Why Summit’s Underwriting Stands Out in Workers’ Comp
Summit’s Underwriting department evaluates the risk associated with taking on new policyholders and renewing existing policies. When you submit a quote request to Summit, it’s more than just another submission. Our underwriting team knows that every business is different and reviews each risk thoroughly on its own merit in collaboration with our sales team and the agent. Equally valuable is our commitment to listening to our agents and explaining the rationale for our decisions.
We spoke with Chris Neyrey, assistant vice president of Underwriting at Summit, to discover how the department nurtures relationships with agents and policyholders.
Chris Neyrey
- 31 years in insurance sales and underwriting—17 of those with Summit
- Master of Business Administration, CPCU (Chartered Property Casual Underwriter), CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor) and ARe (Associate in Reinsurance)
“There’s a special blend of abilities that you can’t always teach—I call them power skills—that consist of interpersonal and technical expertise.”
– Chris Neyrey
What are your goals as a leader of Summit’s Underwriting department?
A huge chunk of my career has been on the sales side, working closely with agencies. I’m always thinking about what we can do to enhance agent relationships and processes, making sure my department has open communication to help execute our strategy and remove any roadblocks that might prevent us from serving our customers effectively.
What makes Summit’s underwriters unique vs. others in the industry?
Each agency is assigned one dedicated underwriter, which allows our Underwriting team to develop strong relationships at all levels of the agency. We also encourage our underwriters to get out and meet some of their agents in person. Every company talks about relationships, but we want our agents to know and experience that working with Summit is different. Another Summit strength is the attitude and perspective we cultivate in our underwriters. We always talk about trying to find ways to write business versus looking for reasons to decline, and we explain how we arrive at our decisions.
How do the different roles and skill sets within Summit Underwriting work to enhance our services?
Our underwriters have a special blend of abilities that you can’t always teach—I call them power skills—that consist of interpersonal and technical expertise. These skills make it possible for our department to evaluate risk based on information and statistical data available, while demonstrating professionalism, following guidelines, and articulating how we arrive at decisions. In my opinion, the fun part of being an underwriter is learning what each business does, making sure it’s classified correctly and helping agents deliver the best option to their clients.
We also pair each underwriter with an associate underwriter, who is responsible for important behind the scenes work, such as entering submissions, verifying information and processing policy changes. As I like to tell them, they are the last line of defense to check that every single detail is accurate before a policy goes out the door. And then we have our underwriting team leaders, who oversee the staff in their geographical areas and make sure we’re consistent across the organization.
The Underwriting department deals with many different types of agencies and businesses, so we’re always prepared to navigate unique situations. We have a phenomenal team.