MGA expands on success of its social services program, moves into management liability, public entities and real estate
By Debra Tadevich
NIF Group executives include: (from left) David Vicari, senior vice president of NIF Pro; Daniel M. Mogelnicki, senior vice president-underwriting of North Island Facilities; John A. Buckley, executive vice president of NIF Services of New York; Mark P. Maher, president of NIF Services of New York; and Michael A. Orlando, president/CEO of NIF Group.
The NIF Group has turned 25--with $164 million in wholesale premium volume. In the Fortune 500 corporate mindset, a 25-year-old organization may seem very young. However, when talking about managing general agents and program administrators, 25 years constitutes a well-established industry veteran.
NIF Group, an insurance holding company headquartered in Manhasset, New York, was incorporated in 1976, with Michael A. Orlando at the helm. Orlando continues to lead NIF Group as president and CEO. The company (also known as North Island) has gained prominence in the insurance community for its professional expertise and ability to underwrite on behalf of partnering companies and place insurance coverages for a growing network of more than 2,000 brokers and agents in the United States. NIF Group places all lines of business through its carefully selected network of more than 30 domestic and global insurance companies.
What makes NIF Group one of the leading MGAs in the U.S.? "Hiring talented underwriters," says Orlando. "Underwriters know their marketplace. They follow company guidelines and know how to operate in an insurance company environment. This gives us marketing leverage." The majority of the professional staff at NIF Group are seasoned underwriters--and this provides NIF Group with an advantage that others may not have.
"Our philosophy," says Dan Mogelnicki, senior vice president of underwriting, "is to ensure that the business we write is a profitable deal for the insurance company that we represent. If not, we would not be representing companies long term. There are many times we forsake business for that philosophy alone. There is a large pool of potential insureds," continues Mogelnicki, "but an extremely limited supply of insurance company partners."
The ongoing success of NIF Group has resulted from the expansion of the nonprofit institutional program department. It offers other programs for trade contractors, public entities and large commercial real estate portfolios. NIF Group employs more than 100 people, with an average insurance industry experience of 10 years. Each office is staffed with program underwriting, binding authority and brokerage placement specialists. NIF Pro, the group's management liability department, places business from its location at the home office.
Nancy G. Williams serves as director of marketing for NIF Group, which Michael Orlando formed in 1977.
Today, as a managing general agent (MGA) and brokerage firm, NIF Group has developed programs and provides insurance coverage for the nonprofit social service industry, the cornerstone of the company. This program is currently underwritten with SAFECO Insurance and Royal & Sun Alliance.
In 1977 Michael Orlando was faced with looking for a job or starting his own company. Orlando worked as an underwriter for a surplus lines agency, North Shore Excess, a subsidiary of The Facultative Group of Great Neck, New York, which, in turn, was owned by Foremost Insurance, an insurer of mobile homes. The hard insurance market of the 1970s forced the parent company to divest itself of the Great Neck operations. North Shore had a book of $4 million in excess and surplus business. Orlando was offered this book of business and the rest is history.
On January 1, 1977, in Manhasset, New York, Orlando formed North Island Excess and Surplus Corporation, (now NIF Group) and with him came four loyal employees. "Together," explains Orlando, "we built a specialty line of business with products liability, professional liability and medical malpractice exposures with nonprofit organizations."
Orlando had built a portfolio of nonprofit social service accounts; and having developed exposure and expertise, he approached several carriers with North Island's program concept for social service organizations. It included all lines across the board. He took it to a specialty insurer and in 1978, signed the first contract. North Island's carriers provide full comprehensive coverage for the social services industry, including professional liability, general liability, property, crime, inland marine, auto and umbrella. Today, NIF Group is a bona fide program administrator for various programs. NIF Group represents such respected insurance carriers as SAFECO, AIG, General Star, Munich American, Insurance Company of Hanover and Royal & SunAlliance.
Within two years, Orlando set up a New York City office, then continued expansion through the creation of new branch offices. However, creating innovative programs is not the only cornerstone of NIF Group's excellent reputation. They value the people they hire. "It is all in the training," says Mark Maher, president of the New York office. "We get quality people from all industries with good organizational skills and build on that foundation. We create a good working atmosphere without micro-managing," explains Maher. "Employees are free to create."
"There are three people in this office (NYC) who have 15 to 20 years on the job," Maher continues. "Fifty percent of my staff, including myself, have over a decade at NIF Group. We try to make people think twice about the grass being greener on the other side."
As the company grew in the 1980s, so did the operation units. NIF Group instituted the four units that it maintains today, with one important goal in mind: to serve only as a liaison between the carrier and the producer. Those four areas are:
* Brokerage
* Contract agency binding authority for multi-lines
* Program department for nonprofits, contractors, homeowners real estate portfolio solutions and municipality programs
* NIF Pro, which includes D&O and E&O. This unit was implemented strictly as a brokerage operation.
These NIF Group key staffers have contributed to its 25-year success as an MGA and brokerage firm.
By the mid 1980s, NIF Group's regional offices began to penetrate the market in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and upstate New York--and meanwhile the New York City office continued to grow. Orlando explains that NIF Group set up small regional offices along the East Coast instead of one large home office, in order for work to get processed on a local level, as well as for the agent to feel more comfortable and to have better accessibility to NIF Group employees. NIF Group hired professional staff with knowledge of surplus lines and multi-lines in these local branch offices. However, the calling card was the social service program.
By the 1990s, NIF Group had established itself as a reputable, solid company and one that was held in high esteem by both the agent and the carrier. "Our job," says Dan Mogelnicki, "is to understand the risks that we present to the companies, while at the same time balancing that with the realities of whatever the current marketplace may be." And that NIF Group has done very well. He continues, "We are very proud of the fact that we have not once deviated from our chosen method of distribution--our customers are independent retail agents and brokers only--we do not do business directly with the insured."
Thus, NIF Group began working on a new program similar to the one-stop program for its social service clients. At the helm of this new venture was Mark Maher, president of the New York City office. This new venture, NIF Real Estate Solutions, included real estate buildings, non-habitational, and both retail and retail manufacturing. "This program was a long time in the making," explains Maher. "We worked on this property program for four years with a lot of expenditures going out the door and nothing coming in. Two years ago this program came to fruition with a partner, Munich American Risk Partners. We will continually expand on lines of business in the real estate program, including general liability and umbrella general liability."
By the end of 2002, the premium volume for the NIF Group real estate program will have reached the mid-$20 million mark. Maher says that new opportunities are always out there and NIF Group's job is to seize these opportunities by filling the voids. When big companies are shedding parts of their business, North Island sweeps in and picks up the business. "We try to create a market for those voids," says Maher. "Our future is duplicating the kinds of programs that we have executed successfully in the past, and continue our strong ties with carriers. If we can continue to do that, then our future is very bright." *
"We are very proud that ... our customers are independent retail agents and brokers only--we do not do business directly with the insured."
--Dan Mogelnicki