Headquarters:
Toronto, ON, Canada
Year founded:
2014
Number of employees:
18
Phone:
647-792-3934
Email:
admin@trinityunderwriting.ca
Website:
trinityunderwriting.ca
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/trinity-underwriting-managers
“Our expertise is with small to medium-sized accounts with revenues of $20 million or less. We are comfortable with challenging industries like technology, engineering, healthcare, life sciences, and sports”
Michael McLachlan,
Trinity Underwriting
Read on
IB Top Brokerages
Award Winner
SHIELDED INSURANCE BROKERS
Award Winner
Trinity Underwriting
Michael McLachlan
President
Sarah Suschkov
AVP, Special Lines
Ruth Ng
Underwriting Manager, Financial Lines
Leadership
Michael McLachlan, president of Trinity Underwriting, has over
40 years of experience in the Canadian insurance industry on all sides of the business, including broking, reinsurance, primary insurers, and MGAs. The market relationships he has built ensure that Trinity is able to provide consistent, stable products and services, always with a view to the long term. In his role, Michael leads a group of strong underwriters who can rise to the challenge of providing clients
with the reliable insurance coverage to ensure that their assets
are protected.
President
Michael McLachlan
Sarah Suschkov, AVP of special lines, manages the underwriting and profitability of Trinity’s specialty book. She is Trinity’s sixth employee, joining as a production underwriter focused on life sciences, and has been with the company for six years. Her goal is to help the firm’s broker partners with placing specialty risks through profitable and sustainable underwriting.
In accordance with Trinity’s vision, Sarah strives for underwriting excellence and constant learning in the company’s various niches. She loves outdoor adventures, neat science facts (especially related to neuroscience or space), animals, and a game of Jeopardy.
AVP, Special Lines
Sarah Suschkov
As underwriting manager for financial lines, Ruth Ng focuses on helping the company to expand its directors’ and officers’ liability appetite and develop a new product for M&A insurance. Ruth has worked with a number of reputable insurance companies. She brings more than 15 years of industry experience focusing on financial lines underwriting across a wide range of business lines.
From the D&O underwriting perspective, Ruth has the technical know-how to underwrite the primary layer for not-for-profit, small and medium-size enterprises, financial institutions, and large corporate accounts with US or international listing status. She holds an MSc in Economics and Finance as well as a law degree.
Underwriting Manager, Financial Lines
Ruth Ng
SPECIAL REPORT
Home
Bio
“Our expertise is with small to medium-sized accounts with revenues of $20 million or less. We are comfortable with challenging industries like technology, engineering, healthcare, life sciences,
and sports”
Michael McLachlan,
Trinity Underwriting
Read on
Award Winner
Trinity
Underwriting
George Zhu
Controller
Sarah Suschkov
AVP,
Special Lines
Michael McLachlan
President
Leadership
Headquarters:
Toronto, ON, Canada
Year founded:
2014
Number of employees:
18
Phone:
647-792-3934
Email:
admin@trinityunderwriting.ca
Website:
trinityunderwriting.ca
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/trinity-underwriting-managers
Michael McLachlan, president of Trinity Underwriting, has over 40 years of experience in the Canadian insurance industry on all sides of the business, including broking, reinsurance, primary insurers, and MGAs. The market relationships he has built ensure that Trinity is able to provide consistent, stable products and services, always with a view to the long term. In his role, Michael leads a group of strong underwriters who can rise to the challenge of providing clients with the reliable insurance coverage to ensure that their assets are protected.
President
Michael McLachlan
Sarah Suschkov, AVP of special lines, manages the underwriting and profitability of Trinity’s specialty book. She is Trinity’s sixth employee, joining as a production underwriter focused on life sciences, and has been with the company for six years. Her goal is to help the firm’s broker partners with placing specialty risks through profitable and sustainable underwriting.
