Please note our office will be closed Friday, March 29th in honor of the Easter holiday. We will reopen at 8:00 am on Monday, April 1st

News & Views: For ALL of our stakeholders

Newsletter – Friday, August 30, 2019
I was pretty new to my role as leader of the Tuscano Agency back in 2001 when the corporate giant Enron failed. After years of fraud and misdirection, the company which was the 7th largest in the US at the time, lost $74 billion in shareholder value, much of it held by their employees. My understanding was that it was a result of the leadership’s need to drive shareholder prices and convince the financial markets of their superior business acumen. As a young business leader, that event had a big impact on me; I knew then that as long as I would be running the Tuscano Agency, I would never put profits over people.
 
I know, this is kind of a weird and random intro to a feel-good newsletter! What reminded me of this was an email newsletter I recently received about corporate purpose. In it, the author pointed to a recently-issued statement by Business Roundtable, a corporate lobby group, where 181 CEOs from some of the top US companies – Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, to name a few – acknowledge that corporations do not exist only to serve shareholders. These leaders instead affirmed a commitment to all their stakeholders - which includes customers, employees, suppliers, communities and not least of all, their shareholders. I scratch my head and wonder, “What took you so long?” 
 
Over the years Tuscano has tried to operate in a way that brings maximum value to our stakeholders. We’ve found that by specializing in product lines, our underwriting teams can provide even greater levels of market and product knowledge. Which in turn, serves to bring extra value to our customers, builds solid working relationships with our markets, and empowers our employees to be product experts. Along those lines, we’ve got some exciting news! We’ve re-organized our Casualty team to serve you even better.
 
The Casualty team at Tuscano has been growing and with that, we’ve recognized that the diversity of risks they are called on to underwrite every day is huge. On any given day a casualty team underwriter might be asked to work on a GL risk, a D&O account, an environmental risk, or a work comp account. They have over 100 markets to work with as well as understand their appetites and operations. That is why we’ve decided to peel off the Professional product lines and create a new Tuscano underwriting team that specializes only in professional liability and related lines. We know that you need a quick, professional response from a friendly, helpful underwriter; we believe this new plan will help us do that better.
 
Our new Professional Team will be staffed by Debbie Stoner and Sandy Ossont and assistants Ashley Wasco and Sherry Dreistadt. They will handle Errors & Omissions, Directors & Officers, Employment Practices Liability, Cyber Liability, Media Professionals and Advertising Liability, Medical Professionals, Public Officials, and Environmental Liability. This business is often brokered and we have a lot of different outlets and markets to work with. Consolidating this business will make us better.
 
That leaves the more difficult General Liability type classes, Workers’ Comp, Product Liability and Excess Liability with the Casualty Team. This still leaves a lot of business to work on and a lot of markets to work with. Karen LipinskiDina PapasCindy Jones, and Chelsea Chiesa along with their talented support teammates – Diane HanchoskyToni Vargulish, and Erin Breid.
 
I know change is hard sometimes, but we have been planning this for a long time and we believe the transition will go smoothly. Change is only valuable when it adds value to our stakeholders and in this case, we believe it will be a win for you and a win for our staff.
 
Labor Day is just around the corner – I hope you have a wonderful day to appreciate everyone who works hard for you and brings value to your business.
 
Enjoy the weekend!
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