June's Select Employee (2022)

Our Vice President of Underwriting, Chris Zanchelli, talks about the evolution of Management Liability insurance he has witnessed in his 13+ years with Berkley Select along with some new product launches as we continue to celebrate our 30th year milestone anniversary.

“At the end of the day, Berkley Select is a relationship business. We’ve been successful because we have incredible underwriters who have helped build strong partnerships with our brokers as well as talented and experienced claims professionals who further the Berkley Select brand and customer experience every time insureds report a claim. This is the strongest we’ve been, and we’re poised to do some exciting things in the years to come.“

Chris, tell us a little bit about your background and role at Berkley Select.

I came to Berkley Select as a public D&O underwriter from the wholesale broker side of the business. Prior to my time as a broker, I underwrote private company and non-profit D&O for a large carrier. After a brief stint in the Lawyers Professional Law (LPL) department, I found a home on the Management Liability (ML) team in 2014 and I’ve been there in a variety of roles since that time.

How has the Management Liability marketplace evolved since you started working in the industry? What trends have you seen recently in ML?

The market is constantly evolving. Just look at the explosion of Cyber Liability in the past 24 months. There is so much more capacity now than there was 20 years ago. On the backend of every hardened market, it seems like there are a dozen new entrants looking to try their hand in the ML space. Additionally, we’ve seen such an aggregation of talent and resources on the broker side. Brokers have gotten really good at emphasizing the importance of ML lines for prospective Insureds of all sizes.

The past few years have been a challenge for employees, businesses, and families with the on-going pandemic. Now that businesses are opening back up and employees are returning to work, what claim trends are you seeing in Employment Practice Liability (EPL)?

Anecdotally, I think the biggest EPL claim trend we’ve seen is that EPL claims are more expensive than ever. Social inflation is real. Event-driven litigation is real. The onslaught of claims specifically tied to the pandemic has been a bit delayed (due to unemployment benefits and the FFCRA), but underwriters are always conscious of macro trends.

Congratulations! You recently graduated from the Berkley Leadership Oculus development program that focused on building innovation across the organization. What’s a key takeaway that you learned that you can share?

Thank you. It was a great experience and I was honored to participate. My biggest takeaway was that innovation and change are most impactful when viewed through the lens of our customers. There are hundreds of things that we can do to be better as an organization, but when we keep the focus on what’s most important to our distribution partners and policyholders, those are the changes that really move the needle.

What are some innovative new products that have launched or are scheduled to launch at Berkley Select?

We’re proud to be offering a monoline EPLI solution for Cannabis Dispensaries. Additionally, our Underwriting Manager Nick Matsie and his team are doing some exciting things with a newly developed customer portal for our Nonprofit D&O products. We’re hoping to streamline the quote/bind/issue process for potential Nonprofit customers (more details to come).

Berkley Select is celebrating their 30th Anniversary. What do you think has made this company so successful?

At the end of the day, this is a relationship business. We’ve been successful because we have incredible underwriters who have helped build strong partnerships with our brokers. We have really talented and experienced claims professionals who further the Berkley Select brand and customer experience every time insureds report a claim. I’ve been here long enough to see the evolution of BSL. This is the strongest we’ve been, and we’re poised to do some exciting things in the years to come. It all starts with our people.