ASI Expands Specialty Property and Excess Casualty Underwriting Teams

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In order to expand its specialty property and casualty divisions, American Safety Insurance announced the recent hiring of several talented underwriters.

“We are excited to welcome him to our team.”

William “Bill” Kropp, Assistant Vice President- Property Underwriting, will be opening a west coast office for ASI’s surplus lines property division in Woodland Hills, Calif. Bill has more than 15 years of experience in the excess & surplus lines property/package business and will be focusing on geographic diversification in the Western U.S. He has previously worked at WKFC Agency, Chubb Custom Markets and Topa Insurance Company.

“Bill’s knowledge and strong broker relationships will be instrumental in our expansion into the west coast property market,” said Jeannette Guercio, Vice President- Property Underwriting for ASI. “We are excited to welcome him to our team.”

Robert Williams joined ASI’s Tinton Fall, New Jersey, office as Senior Excess Casualty Underwriter. Bob has more than 20 years of casualty underwriting experience including the past 15 years at Fireman's Fund.

Shawn Buckman joined ASI’s Atlanta office as Senior Excess Casualty Underwriter. Shawn came to ASI from Markel and has more than 19 years experience as a casualty underwriter, including 15 years at Genstar.

“We have been making headway in expanding our excess casualty product for contractors, manufacturers and distributors,” said Joseph Savarese, Vice President- Casualty Underwriting. “Bob and Shawn bring a wealth of proven experience to the existing casualty underwriting team.”

ASI’s corporate strategy focuses on acquiring specialty books of business, small insurers, MGAs and teams of specialized underwriters that expand upon current product offerings.

“The recent expansion of our specialty property and excess casualty teams will assist in building critical mass in our newer product lines. Since 2006, we have added five new lines of business- healthcare liability, commercial property, excess casualty, products liability and fully funded products- and expanded our existing lines through the acquisition of two underwriting teams, an MGA and a small specialty insurance company,” said Joseph D. Scollo, Jr., President of U.S. Insurance Operations. “This platform will provide more significant growth opportunities when market conditions improve.”

For additional information on ASI’s specialty insurance products, please call [phone] or visit www.amsafety.com.

ABOUT ASI

American Safety Insurance (ASI) provides innovative insurance solutions for environmental remediation, contracting and other specialty risks underwritten by American Safety Casualty Insurance Company, American Safety Indemnity Company and American Safety Risk Retention Group, Inc., which, as a group, are rated "A" (Excellent) VIII by A.M. Best. ASI is a subsidiary of American Safety Insurance Holdings, Ltd., (NYSE:ASI), a Bermuda-based holding company.