August's Select Employee (2022)
Meet Ashley Fredricksen, our Assistant Vice President of Underwriting for Lawyers Professional Liability (LPL). We sat down with Ashley to discuss her impressive career trajectory in LPL in addition to learning more about Berkley Select’s recently launched Lawyers Middle Market sector.
“The LPL market is highly competitive and we are seeing new entrants into the space all the time. The skill of our underwriters, paired with the strength and stability of the Berkley brand and our 30-year Berkley Select history is something that sets us apart from many of our competitors.“
Can you tell us a little more about your background in the industry and how you ended up with us here at Berkley Select?
I started with Berkley Select as an intern during my last semester in college, and was hired into our Nonprofit Department. Always looking for ways to grow and learn, I’ve moved around several times and underwrote our Accountants Professional Liability book for a time, which then led to an opportunity to try out the retail side of the business as an Account Executive. I learned pretty quick that underwriting was a better fit for me and found myself back at Berkley Select in 2013 underwriting for our Lawyers Professional Liability Department. Since 2013, I have continued to focus in the LPL space. I left to work for another carrier in 2018 but found myself back at Berkley Select in 2020. Since my return, I have increased my responsibilities since rejoining the company again.
This is why I always laugh when asked how long I’ve been with Berkley Select. I like to tell people that I’ve been around the company for 14-years, as I have left twice and come back twice – you could say I’m definitely a Boomerang employee. I’ve learned to appreciate our company for its phenomenal culture and truly team-oriented atmosphere. From the President to our most junior staff, every employee really does matter and has a voice. When work is a significant part of our lives, having people that you truly like and feel supported by makes all the difference!
Congratulations on your recent promotion to Assistant Vice President, Underwriting! With that, can you tell us how you came into your role to lead our middle market LPL product?
When I rejoined in 2020 as a Senior Underwriter under new leadership with a new vision for the company, that paired well with my interest in expanding our success in the small law space into the middle market. As Berkley Select values the input of all our employees, my efforts in developing a strategy to grow into the middle market was recognized through being named as the head of our LPL middle market and excess products.
What are some of the challenges you have experienced being a leader of our middle market product?
Our legacy Berkley Select business has been well known in the small law firm space (under 11 attorneys). Often, we find that one of our biggest challenges is to reframe how our partners think of us. In some aspects we are flattered that our agents / brokers have really listened to us, but now it is about getting the message out that the value that we bring within the small firm space also crosses over into our middle market product.
How much has LPL changed and evolved since you started your career in insurance? Specifically, what are some of the challenges/changes you are noting in LPL both now and during the COVID-19 pandemic?
At the end of the day, most LPL policies offer similar coverage. With the continued increase in competition in the marketplace, however, we are seeing new coverage enhancements, such as our sub-limited coverage for unpaid legal fees, among other enhancements not previously available in the market. The evolution of Cyber-related exposures and products has also impacted E&O products. At this time there is not a lot of consistency from carrier-to-carrier in their approach – it will be interesting to watch how the market responds over time.
As everyone had more time during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw an uptick in marketing of risks and firms moving carriers during 2020 through 2021. As COVID-19 has become more normalized in our day-to-day, and people have returned to their busy schedules, etc. we’ve seen a leveling off in marketing efforts.
With Berkley Select opening up to the middle-market sector, can you talk about some of the features we offer that stand out from the competition?
The LPL market is highly competitive and we are seeing new entrants into the space all the time. The skill of our underwriters, paired with the strength and stability of the W.R. Berkley brand and Berkley Select’s 30-year history is something that sets us apart from many of our competitors. We just recently finished a review of our product offering and have recently released new enhancements offering coverage for assistance with unpaid legal fees, affirmative social engineering coverage and the ability to purchase an individual ERP for a partner departing to continue their career elsewhere.
With Berkley Select celebrating its 30th year in business, what are some of the things you can attribute to its success and longevity?
#1 – the people. We truly have one of the greatest groups of people at Berkley Select that are willing to work together toward a common goal. Our smaller size is also an asset as it allows us to be an agile organization that can respond quickly to capitalize on changes in the market.
When you are not busy managing a growing LPL Underwriting team, what can we find you doing?
Outside of work hours, I’m usually chasing around after our five and two-year old kiddos or you can find me at the CrossFit gym where I love to push myself to the limit.