In accordance with Trinity’s vision, Sarah strives
for underwriting excellence and constant learning
in the company’s various niches. She loves outdoor adventures, neat science facts (especially related
to neuroscience or space), animals, and a game
of Jeopardy.
AVP, Special Lines
Sarah Suschkov
George Zhu is an experienced finance leader with over 15 years in the Toronto insurance industry. He had led many accounting and finance teams for top insurance brokers, as well as the second largest Lloyd’s syndicate, and a number of MGAs. He has been applying his engineering mindset, finance knowledge and underwriting experience to help support rapid business growth.
His strengths are in the systematic overhaul, improvement and broad-scale business process optimization for finance reporting, accounting systems, auditing, regulatory, tax compliance and operations. George is a dedicated professional and holds CIP, CPA, CGA and FCCA (UK) designations.
Controller
George Zhu
SPECIAL REPORT
Home
Bio
For the second year running, Shielded Insurance Brokers has claimed the number-one spot among IB’s Top Brokerages. In 2020, it was record-setting growth that drove the company’s impressive success. This year, says managing director Stuart Brady, the key ingredient behind the win is the Shielded culture. Brady is proud of the shared vision for constant improvement across all aspects of the business. “We are thrilled to take out the win again, and it’s hats off to the team for their hard work over the past year,” he says.
“Our expertise is with small to medium-sized accounts with revenues of $20 million or less. We are comfortable with challenging industries like technology, engineering, healthcare, life sciences, and sports”
Michael McLachlan,
Trinity Underwriting
Read on
Award Winner
Trinity Underwriting
Tiziana Seabrook
Underwriting Manager, Sports and Recreation
Sarah Suschkov
AVP, Special Lines
Michael McLachlan
President
Leadership
Headquarters:
Toronto, ON, Canada
Year founded:
2014
Number of employees:
18
Phone:
647-792-3934
Email:
admin@trinityunderwriting.ca
Website:
trinityunderwriting.ca
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/
trinity-underwriting-managers
SPECIAL REPORT
Home
Bio
Michael McLachlan, president of Trinity Underwriting, has over 40 years of experience in the Canadian insurance industry on all sides of the business, including broking, reinsurance, primary insurers, and MGAs. The market relationships he has built ensure that Trinity is able to provide consistent, stable products and services, always with a view to the long term. In his role, Michael leads a group of strong underwriters who can rise to the challenge of providing clients with the reliable insurance coverage to ensure that their assets are protected.
President
Michael McLachlan
Sarah Suschkov, AVP of special lines, manages the underwriting and profitability of Trinity’s specialty book. She is Trinity’s sixth employee, joining as a production underwriter focused on life sciences, and has been with the company for six years. Her goal is to help the firm’s broker partners with placing specialty risks through profitable and sustainable underwriting.
In accordance with Trinity’s vision, Sarah strives for underwriting excellence and constant learning in the company’s various niches. She loves outdoor adventures, neat science facts (especially related to neuroscience or space), animals, and a game of Jeopardy.
AVP, Special Lines
Sarah Suschkov
George Zhu is an experienced finance leader with over 15 years in the Toronto insurance industry. He had led many accounting and finance teams for top insurance brokers, as well as the second largest Lloyd’s syndicate, and a number of MGAs. He has been applying his engineering mindset, finance knowledge and underwriting experience to help support rapid business growth.
His strengths are in the systematic overhaul, improvement and broad-scale business process optimization for finance reporting, accounting systems, auditing, regulatory, tax compliance and operations. George is a dedicated professional and holds CIP, CPA, CGA and FCCA (UK) designations.
Controller
George Zhu
For the second year running, Shielded Insurance Brokers has claimed the number-one spot among IB’s Top Brokerages. In 2020, it was record-setting growth that drove the company’s impressive success. This year, says managing director Stuart Brady, the key ingredient behind the win is the Shielded culture. Brady is proud of the shared vision for constant improvement across all aspects of the business. “We are thrilled to take out the win again, and it’s hats off to the team for their hard work over the past year,” he says.
