USI in the News
USI’s National Environmental Practice Leader, Glynis Priester, was recently interviewed by Business Insurance on the litigation risk stemming from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) latest regulation on forever chemicals. Priester shared, “Our greatest concern for many of our clients is the litigation risk, and, while they may have limited or little exposure…The defense risk is a real financial consequence of this EPA regulation for many firms.” Read the full article.
USI is proud to be recognized as one of the nation’s Best and Brightest in Wellness for the second year in a row. This annual program identifies and honors organizations with the most innovative wellness, wellbeing, and human resource practices. Companies are assessed based on outcomes, analysis, tracking, participation, incentives, benefit programs, leadership, employee input, culture, and environment. Read more.
The Commercial Insurance market has seen price hikes in most major coverage lines for six years, and that trend does not appear to be ending soon. Recently, USI’s Jeff Buyze, national property practice leader, and Douglas O’Brien, national practice division manager – casualty and alternative risk, contributed to an in-depth Business Insurance article examining the many challenges facing buyers and how they can best navigate the shifting commercial insurance market. Read the article.
USI is proud to be named a finalist in two separate award categories as part of Zywave’s 11th annual Cyber Risk Awards. USI’s cyber team has been nominated as a finalist for the the Cyber Retail Broking Team of the Year award, and Nadia Hoyte, USI’s National Cyber Practice Leader, was named a finalist for Cyber Risk Industry Person of the Year. Please support USI Insurance Services for these outstanding industry recognitions by casting your vote before Friday, May 17. Vote now!
USI’s Senior Partner & Strategic Advisor, Justin Austin, will speak at this year’s Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) 2024 Capital Ideas Conference taking place April 10-13 in Phoenix, AZ. During the session, Austin will discuss the rise in insolvencies across big and small companies, detailing how trade credit insurance can manage a company’s credit risk in real-time. Learn more.
USI’s National Cyber Practice Leader, Nadia Hoyte, was recently interviewed by Business Insurance on the importance of managing vendors and third-party contractors as a critical component of cyber security. Hoyte shared, “Organizations should conduct an inventory of critical vendors and understand their incident response plans,” with third-party risk management (TPRM) being “front and center.” Read the full article.
USI’s National Executive and Professional Risk Solutions Claims Practice Leader, Joni Mason, will speak at the Seventh Annual Women in Insurance Leadership ExecuSummit on March 13-14 in Uncasville, CT. During her session on March 13, Mason will discuss the power of networking and how to talk to anyone. Learn more.
USI’s Senior Healthcare Consultant, Michelle Samadany, will speak at this year’s Crittenden Medical Liability Conference taking place April 8-10 in Charleston, SC. During her session on April 9, Samadany will discuss how healthcare providers and organizations are using clinical technology, such as wearables and mobile aps, to deliver and monitor medical care. Learn more.
USI’s Vice President of Construction, Brian Hunt, will speak at this year’s Excavation Safety Alliance Global Excavation Safety Conference taking place March 19-21 in New Orleans, LA. During the session, Hunt will discuss how construction technology and insurance can collaborate to reduce risk and drive industry safety. Learn more.
In a new interview with Business Insurance, USI's National Property Practice Leader, Jeff Buyze, discusses the risks associated with record-high office vacancy rates in the U.S. due to a continued shift to hybrid work, along with how insurance companies are responding. During the interview, Buyze shared, “Individual insurers define and treat vacancy differently, and the time periods for how long locations can be vacant before restrictions kick in may vary from 30 to 60 days. After 60 days, restrictions typically start coming into play for certain perils. For theft, water damage, malicious mischief, vandalism, exclusions may then apply.” Read the full article.
USI’s National Construction Practice Leader and Head of Industry Verticals, Danette Beck, recently participated in a broker-led industry panel discussion hosted by Insurance Business TV examining the 2024 construction insurance market. During the event panelists discussed supply chain delays, labor shortages, and a lack of education in the sector and how these challenges will affect the overall market in the coming year. View the panel discussion.
Each year, Insurance Business America’s (IBA) “5-Star DE&I Awards” recognize leading U.S.-based insurance companies for their work to foster impactful, forward-looking diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) programs. For the second year in a row, USI was among only a select number of insurance organizations to receive this honor for 2024 in recognition of our ongoing efforts to build an increasingly diverse, equitable and inclusive culture at USI through our I’m With U DE&I program. Learn more.
