals under the age of 40 from a variety of industries, communities and backgrounds who are making an impact in Knoxvillearea business leadership. This is the 14th class that Knox.biz has honored.
Union City Insurance Wins Erie Award
Union City Insurance Partners, LLC was recently awarded with a Founders' award for 2019 by Erie Insurance. The award reiterates the agency's commitment to serving their local community.
Gurien and Hudson Honored by CMS
White & Associates Insurance recently announced that two agents, Shelia Gurien and Tommie Hudson, have been recognized for their hard work and expertise in helping consumers enroll in and manage qualified health coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
This achievement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a member of the 2020 Marketplace Circle of Champions highlights their success in actively enrolling over 100 local consumers during the 2020 Medicare Open Enrollment Season. The Marketplace Circle of Champions program recognizes the hard work, expertise, and service of Marketplaceregistered agents and brokers.
Veritas Named Among "Best of the Best"
Johnson City-based Veritas Risk Management and Insurance Services was recently voted as the best in all the insurance categories in the Johnson City Press "Best of the Best" for 2020. The agency was the readers' choice winner in home, auto, life and business insurance. u
Across the country people wake up every morning
and head to work. They work in retail, construction,
warehouses, and factories making sure they can
support their families and make it home safely at the
end of each day.
At Stonetrust, we know a little something about showing
up when it matters most, and we strive to always
be there for the independent insurance agents and
policyholders that trust us with their business.
800.311.0997 STONETRUSTINSURANCE.COM
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Preferred Property Program can help you procure Umbrella coverage for your insureds with an AXV A.M. Best rated carrier for the following types of risks:
Developer Sponsored Boards Master Associations High-rise Associations & Apartments to 35 stories are eligible and more Limit options ranging from $5 million to $50 million Coverage can include excess D&O ● General Liability ● Auto ● Employee Benefits Employers Liability, Including Employment Practices Liability* (*if covered under the D&O) Follow Form EPLI is available only up to $25 Million limit
In 2016 we partnered with American Union Risk Underwriters (AURA) located in Florida. With our new partner we can now also o er our comprehensive Umbrella, with unsurpassed service and for the following types of risks: Hotels ● Motels ● Timeshares ● Lessor’s Risk Enclosed Malls Shopping Centers Retail ● O ce Buildings ● Warehouses ● Light Industrial Apartments Limit options ranging from $5 million to $100 million For information on our AURA program, contact our experienced underwriter Tom Clementi at 877-506-1430 or visit our website, www.aurains.com
For more information contact our team of Underwriters 888-548-2465 www.ppp-quotes.com
Company Briefs
Lawence Named as New TDCI Commissioner
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced recently that Carter Lawrence will serve in his cabinet as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance, effective immediately. Lawrence was serving as Chief Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Commerce & Insurance. He previously served as Interim Commissioner from June to October of 2019.
He has also served on Tennessee’s Economic Recovery Group throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, assisting Gov. Lee’s efforts to reboot the state’s economy.
TrustedChoice.com Named Best Insurance Site
TrustedChoice.com was recently named Best Insurance Website of 2020 by WebAwards. Dozens of insurance industry websites are considered for this award every year. Notable past winners of this award include American Family in 2011, Progressive in 2012, GEICO in 2015, and Insurify in 2016. Congratulations to the TrustedChoice.com team for this recognition.
R-T Specialty Opens Birmingham Office
R-T Specialty has announced that it has established a Birmingham, Alabama office, and that J. Mason Johnston, CPCU, ARe has joined the firm and will lead the office as president. Mason is a property and builder’s risk specialist and joins RT Specialty from CRC Insurance Services where he has been since 2001. Prior to CRC, Mason was a treaty reinsurance underwriter with Hartford Reinsurance on multiline per risk and catastrophe treaties.
Central Promotes Brown to Director
The Central Insurance Companies have announced the promotion of Kurtis Brown, CPCU to Director of National Partner Relationships. In this role, Brown will focus on business development and strategic partnership with the company’s agency partners who operate on a countrywide scale. He will provide direction, resources, and opportunities for a more focused approach toward growth and profitability to enhance Central’s growing national presence. Brown joined Central in 2014 as Marketing Manager for Western Ohio. Prior to joining Central, he gained experience in the industry as both an independent agent and a marketing representative for Federated Mutual Insurance.
Delta Dental CFO Ballard Recognized by NBJ
Jeff Ballard, the Chief Financial Officer for Delta Dental of Tennessee, was recently voted as the Large Private Company CFO of the Year by Nashville Business Journal. Ballard has been with the company for five years and has over 25 years of financial management experience. He previously served as CEO of Magazines.com.
State Farm to Acquire GAINSCO
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and GAINSCO, Inc. recently announced that they have entered into an agreement pursuant to which State Farm will acquire GAINSCO for approximately $400 million in cash.