George Zhu
Controller
George Zhu is an experienced finance leader with over 15 years in the Toronto insurance industry. He had led many accounting and finance teams for top insurance brokers, as well as the second largest Lloyd’s syndicate, and a number of MGAs. He has been applying his engineering mindset, finance knowledge and underwriting experience to help support rapid business growth.
His strengths are in the systematic overhaul, improvement and
broad-scale business process optimization for finance reporting, accounting systems, auditing, regulatory, tax compliance and operations. George is a dedicated professional and holds CIP, CPA, CGA and FCCA (UK) designations.
Controller
George Zhu
Ruth Ng
Underwriting Manager,
Financial Lines
As underwriting manager for financial lines, Ruth Ng focuses on helping the company to expand its directors’ and officers’ liability appetite and develop a new product for M&A insurance. Ruth has worked with a number of reputable insurance companies. She brings more than 15 years of industry experience focusing on financial lines underwriting across a wide range of business lines.
From the D&O underwriting perspective, Ruth has the technical know-how to underwrite the primary layer for not-for-profit, small and medium-size enterprises, financial institutions, and large corporate accounts with US or international listing status. She holds an MSc in Economics and Finance as well as a law degree.
Underwriting Manager, Financial Lines
Ruth Ng
Ruth Ng
Underwriting Manager, Financial Lines
As underwriting manager for financial lines, Ruth Ng focuses on helping the company to expand its directors’ and officers’ liability appetite and develop a new product for M&A insurance. Ruth has worked with a number of reputable insurance companies. She brings more than 15 years of industry experience focusing on financial lines underwriting across a wide range of business lines.
From the D&O underwriting perspective, Ruth has the technical know-how to underwrite the primary layer for not-for-profit, small and medium-size enterprises, financial institutions, and large corporate accounts with US or international listing status. She holds an MSc in Economics and Finance as well as a law degree.
Underwriting Manager,
Financial Lines
Ruth Ng
Tiziana Seabrook
Underwriting Manager, Sports and Recreation
Tiziana Seabrook is the underwriting manager for Trinity Underwriting’s sports and recreation division. She brings with her 20 years of experience in property and casualty underwriting.
Tiziana has spent the past eight years of her career specializing in the sports and recreation sector. She is responsible for the company’s strategic growth and has played a key role over the past two years in the launch and growth of its sports division. She is a strong believer that excellent customer service and an understanding of the importance of sport brings success to Trinity.
Underwriting Manager, Sports and Recreation
Tiziana Seabrook
Tiziana Seabrook
Underwriting Manager, Sports and Recreation
Tiziana Seabrook is the underwriting manager for Trinity Underwriting’s sports and recreation division. She brings with her 20 years of experience in property and casualty underwriting.
Tiziana has spent the past eight years of her career specializing in the sports and recreation sector. She is responsible for the company’s strategic growth and has played a key role over the past two years in the launch and growth of its sports division. She is a strong believer that excellent customer service and an understanding of the importance of sport brings success to Trinity.
Underwriting Manager, Sports and Recreation
Tiziana Seabrook
George Zhu
Controller
Tiziana Seabrook is the underwriting manager for Trinity Underwriting’s sports and recreation division. She brings with her 20 years of experience in property and casualty underwriting.
Tiziana has spent the past eight years of her career specializing in the sports and recreation sector. She is responsible for the company’s strategic growth and has played a key role over the past two years in the launch and growth of its sports division. She is a strong believer that excellent customer service and an understanding
of the importance of sport brings success to Trinity.
Underwriting Manager,
Sports and Recreation
Tiziana Seabrook
Founded in 2014, Trinity Underwriting is determined to be one of the leading MGAs in Canada. Only their clients can judge if they are succeeding in this
goal or not. To accomplish it, the company has to meet its clients’ needs,
not its own.
