Elevating Excellence: Announcing Our New Chief Underwriting Officer
A Change of Scenery
While I have been with Great American’s Environmental Division for several years, I am honored to announce my promotion to serve as the Division’s Chief Underwriting Officer. In this capacity, I am primarily responsible for the results of our book of business and administrate that through guidelines, policies, and other protocols for our underwriters. Additionally, I lead a team of exceptionally talented colleagues, encompassing the Legal, Training, and Risk Engineering teams.
The Team
Despite the numerous challenges within our marketplace, my team has consistently demonstrated unwavering dedication and diligence. Their commitment to maintaining high standards of work throughout this transitional period has been exemplary. I am proud to introduce (or re-introduce) my colleagues that have been instrumental in driving our success.
Our Legal team, managed by Ivy Rosier and supported by Abbey Aguilera and newly hired Lori Singleton, assists underwriters with drafting endorsements and addresses specific policy needs. They help review indemnification language and critical sections of purchase/sale agreements, leases and other contracts to provide legal guidance used by underwriters in their decision-making process. The Legal team also supports the Division with other compliance matters and runs our auditing program.
Leading our Training and Support team is Patrick Mahoney, who oversees learning and development efforts and underwriting support aspects for the Division. Patrick wears many hats and leverages his many years in underwriting to provide expert knowledge on environmental insurance. He is a go-to resource for our entire Division. Stephanie Stricker and Valerie Zarneski make up our training team, where they expand on the Division’s training programs while developing useful resources for onboarding team members. Additionally, they curate resources and curriculum to best serve the needs of each role and assist corporate learning & development with new materials and ideas. Alongside them, Chris Dove serves as a senior associate underwriter, where she assists in all aspects of the underwriting process and provides support for our Closure/Post-Closure product.
Finally, I manage our proficient Risk Engineering team, which delivers risk assessment services to our underwriters. They are also able to provide these services to insureds alongside a network of specialty vendors. Our Risk Engineering team is managed by Paul Scian and includes Randy Copenhaver and Sarah Pong – all with strong backgrounds in environmental sciences who excel at environmental risk evaluation, accident investigation and potential loss analysis.
Support
At the end of the day, while our primary objective is to underwrite and deliver superior environmental insurance products, our true passion lies in providing exceptional services and fostering strong relationships with you, our valued customers. Although my role has evolved and I am less involved in the networking and business dealings traditionally associated with underwriting, my commitment to ensuring that all our brokers have a seamless and successful experience remains unwavering. I am excited to continue expanding my knowledge in the business sectors I am now leading, while leveraging the expertise I gained during my time on the underwriting team. If you have any questions or simply wish to connect, please feel free to schedule a meeting with me!
Rick Ringenwald is Chief Underwriting Officer and Divisional Senior Vice President with Great American’s Environmental Division. He joins Great American from his previous position as Executive Vice President and Regional Team Leader for a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company, where he directed all environmental brokerage and business development efforts in the Northeast and Atlantic regions. With nearly 30 years of industry knowledge, Rick brings valuable underwriting skills and a unique environmental perspective to the division. He is based out of our Exton office.
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