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Partnership Beyond the Policy

Berkley Public Entity (BPE) was founded in 2012 as a member company of W.R. Berkley Corporation.  BPE is a growing, dynamic company with the vision of being the preeminent carrier in our marketplace.  As our name implies, BPE is 100% focused on providing innovative insurance and reinsurance solutions to public entities.  It is the only thing we do.

 

When providing insurance solutions, our underwriting approach is to write public entity risks in the first layer and above of risk transfer.  While most of our business is written excess of a self-insured retention, we do entertain deductible accounts where it makes sense.  When providing reinsurance, we write either the lead layer or excess layers.  We strive to be geographically diversified and will write both individual entities and pool business. 

 

We believe the key to our success is a fully integrated company that brings the knowledge and expertise of underwriting, claims, actuarial, loss control and financial professionals to everything we do.  While many of our insureds face similar challenges, no two insureds are identical and we strive to creatively address the unique needs of each insured.

 

Our management team brings a unique blend of backgrounds, with some historically focused on the public entity sector and others with broader insurance industry experience with carriers from both inside and outside the W.R. Berkley group.  These varied perspectives have been molded into a cohesive vision for BPE which ultimately benefits our clients in many different ways.

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Scott Barraclough

Chief Executive Officer

Scott has over 25 years’ experience in the Property & Casualty industry.  Prior to joining Berkley Public Entity, Scott spent over 20 years with Admiral Insurance Group, another WR Berkley subsidiary, in various financial and underwriting roles, including as its President and CEO.

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John Forte

Chief Operating Officer

Prior to joining Berkley Public Entity, John was an Industry Practice Leader for Public Entity, Higher Education and Not for Profit at a major international insurer. John also served as the Product Line Manager for Public Entity and Higher Education managing a large portfolio of Casualty business.

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Eileen Fay

Senior Vice President, Claims

Eileen joined Berkley Public Entity after serving in numerous claims roles over 15 years at a major international insurer.  Eileen lead several Casualty claims teams, including the Public Entity group. She oversaw the overall claim technical and resource management of these units handling severity and coverage issues in all 50 states. Eileen is an attorney in PA & NJ.

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John Forte

President

Prior to joining Berkley Public Entity, John was an Industry Practice Leader for Public Entity, Higher Education and Not for Profit at a major international insurer. John also served as the Product Line Manager for Public Entity and Higher Education managing a large portfolio of Casualty business.

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Kim Ladzinski

Vice President,  Chief Claims Officer

Kim joined Berkley Public Entity after serving in numerous claims roles for over 20 years at a major international insurer.  Kim lead several casualty claims teams, including the Public Entity group. She oversaw the overall claim technical and resource management of these units handling severity and coverage issues in all 50 states. 

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Joe Smith

Chief Financial Officer

Joe has 30 plus years of Property & Casualty Accounting, Financial and Operations experience.  He joined the W.R. Berkley Companies in 2007.

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Alex Kapraun

Chief Actuary

Alex joined W.R. Berkley in 2014 and spent 5 years working for Berkley Human Services before joining Berkley Public Entity.  He has extensive experience in both pricing and reserving roles, overseeing Casualty and Non-Casualty products.  Alex is a respected Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

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Sondra Ashmore

Vice President, IT

Sondra joined W.R. Berkley in 2017 and has been working in the field of technology for over 20 years. She received her doctorate in Human Computer Interaction and serves as a board member for the RiskStream Collaborative.

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Underwriting

Margaret Carfora
VP - Home Office Underwriting

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Brooks Clinton

VP - Underwriting

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Kayla Donnelly

Underwriter I

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Shana Ehrhardt

Executive Underwriter

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Jason Glickstein 

Associate Underwriter

Jaclyn Miller

Underwriting Manager, Team Lead

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Andy Vuong

Executive Underwriter

Richard Zak

Executive Underwriter

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Alexandra Smith 

Associate Underwriter

Claims

Jeffrey Meyers

Claims Director

Rob Rementer

Claims Director

Ashley Naismyth

Claims Litigation Specialist

Regina Voigtsberger

Claims Director

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Melissa Kurdyla

Claims Litigation Specialist

Richard Zak

Regional Underwriting Manager

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CONTACT US

Thank you for your message. We will be in touch with you.

Berkley Public Entity is a Berkley Company

Founded in 1967, W. R. Berkley Corporation is a Fortune 500® company that is among the largest commercial lines writers in the United States. Each of the operating units within Berkley participates in a niche market requiring specialized knowledge about a territory or product. Our competitive advantage lies in our long-term strategy of decentralized operations, allowing each of our units to identify and respond quickly and effectively to changing market conditions and local customer needs.

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This decentralized structure provides us with the flexibility to delve deeply into every new challenge and opportunity that affects public entity liability. For example, our insured can purchase cyber security coverage through Berkley Cyber Risk Solutions, another Berkley company, without the need for a separate policy.

EWING

200 Princeton South Corporate Center

Suite 280

Ewing, NJ 08628

CHICAGO

550 W. Jackson Blvd.
Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60661

MORRISTOWN

412 Mt. Kemble Avenue

Suite G50

Morristown, NJ 07960

MINNEAPOLIS

222 South 9th Street

Suite 2500

Minneapolis, MN 55422

STAMFORD

1 Station Place 

Suite 600

Stamford, CT 06902

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