Michael McLachlan, Trinity Underwriting’s president, has over 40 years of experience in the Canadian insurance industry, on all sides of the business: broking, reinsurance, primary insurers, and MGAs. The market relationships he has built ensure that Trinity Underwriting is able to provide consistent, stable products and services, always with a view to the long term.
What differentiates Trinity Underwriting from the competition? “In a market with shrinking capacity, we’re open for business,” says McLachlan. “We target professional and specialty liability accounts (E&O and D&O) and can package CGL, cyber, property, legal expense and crime with those policies. Our expertise is with small to medium-sized accounts with revenues of $20 million or less. We are comfortable with challenging industries like technology, engineering, healthcare, life sciences, and sports.”
Samantha Cooper
National Business Development Manager
Stacy Walton
Manager, People Experience and Operations
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Sarah M Stewart
Associate Vice President,
Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Samantha Cooper is the national business development manager at Trinity Underwriting. She got her start in the insurance industry on the restoration side, where she worked in marketing and business development at the head office of two large restoration franchises. Her role at Trinity focuses on building new relationships with insurance brokers across the country, and maintaining existing ones by educating them on Trinity’s appetite and growing its book of business through a variety of methods.
Samantha believes the key to growing as a company is building strong relationships and being easy to do business with. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (honours) degree in Communication Studies and Multimedia from McMaster University, as well as a Public Relations Certificate from Mohawk College.
National Business Development Manager
Samantha Cooper
Stacy Walton brings five years of leadership and human resources experience to her role at Trinity Underwriting. Her primary focus is on putting employees first by continuously improving engagement, development, and retention. She also works closely with Trinity’s president to prioritize business strategies and manage various operations and administrative responsibilities. She is a strong
believer that employees should always be a company’s top
priority, and anything is possible if people are engaged in an organization’s activities.
Stacy has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University
of Guelph.
Manager, People Experience and Operations
Stacy Walton
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation of the company’s internal customer service department.
Associate Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Samantha Cooper
National Business Development Manager
Sarah M Stewart
Associate Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Stacy Walton
Manager,
People Experience and Operations
Samantha Cooper is the national business development manager at Trinity Underwriting. She got her start in the insurance industry on the restoration side, where she worked in marketing and business development at the head office of two large restoration franchises. Her role at Trinity focuses on building new relationships with insurance brokers across the country, and maintaining existing ones by educating them on Trinity’s appetite and growing its book of business through a variety of methods.
Samantha believes the key to growing as a company is building strong relationships and being easy to do business with. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (honours) degree in Communication Studies and Multimedia from McMaster University, as well as a Public Relations Certificate from Mohawk College.
National Business Development Manager
Samantha Cooper
Stacy Walton brings five years of leadership and human resources experience to her role at Trinity Underwriting. Her primary focus is on putting employees first by continuously improving engagement, development, and retention. She also works closely with Trinity’s president to prioritize business strategies and manage various operations and administrative responsibilities. She is a strong believer that employees should always be a company’s top priority, and anything is possible if people are engaged in an organization’s activities.
Stacy has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Guelph.
Manager, People Experience and Operations
Stacy Walton
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at
The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation of the company’s internal customer service department.
Associate Vice President, Leasing and
Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Samantha Cooper
National Business Development Manager
Karen Bannister, CM
Vice President, Marketing
Stacy Walton
Manager, People Experience
and Operations
Sarah M Stewart
Associate
Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Samantha Cooper is the national business development manager at Trinity Underwriting. She got her start in the insurance industry on the restoration side, where she worked in marketing and business development at the head office of two large restoration franchises. Her role at Trinity focuses on building new relationships with insurance brokers across the country, and maintaining existing ones by educating them on Trinity’s appetite and growing its book of business through a variety of methods.
Samantha believes the key to growing as a company is building strong relationships and being easy to do business with. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (honours) degree in Communication Studies and Multimedia from McMaster University, as well as a Public Relations Certificate from
Mohawk College.
