Special Section sponsored by TMPAA

PGI Commercial

Key programs administered include: habitational package and umbrella; allied healthcare; miscellaneous E&O, including architects and engineers; self-storage warehouses; exterior insulation and finishing systems contractors; and coin dealers and collectors

PGI Commercial is a program administrator serving a number of classes of business from four locations nationwide. The organization was formed a few years ago when two predecessor firms joined together. Since then, additional MGAs have been brought on board.

The firm, which underwrites on behalf of 11 different companies, offers 11 distinct programs—from allied healthcare to umbrellas. Some are national programs. Others are available in select states. “Our largest is a habitational program for commercial apartment buildings and condos,” says Richard Trezza, PGI Commercial managing partner. “We do that on a package basis.” The program is available in 19 western, midwestern and eastern states, and the District of Columbia.

“We also underwrite three professional liability programs,” Trezza adds. “Allied healthcare is the largest of the three.” That program, available nationwide, focuses largely on ambulance and EMT operations, home healthcare, physical therapy, outpatient clinics, imaging centers and other related healthcare businesses. Architects and engineers represents another professional liability specialty, as does miscellaneous E&O.

The group also offers programs for coin dealers and collectors; exterior insulation and finishing systems contractors (EIFS); restaurants/bars; liquor liability; and real estate owners umbrella. A new self-storage warehouse program has just been introduced.

Before assuming his current role when PGI Commercial was formed in 2005, Trezza was president of New Age Brokerage, one of the predecessor firms, where he worked for more than a dozen years. His fellow managing partner, Justin Tweedie, came from Primary Group’s headquarters, which were in Annapolis, Maryland, before PGI Commercial was created. Before that, he worked in Lloyd’s of London as an underwriter and director of two Lloyd’s of London Syndicates.

PGI Commercial’s Morristown, New Jersey, headquarters provides organizational support in the form of systems, accounting, underwriting management, reporting, marketing and more. “From a technology standpoint, we have worked hard to bring efficiencies to the marketplace,” Trezza explains. “We implemented a fully integrated platform in 2006, with paperless files, fully integrated from clearance through rating through policy issuance and accounting.” Also, for classes of business that warrant it, PGI Commercial has created front end online capabilities that allow producers to obtain real-time quotes.

Branch offices operate as production underwriting offices. The Anaheim Hills, California, office is headed by Jill Bay and is actively involved in a number of the programs. It has responsibility for EIFS contractors, as well as PGI Commercial’s habitational business. Susan Fowler heads the Troy, Michigan, branch, which serves as the focal point for the firm’s liquor liability and restaurant program business. Frank Maenza heads the Morristown, New Jersey, branch, which handles many programs, including the recently implemented self-storage warehouse program.

The Marlton, New Jersey, office, headed by Robert Keyser, houses the professional liability operation, a unit that enjoys a reputation in the marketplace as an operation “that can get the tougher things done,” Trezza remarks. The unit’s long-term expertise in professional liability classes supports that reputation, he adds.

For many of its programs, PGI Commercial takes a fairly analytical approach to the business, Trezza notes. “We use predictive models and other data tools that I believe are unique to the marketplace.”

PGI Commercial has been involved with Target Markets Program Administrators Association since the firm’s inception. Longer, actually. “One of our predecessor companies was an initial, if not early, member,” Trezza says. Involvement offers benefits, not the least of which is access to markets. “The biggest thing it does for us is provide access to many of the decision makers on the carrier side,” he notes. *