GuideOne continues build-out with Watras and Berger hires

Expansive US insurer GuideOne has hired former Zurich middle market construction head John Watras and property-focused former Arrowhead and Ace executive Adam Berger as it continues to build out its specialty underwriting resources, The Insurer can reveal.

Watras spent almost 19 years at Zurich and was most recently vice president for the insurance giant’s middle market construction business in North America, with responsibility for its strategic leadership, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Berger was most recently at Blackboard Insurance, which was shuttered in recent months, but spent the last four years at Brown & Brown’s Arrowhead General Insurance Agency in production underwriting positions.

He was at E&S carrier Ace Westchester before that with a focus on engineered risk, sources said.

Watras is expected to take a management role focusing on specialty casualty at the West Des Moines, Iowa-based carrier.

Berger is expected to have a role leading production teams in the field for GuideOne.

The hires are the latest at the insurer, which recruited Nigel Spain in May this year as head of global technical property from The Hartford’s Navigators operation.

This publication had previously reported that construction liability was one of the lines GuideOne was looking to expand its new specialty E&S platform into as it moved beyond property.

Its specialty unit is led by Mark Groenheide, who arrived from HDI Global last year, and has made a significant drive into the property market to take big positions on a number of major programmes, including Walmart.

The carrier has undergone a rapid transformation in the last three years under the leadership of former State Auto Insurance, Rockhill Insurance and Citizens Property Insurance executive, Jessica Snyder.

It expanded into specialty lines E&S late last year as part of its strategic plan to grow in niche businesses and diversify its offerings, while remaining committed to profitable growth in its church niche and other core products.

Snyder has put in place a more aligned structure focused on profitable growth, which resulted in a return to underwriting profit last year. The achievement was recently recognised by AM Best, which revised its negative outlook on the insurer’s A- rating to stable.