National Business Development Manager
Samantha Cooper
Stacy Walton brings five years of leadership and human resources experience to her role at Trinity Underwriting. Her primary focus is on putting employees first by continuously improving engagement, development, and retention. She also works closely with Trinity’s president to prioritize business strategies and manage various operations and administrative responsibilities. She is a strong believer that employees should always be a company’s top priority, and anything is possible if people are engaged in an organization’s activities.
Stacy has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Guelph.
Manager,
People Experience and Operations
Stacy Walton
Karen Bannister has over 20 years of marketing expertise and has a Chartered Marketer designation from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is a strategic marketing leader with a career record of success in developing and executing effective marketing strategies, growing revenue, and overseeing multi-talented teams. She also holds five certifications for marketing and brand management.
Karen has successfully completed the
Mini-MBA, Essentials of Management program at Schulich School of Business, and most recently completed the Communications and Leadership Program at The Ivey Academy.
Vice President, Marketing
Karen Bannister, CM
Sarah M Stewart has more than 15 years
of strategic leasing and customer care experience in residential property management. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Centurion’s national leasing platforms, residential
lead generation, and overall customer experience excellence through operation
of the company’s internal customer
service department.
Associate Vice President,
Leasing and Call Centre Operations
Sarah M Stewart
In addition, he says that since Trinity Underwriting is an MGA rather than a wholesaler, the company can underwrite professional liability accounts in-house and can provide same-day turnarounds.
Trinity Underwriting has a group of energetic and technically strong underwriters who understand the challenges brokers face in their quest to provide their clients with broad, reliable coverage.
Finding top talent in the insurance industry has been a struggle for many companies throughout the hard market. There’s a shortage of skilled underwriters and a large number of jobs. Trinity Underwriting has overcome this challenge because of its success in promoting from within the company.
“Many of our underwriters joined us with little to no experience and after completing our training program have been promoted to underwriting roles,” says McLachlan. “We encourage them to learn to underwrite several different lines until they find the one that fits best. It’s all about finding candidates with a great skill set and personality. Things like good judgement, attention to detail and decision-making abilities are just some of the attributes we look for.”
Trinity Underwriting is majority owned by Canadian investors, with a small supporting investment from one of the largest reinsurers in the world. This enables the company to provide nimble and flexible insurance solutions with the backing of huge financial resources.
The most important aspects of any relationship are trust and integrity. It has been said that building a reputation takes a lifetime and losing it only takes a moment. Trinity Underwriting is aware of this and wants clients to feel completely safe entrusting the company with the protection of their assets.
Markel Canada is a leading P&C insurer that operates as a syndicate of Lloyd’s. The company is a leader in liability, with developing specialty sectors and user-friendly online business solutions. Markel’s three Canadian offices house market-leading underwriters who work with clients to offer optimal risk management solutions, while their dedicated claims team ensures each claim is handled promptly, professionally and fairly. Their parent company, Markel International, is a subsidiary of Markel Corporation, a
US-based holding company for insurance and investment operations around the world.
Professional and financial risks (PFR) is a significant business area for Markel both in Canada and across their global operations. PFR in Canada covers their extensive professional liability and management liability appetite, and also includes their Cyber 360, fintech and financial institutions products.
What distinguishes the PFR team from the competition? “At Markel Canada, we have seen a surplus of sustainable growth in our PFR department, and it’s due to a few different factors,” says Christopher Kelen, vice president of PFR. “Firstly, our product suite; historically, Markel’s MGA-based roots placed us as a specialty market with the ability to write a lot of very niche risks. Although this is still true, our team has done a lot of work to help redefine our appetite and rolled out clearer products and underwriting practices to help establish who we are in the PFR landscape.”