The transaction is expected to close in early 2021, subject to approval by GAINSCO’s shareholders, the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the HartScott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, obtaining regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
GAINSCO concentrates on the non-standard personal automobile insurance market, specializing in minimum-limits personal auto insurance.
The transaction is the first acquisition of an insurance company by State Farm in its 98-year history.
GUARD Offering Policyholders Leak Prevention
Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies recently announced a partnership with Guardian™ by Elexa to provide smart leak prevention systems to the insurer's Homeowners policyholders.
According to Sy Foguel, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway GUARD, "We know protecting your assets is critical. That's why we have partnered with Guardian to offer these leak detection and prevention systems to our Homeowners policyholders. With Guardian, you can monitor potential sources of leaks in your home 24/7. The system includes a smart phone app that will send notifications and even allows you to control it remotely."
Berkshire Hathaway GUARD is offering insureds the Guardian Leak Prevention System Plus. Homeowners can place the detectors near toilets, washing machines, and other appliances or fixtures to monitor for leaks. The Valve Controller then communicates directly with the Leak Detector and can close the water main automatically in the event of a leak, freezing temperatures, earthquake, or power failure.
Hippo Secures $350 Million in Capital
Hippo Enterprises, the high-growth insurtech group that’s transforming home insurance, announced a capital investment of $350 million from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited, a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc. Through this partnership, Takashi Sato, a managing partner of MS&AD Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, will join Hippo’s board of directors as an observer.
The investment will support Hippo’s product roll out in additional states, to reach 95 percent of the U.S. homeowners population in the next year, as well as providing additional capital for its insurance and reinsurance companies. The investment solidifies the strategic partnership between the two companies, which began with MS&AD Ventures’ initial investment in Hippo’s Series E funding round in July 2020.
National Guardrail Safety Week Launched by Builders Mutual
The inaugural observance of national Guardrail Safety Week was launched October 19-23, 2020. Builders Mutual Insurance Company, a leading writer of commercial insurance for the construction industry in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, joined forces with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Job-Site Safety Institute (JSI) and Safety Maker to launch the initiative. Our collective intent is to raise awareness of the importance of guardrails and to promote consistent use on job-sites to save lives and send more people – both workers and job-site visitors – home at the end of the day.
This year’s virtual campaign focused on partnerships and awareness with Builders Mutual providing content through an email campaign, multiple daily social media posts and the broadcast of a video podcast via Facebook live. The company shared original blog articles, training resources and videos on their social channels that could be shared by followers and used on job-sites to educate employees and visitors about the importance of guardrail safety.
The live production of their Building Progress podcast featured two industry experts, Brad Hammock, an attorney with Littler Mendelson in Washington, D.C., and Josh Hollingsworth, safety manager with Buchanan Construction in Asheville, North Carolina, who discussed the importance of guardrail safety as it relates to risk, liability and job-site accountability. Maryland-based Harford Mutual Insurance announces the conversion of its corporate structure to a mutual holding company forming a new parent company, Harford Mutual Insurance Group, effective October 1, 2020. The finalization of the conversion extends the important benefits of mutuality rights to all policyholders in their subsidiary underwriting companies, Harford Mutual Insurance, Firstline Insurance, and their newest underwriting company, 1842 Insurance.
The conversion allows all policyholders to benefit from the member-owned, one member-one vote mutual philosophy that has helped guide Harford Mutual for 178 years, while also giving the company a renewed ability to focus on longterm benefits to its members and their communities through investment in innovative products, new technologies, as well as new opportunities for sustainable and responsible growth.
To complement the restructure and new strategic direction, the company also embarked on a rebranding initiative, reimagining its logo and revealing a new icon that more fully tells their mutual story – illustrating their continued commitment to their founding principles as they look to the future.
Zywave Acquiring ITC
Insurance technology provider, Zywave, recently announced the acquisition of Insurance Technologies Corporation (ITC), a leading provider of marketing, rating, and management software and services to the insurance industry. Together with Zywave’s existing portfolio of solutions, the acquisition solidifies Zywave’s position as the leading provider of solutions for carriers and independent insurance agencies to help them drive business efficiency and accelerate growth.
Zywave plans to align and integrate ITC’s products with its Sales Cloud offering, which includes multiple front-ofoffice solutions that streamline mission-critical workflows to strengthen organic growth. Within the Sales Cloud, ITC’s personal lines rating solution will be a natural complement to Zywave’s exclusive suite of existing market-leading CPQ offerings that enable more efficient and accurate quoting and proposals for employee benefits and commercial lines quoting.
A.M. Best Upgrades Utica National
Utica Mutual Insurance Company (Utica Mutual) (New Hartford, NY) and its intercompany pool participants and reinsured affiliates, collectively referred to as Utica National Insurance Group, have earned an AM Best Financial Strength Rating (FSR) upgrade to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and
the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) to “a” from “a-”. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) has been revised to stable from positive.