USI Consulting Group (“USICG”), a national industry-leading, full-service retirement plan consulting and benefits administration firm, today announced the acquisition of Rochester, New York-based Burke Group (“Burke”). Founded in 1989, Burke is a regional advisory services firm specializing in retirement plan consulting and administration, actuarial services and compensation consulting. As part of the deal, USICG will not acquire Burke's compensation consulting business, and Burke will exit this business upon joining USICG. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“For more than 30 years, our team has maintained a strong identity as independent, thoughtful, transparent and objective advisors,” stated Burke Group’s Managing Principal, Patrick Burke. “I am confident this new partnership with USI Consulting Group, one of the largest national specialized retirement businesses in the U.S. and a premier provider of defined contribution and defined benefit plan consulting and administration services, will further enhance the value and expertise we deliver to our clients each day.”
USI Consulting Group President and CEO, Bill Tremko added: “We are thrilled to welcome the talented professionals from Burke Group to the USICG family and look forward to expanding our retirement consulting expertise throughout the upstate New York region.”
About USI Consulting Group
USI Consulting Group is a national industry-leading, full-service retirement plan consulting and benefits administration firm that has been helping employers enable their workforce to successfully plan and invest for retirement for over 45 years. USICG’s integrated team of highly skilled professionals provides specialized expertise in delivering independent, comprehensive guidance and innovative, flexible retirement plan solutions to meet the changing needs of employers and their employees. USICG is an affiliate of both USI Securities, Inc. (a broker-dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC) and USI Advisors, Inc. (a federally registered investment adviser) and a wholly-owned subsidiary of USI Insurance Services (“USI”). To learn more, visit usicg.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
USI’s Regional Personal Risk Practice Leader, James Saunders, was recently interviewed by Insurance Business TV on the importance of personal cyber coverage. In the interview, Saunders explains how the personal risk of cyber-attacks has increased due to the lack of protections in place, making individuals and families easy targets for ID theft and phishing attacks. Saunders also touched on how artificial intelligence (AI) drives exposure, sharing, “…it is only going to allow the nefarious actors of criminal organizations to scale up further.” Listen to the full interview.
Catastrophe-exposed properties, especially wildfire accounts or coastal accounts in Florida, are still seeing some disruption, making this “a bifurcated market,” said USI’s National Property Practice Leader, Jeff Buyze, in a recent interview with Business Insurance. During the interview, Buyze shared that USI predicts catastrophe-exposed or non-catastrophe-exposed property with losses or poor risk quality will see rate increases of 15% to 30% in the first half of 2024, down from 25% to 150% increases in the second half of 2023. Read the full article.
USI’s National Practice Division Manager for Casualty and Alternative Risk Solutions, Douglas O’Brien, was recently interviewed by Business Insurance on current general liability and auto liability market conditions. On general liability, O’Brien shared, “I don’t think we’re going be in an environment of wholesale rate reductions for a while, but at least it’s promising that we’re seeing a leveling off of rate increases.” O’Brien also touched on the tough auto liability market, sharing, “For companies with 200 or more vehicles…clients are seeing rates increase at least 10% and sometimes 20% or 30%.” Read the full article.
USI’s National Aviation Practice Leader, James Van Meter, will moderate an expert panel of leading aviation insurance underwriting executives and airport claims executives at this year’s Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA) Risk Management Conference taking place January 17-19 in Austin, TX. During the session, panelists will explore current airport claims trends, the state of the airport liability insurance market in 2024, challenges with war coverages, and how airport risk managers can be prepared to navigate these challenges. Learn more.
USI is proud to be recognized by Newsweek as One of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity in 2024. Newsweek partnered with Plant-A Insights Group, a market data research firm, to score companies based on their commitment to recruiting and advancing employees of various ages, races, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities. The evaluation process includes an examination of publicly available data, interviews with HR professionals, and an anonymous online survey conducted among a diverse group of employees at companies across the United States. Participants shared insights on working environment, corporate culture, training and career progression, proactive management of a diverse workforce, and more. This recognition directly reflects USI’s ongoing commitment to the inclusive culture we are continuously innovating. Read more.