An example of this is their fintech product. As one of the only providers, Markel was able to position itself as a leader in the field. Other offerings and examples include providing an internal Canadian claims team, offering the Markel Connect product that delivers online solutions for small business
E&O and D&O, as well as the ability to deploy excess limit capacity on the D&O and E&O towers of some of Canada’s larger companies.
Furthermore, growth has empowered the PFR team to acquire some of the best and brightest underwriting talent
in Canada.
Kelen heads the PFR team and has underwriting representation and authority across all provinces and territories. With domestic capacity and claims handling being one of the strongest benefits of choosing to bind business with Markel Canada, they’re equally backed and supported by Markel International, their professional indemnity team, and have access to knowledge and resources from experts in the PFR landscape. This allows Markel Canada to seamlessly integrate and enhance new products, policyholder services and underwriting practices into their offering with confidence. This enables Markel Canada’s brokers and clients to feel informed, protected and supported from the moment they approach them for a quote.
What’s in the near future for the Markel PFR team? “PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability,” Kelen says. “Part of this change includes underwriters and leadership dedicated to professional liability, which includes fintech, tech E&O and cyber, as well as a similar structure dedicated to management liability and financial institutions.”
Markel Canada is a leading P&C insurer that operates as a syndicate of Lloyd’s. The company is a leader in liability, with developing specialty sectors and user-friendly online business solutions. Markel’s three Canadian offices house market-leading underwriters who work with clients to offer optimal risk management solutions, while their dedicated claims team ensures each claim is handled promptly, professionally and fairly. Their parent company, Markel International, is a subsidiary of Markel Corporation, a US-based holding company for insurance and investment operations around the world.
Professional and financial risks (PFR) is a significant business area for Markel both in Canada and across their global operations. PFR in Canada covers their extensive professional liability and management liability appetite, and also includes their Cyber 360, fintech and financial institutions products.
What distinguishes the PFR team from the competition? “At Markel Canada, we have seen a surplus of sustainable growth in our PFR department, and it’s due to a few different factors,” says Christopher Kelen, vice president of PFR. “Firstly, our product suite; historically, Markel’s MGA-based roots placed us as a specialty market with the ability to write a lot of very niche risks. Although this is still true, our team has done a lot of work to help redefine our appetite and rolled out clearer products and underwriting practices to help establish who we are in the PFR landscape.”
An example of this is their fintech product. As one of the only providers, Markel was able to position itself as a leader in the field. Other offerings and examples include providing an internal Canadian claims team, offering the Markel Connect product that delivers online solutions for small business E&O and D&O, as well as the ability to deploy excess limit capacity on the D&O
and E&O towers of some of Canada’s
larger companies.
Furthermore, growth has empowered the PFR team to acquire some of the best and brightest underwriting talent in Canada.
Kelen heads the PFR team and has underwriting representation and authority across all provinces and territories. With domestic capacity and claims handling being one of the strongest benefits of choosing to bind business with Markel Canada, they’re equally backed and supported by Markel International, their professional indemnity team, and have access to knowledge and resources from experts in the PFR landscape. This allows Markel Canada to seamlessly integrate and enhance new products, policyholder services and underwriting practices into their offering with confidence. This enables Markel Canada’s brokers and clients to feel informed, protected and supported from the moment they approach them for a quote.
What’s in the near future for the Markel
PFR team? “PFR at Markel is making important structural changes to support more defined product differentiation between professional liability and management liability,” Kelen says.
“Part of this change includes underwriters and leadership dedicated to professional liability, which includes fintech, tech E&O and cyber, as well as a similar structure dedicated to management liability and financial institutions.”
“We encourage [our underwriters] to learn to underwrite several different lines until they find the one that fits best”
Michael McLachlan,
Trinity Underwriting
“We encourage [our underwriters] to learn to underwrite several different lines until they find the one
that fits best”
Michael McLachlan,
Trinity Underwriting
“We encourage [our underwriters] to learn to underwrite several different lines until they find the one that fits best”
Michael McLachlan,
Trinity Underwriting