Florida’s Orchid Underwriters Enters Commercial E&S Business, Hires 2 to Lead

Florida-Based Orchid Underwriters Insurance Agency, LLC, a specialty underwriter of property insurance focusing on coastal properties, has named Robert J. Rose senior vice president of Underwriting and Programs and Bryan Schofield vice president of Commercial Lines. Both are newly created positions.

Rose will be a member of the firm’s Executive Team and will oversee the strategic development, delivery and evaluation of programs and be responsible for all external relationship management. In addition, he will manage research and development and risk analysis of new products, as well as compliance with government regulations. Schofield will be responsible for developing and overseeing Orchid’s new small commercial excess and surplus (E&S) lines business.

Concurrent with Schofield’s hiring, Orchid is entering the small commercial E&S lines business, with the aim of becoming a managing general underwriter in that market.

“Demand in this market has been rapidly growing due to rate flexibility and tightening of admitted markets. We see a significant opportunity for E&S small commercial property-related coverage across the U.S., particularly in the 16 Eastern and Gulf Coast states that complement Orchid’s existing footprint and are most affected by coastal risk,” said Ken LeStrange, director.

Rose has 25 years of experience and leadership in various aspects of the industry, including strategy development, operational execution, pricing and underwriting, sales and marketing, and measurement and analytics. Before joining Orchid, he served as senior vice president at International Catastrophic Insurance Managers, LLC (ICAT) for seven years. Prior to that, he spent 17 years, most recently as general manager, Customer Experience, at Progressive Insurance Co. Rose holds a BS in Accounting from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Colgate Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Schofield has 13 years of experience in the industry and comes to Orchid from Bankers Insurance Group, where he held several positions, most recently vice president of Sales. Earlier in his career, he worked in a variety of capacities at Travelers, Markel Corporation, and State Farm. Schofield holds a BS in Risk Management and Insurance from Florida State University.

Founded in 1998 and based in Vero Beach, FL, Orchid specializes in providing specialty insurance products for homeowners and small businesses throughout the United States and the Caribbean. The company’s product offering for homeowners and condominium property insurance includes wind and wind only, general and excess flood, earthquake, builder’s risk and others.

Topics Florida Commercial Lines Excess Surplus New Markets Underwriting