Said Rich Creedon, Chairman and CEO, “This important acknowledgement of our financial strength has been many years in the making and reflects our stable outlook and reliability as a leading regional insurance carrier. This acknowledgment from AM Best is a welcome validation of our employees’ hard work, their commitment to our customers and agents, and being at our best when our customers need us most.”
Summit Names Marks as VP of Sales
Summit, a leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance services in the southeastern United States, is pleased to announce that Mr. Paul Marks has been named vice president of Sales.
In 2002, Mr. Marks joined Summit as an agency executive in the Sales department, and throughout his time with the company, has held roles of increased responsibility. He served as a Loss Prevention manager from 2007 to 2010 and assistant vice president of Loss Prevention from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Marks most recently served as an assistant vice president of Sales for Summit’s Southeast Region.
“I am excited to announce that Paul is assuming broader responsibility for this important part of the organization,” says Carol Sipe, Summit’s president and CEO. “He has demonstrated tremendous leadership throughout his career with Summit, and I am confident in his ability to carry out this role.”
Mr. Marks earned a Bachelor of Arts in Risk Management and Insurance from Eastern Kentucky University. His professional designations include Associate in Underwriting (AU) and Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC).
Amerisure Promotes Al-Zoubi to CIO
Amerisure has promoted Amjed Al-Zoubi to Chief Information Officer. He had previously been CTO for the company, which he joined in 2018. Reporting to Greg Crabb, Amerisure's president and CEO, Al-Zoubi is responsible for IT, as well as the business process and portfolio management office and innovation team. He also will continue to lead the organization's Agility Practice Group.
Al-Zoubi joined Amerisure as VP of application systems. Before that, he was an IT Director at USAA Life Company and also worked at CUNA Mutual Group. u
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Moving on From Internet Explorer
It's Time for the Industry to Update written by Kailey Andrews, Titan Web Marketing Solutions
Internet Explorer was first released by Microsoft in 1995. From its initial release, Internet Explorer came installed by default on every Microsoft computer. Twenty-five years later, Internet Explorer has run its course as a safe internet browser. Many internet users still use Internet Explorer as their main browser and have not moved over to a newer internet browsing source. If you have not switched over to a newer browser, it may have caused you some issues while trying to access anything online.
Lack of Support
Internet Explorer has become infamous for displaying websites differently than other browsers do. Your company’s website may look fantastic on your screen, but if another user was browsing on an older version of Internet Explorer, it could look terrible. In January of 2016, Microsoft stopped supporting versions 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Internet Explorer. Since then, there have been no patches or security updates - rendering your computer more vulnerable to viruses and malware.
No Security Measures
Microsoft admitted to a critical vulnerability within the Internet Explorer browser that allows for malicious hackers to hijack computers that are still running this outdated program. All a potential victim has to do is to visit a specifically crafted website for their personal information to be compromised. Microsoft informs, “An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.” To protect yourself and others in the office, it’s time to look into a new browser.
Introducting Microsoft Edge
Internet Explorer has become so outdated that even Microsoft wants you to switch to another browser. In February of 2019, a security researcher from Microsoft issued a statement urging those using Internet Explorer to do away with the discontinued browser immediately. If you want to stick with Microsoft programs, there is no need to worry. They have crafted a safer, faster, and updated browser to replace Internet Explorer called Microsoft Edge. This is the browser that now comes installed on every Microsoft computer – similar to its previous counterpart.
Insurance Carrier Response
For years, agencies were afraid to switch their internet browser for fear of compatibility issues with carrier portals. In recent years, however, carriers have realized the need to support additional browsers such as Chrome and Firefox. Even with that in mind, some carriers have clung to Microsoft compatibility.
With the introduction of Edge and the “phasing out” of Explorer, even those carriers still clinging to the past will have to upgrade their interface. Worried they may not offer it for access your agency needs? Fear not, Edge also offers a “Compatibility View” that will allow you to open specific sites with Explorer settings. Just click the Settings and more icon in the top-right corner and then search “Explorer” in the settings tab. It will bring up an option to “Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode.” Turning this option “on” will allow sites that require Explorer to be loaded while you’re using Edge.
Saying Goodbye
It’s always difficult to say goodbye to something you’ve used for years, but it’s time to move on. The reality is that Internet Explorer has been slowly dying for years and it’s reached the end of its road. No matter where you choose to go with your next browser, it’ll be a massive improvement from what you currently know. If you have an older version of Internet Explorer, it’ll be a breath of fresh air to visit a webpage without any issue and long load time. Say goodbye to Internet Explorer and hello to a whole new browser!
About the Author
Kailey Andrews serves as the marketing coordinator for Titan Web Marketing Solutions. With a marketing and social media background, Kailey lends her expertise to clients to assist in their digital marketing efforts. u
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