VP, Territory Director, Commercial Surety, Central Region

Zurich is currently looking for a VP, Territory Director for our Commercial Surety Group in the Central Region. The Central region is the one of the largest regions within Zurich and the territory includes North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Although our preference is for the individual to be based in our Chicago or Schaumburg office, we would also consider other significant metropolitan locations within the Midwest Region.

You will be expected to travel as necessary to support the needs of the team and to cultivate key broker relationships within the region.

This is a great opportunity to utilize your management skills to help us profitably manage our Commercial Surety book of business.

This is a critical leadership position that will focus on developing our underwriting talent and driving and cultivating broker relationships.

We are looking for a Leader that will exercise strong technical underwriting knowledge while managing a team of production underwriters.

A Leader that will empower, develop, and drive a cohesive team in delivering on our strategy in an appetite appropriate manner that strengthens our market positioning.

This role requires an influential approach to business relationships and oversight on strategic underwriting practices.

The VP, Territory Director, Commercial Surety is responsible for :

• Managing a team of market facing underwriters, providing continuous coaching, and acting as a mentor to the team.
• Overseeing development plans for underwriters to ensure they have the capabilities to drive profitable business results.
• Developing processes and reviewing policies relevant to underwriting to ensure they are in line with strategic business objectives.
• Identifying market trends and coverage exposures that may impact business results; working with our actuaries to insure a proper rate / price structure
• Managing relationships with key internal stakeholders to identify opportunities for service improvement to ensure commercial viability and customer satisfaction.
• Participating in leadership team meetings to provide specialist guidance and enable the implementation of policies, projects and change initiatives to produce profitable results.
• Contributing to the business strategy to align underwriting strategy with wider business goals.
• Underwriting and analyzing new and renewal business within delegated authority levels.
• Recommending and implement action plans after reviewing agency books of business and profit / growth results and trends.
• Developing and maintaining relationships with distributors (agents and brokers) in support of business retention and profitable new business
• Working with customers and distributors (agents & brokers) to determine their insurance-related needs and provide solutions.

Basic Qualifications :

• Bachelor’s Degree and 10 or more years of experience in the Underwriting, Market Facing, Broker, Carrier, or Risk Management area within the Commercial Insurance industry
• Bachelor’s Degree with 20 or more years of experience in Claims or Underwriting Support area within the Commercial Insurance industry
• Experience in Commercial Surety
• 2 or more years of people management experience

Preferred Qualifications :

• Advanced knowledge and practice of Surety Bonds
• Strong managerial, team building, and organizational skills
• Established Broker relationships
• Strong relationship, presentation skills, negotiation, and leadership skills
• Ability to interact with the C-Suite
• Knowledge in risk selection and assessment
• Ability to manage complex portfolios
• Technical knowledge of insurance industry operations and processes
• Knowledge of loss trends, triangles, and ratemaking

As a condition of employment at Zurich, employees must adhere to any COVID-related health and safety protocols in place at that time ().