Captive International announces the winners of its inaugural US Captive Awards
The awards are based on feedback received from the captives industry, and in particular from readers of Captive International. Winners were selected based on responses to an online poll, as well as phone interviews with select contacts, taking into account the effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism of institutions in a range of categories relevant to the industry.
Vermont has been named as the domicile of the year, with Alabama and North Carolina both highly commended as domiciles for captive insurance.
Beecher Carlson was the captive manager of the year, and also bagged the award for reinsurance broker of the year, with the firm's Pete Kranz and Kody Darr named as captive management professional of the year and individual reinsurance broker of the year, respectively.
Arsenal and Atlas were both highly commended as captive managers, with Justin Law of Arsenal and Jeremy Colombik of Management Services International highly commended for the individual captive management award.
The law firm of the year award went to Dickinson Wright, with Paul Frank + Collins, Morris Manning & Martin and Primmer all highly commended for their legal work in the captive industry. The individual legal award went to Stephanie Mapes of Paul Frank + Collins, while Arsenal's Cassie Bachman and Skip Myers of Morris Manning & Martin were both highly commended.
Taylor Chandler was named as the accountancy firm of the year, ahead of Brown Smith Wallace and Johnson Lambert, both of which were highly commended as accountancy firms.
The individual award for accountancy went to Alan Fine of Brown Smith Wallace, who was named as accountant of the year. Crowe's Dan Kusaila and David Liptz of Liptz & Associates CPAs were both highly commended for their accountancy work for the captive insurance industry.
SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group was the actuarial firm of the year, while SIGMA's Al Rhodes was highly commended as an actuary. Spring Consulting Group was highly commended as an actuary firm, but its own Steven Keshner took home the individual award as actuary of the year. Peter Johnson, also at Spring, was highly commended as an individual actuary, while Pinnacle Actuarial Resources was also highly commended as an actuary firm.
First Horizon was named as the bank of the year and asset management firm of the year, while Wilmington Trust was named as the winner for the letters of credit and insurance trusts specialist. TD Bank and Comerica were both highly commended for the banking award, while Comerica and People's United Bank were highly commended for letters of credit.
Tina McCuin of TD Wealth was given the individual award for banker of the year, and was also highly commended as a letters of credit and insurance trusts specialist. Comerica's Marty Ellis took the top spot in the individual award for letters of credit and insurance trusts, and was highly commended as an individual banker. Other highly commended individuals were People's United Bank's Mary Santor and Ian Davis of People's United Bank for their work offering banking services and letters of credit and insurance trusts, respectively. Robert Quinn of Wilmington Trust was also highly commended for his work in letters of credit and insurance trusts.
Morgan Stanley and Oppenheimer were highly commended for their work in asset management. But Oppenheimer's Jack Meskunas took home the individual award for asset manager of the year, with Carl Terzer of CapVisor also highly commended.
Spring Consulting was named the top firm for feasibility studies, with Spring's Karin Landry securing the individual award in this category. Beecher Carlson and SIGMA were highly commended for their work in feasibility studies, with Pete Kranz and Al Rhodes of those two firms also highly commended in the individual awards.
Iron Re secured the top spot in the reinsurance and fronting categories, while Mike Woodroffe of Kirkway won the individual award for reinsurers and Dave Raymond of Travelers was awarded the individual honour for his efforts in fronting.
AXA XL and SCOR Re were both highly commended as reinsurance firms, while AIG and Travelers were both highly commended for their efforts in fronting. For the individual awards, Bill Hodson of Gulfstream Risk was highly commended for as a reinsurer, while AIG's Mark Benz was highly commended for the individual fronting award, as was Anthony Barner of Accredited.
Kirkway International was highly commended as a reinsurance broker, as was its very own Michael Woodroffe for the individual award. Guy Carpenter was also highly commended, with the firm's Rob Collins also highly commended for his efforts individually.
Captive International asked respondents to name up to three firms or individuals, depending on the question, that they have experience of working with based on their competence, expertise and innovation. Firms and individuals were ranked out of ten, with respondents asked to reasons given for their votes.
Once all the votes were counted, our editorial team sense-checked each vote and interview notes, validating all votes by unique contact details. To determine winners, we multiplied the number of votes they received by the qualitative score out of ten.
Captive International will provide more information about the awards and the winners in a forthcoming publication, more details of which will be available in due course. In the meantime, we would like to congratulate all the winners and those that were highly commended, and thank all those who took part in voting for these awards.
The full list of winners is:
Domicile
Winner: Vermont
Highly commended: Alabama and North Carolina
Captive management firm
Winner: Beecher Carlson
Highly commended: Arsenal and Atlas
Captive management individual
Winner: Pete Kranz (Beecher Carlson)
Highly commended: Justin Law (Arsenal) and Jeremy Colombik (Management Services International)
Law firm
Winner: Dickinson Wright
Highly commended: Paul Frank + Collins, Morris Manning & Martin and Primmer
Lawyer
Winner: Stephanie Mapes (Paul Frank + Collins)
Highly commended: Cassie Bachman (Arsenal) and Skip Myers (Morris Manning & Martin)
Accounting firm
Winner: Taylor Chandler
Highly commended: Brown Smith Wallace and Johnson Lambert
Accountant
Winner: Alan Fine (Brown Smith Wallace)
Highly commended: Dan Kusaila (Crowe) and David Liptz (Liptz & Associates)
Actuarial firm
Winner: SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group
Highly commended: Spring Consulting Group and Pinnacle Actuarial Resources
Actuary
Winner: Steven Keshner (Spring Consulting Group)
Highly commended: Peter Johnson (Spring Consulting Group) and Al Rhodes (SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group)
Bank
Winner: First Horizon
Highly commended: TD Bank and Comerica
Banker
Winner: Tina McCuin (TD Wealth)
Highly commended: Marty Ellis (Comerica) and Mary Santor (People's United Bank)
Letters of credit and insurance trusts firm
Winner: Wilmington Trust
Highly commended: Comerica and People's United Bank
Letters of credit and insurance trusts individual
Winner: Marty Ellis (Comerica)
Highly commended: Tina McCuin (TD Wealth) Robert Quinn (Wilmington Trust) and Ian Davis (People's United Bank)
Asset management firm
Winner: First Horizon
Highly commended: Morgan Stanley and Oppenheimer
Asset management individual
Winner: Jack Meskunas (Oppenheimer)
Highly commended: Carl Terzer (CapVisor) and Tina McCuin (TD Wealth)
Feasibility firm
Winner: Spring Consulting Group
Highly commended: Beecher Carlson and SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group
Feasibility individual
Winner: Karin Landry (Spring Consulting Group)
Highly commended: Pete Kranz (Beecher Carlson) and Al Rhodes (SIGMA Actuarial Consulting Group)
Fronting firm
Winner: Iron Re
Highly commended: AIG and Travelers
Fronting individual
Winner: Dave Raymond (Travelers)
Highly commended: Mark Benz (AIG) and Anthony Barner (Accredited)
Reinsurance firm
Winner: Iron Re
Highly commended: AXA XL and SCOR Re
Reinsurance individual
Winner: Mike Woodroffe (Kirkway International)
Highly commended: Bill Hodson (Gulfstream Risk)
Reinsurance broker firm
Winner: Beecher Carlson
Highly commended: Kirkway International and Guy Carpenter
Reinsurance broker individual
Winner: Kody Darr (Beecher Carlson)
Highly Commended: Michael Woodroffe (Kirkway International) and Rob Collins (Guy Carpenter)
