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‘Adaptability defines us’: inside the E&S edge

From tremendous growth to improved coverage – it’s a thriving sector in 2025

Martin Burlingame

One80 Intermediaries

Industry experts

Brady Kelley

Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA)

Shanna Sweeney

Upland Specialty Insurance

Dominick Tassone

AM Specialty

Martin Burlingame is the division president of One80 Binding at One80 Intermediaries, where he leads a team that places property, liability, package, and management liability coverage across more than 30 carriers in the binding authority marketplace. Previously, Burlingame served as CEO of Bigfoot Insurance, an online MGA platform that handled submissions for over 15,000 agents nationwide – now expanding to more than 25,000 agents as part of One80 Intermediaries. A US Army veteran, he served as an armor and intelligence officer with a combat tour in Mogadishu, Somalia. He is a past president of the local chapter of NAIFA (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors), he is an active member of Rotary International, and he participates in the World Affairs Council. Outside of work, Burlingame enjoys fine wine and global travel.

One80 Intermediaries

Martin Burlingame

Brady Kelley has served as WSIA’s CEO & president since 2017 and served in the same role with NAPSLO from 2011 to 2017. He is responsible for the overall management of the association’s staff support activities, service to members, and business operations. Prior to joining WSIA, Kelley was the chief financial and business strategy officer for the NAIC. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he received a BS in accountancy from the College of Business and Public Administration, and he earned the Certified Public Accountant designation in 1995.

Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA)

Brady Kelley

Shanna Sweeney has over a decade of experience in managing excess casualty and excess construction as well as casualty facultative reinsurance underwriting. She is also a founder of Women of Wholesale, a professional association with a mission to celebrate and develop women in the wholesale insurance industry with equal emphasis on making a difference in our local communities. She is a subject matter expert in underwriting risks for manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality and restaurants, construction practice policy, as well as commercial real estate. Sweeney is currently senior VP – excess casualty liability at Upland Specialty Insurance.

Upland Specialty Insurance

Shanna Sweeney

Dominick Tassone has over 40 years of primary insurance experience, with the most recent 25 years managing programs for three large carriers. Prior to joining AM Specialty Insurance, Tassone served as VP of underwriting for Spinnaker Insurance Company, executive vice president, head of programs for Aspen Insurance Group, and in various underwriting management capacities at QBE the Americas. His responsibilities as chief underwriting officer include developing and maintaining underwriting strategy, division profit and tactical growth, as well as developing underwriting standards for program business.

AM Specialty

Dominick Tassone

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Vault Plus Mortgage and Finance Consultancy

David Merison

“Think about a world sport event or a giant conference… we can quickly capture the premium and then move on to the next opportunity”

Martin Burlingame, One80 Intermediaries

The E&S market is experiencing significant growth, with premiums reaching $115.6 billion in 2023 and projected to exceed $130 billion by 2024, according to AM Best’s research. For insurers, key areas of opportunity in this space lie in transportation, cyber, and catastrophe-prone coverages like wildfire and wind, while the market’s overall strength really comes down to its ability to innovate quickly and respond to ever-evolving client expectations. In a recent roundtable with Insurance Business, we brought together Dominick Tassone, chief underwriting officer at AM Specialty; Shanna Sweeney, senior vice president – excess casualty liability at Upland Specialty Insurance; Brady Kelley, CEO and president of Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA); and Martin Burlingame, division president at One80 Intermediaries, part of the Arrowhead Intermediaries team, to discuss the ups and downs of the current market – and predict what exactly is coming down the line for the E&S space.

Dominick Tassone, AM Specialty

“The access to research, analytics, and data is light years beyond what we had 15 or 25 years ago… Partnering with a good wholesaler and a creative carrier, that’s how we can develop niche programs”

Shanna Sweeney, Upland Specialty Insurance

Read on

AM Specialty Insurance Company (ASIC) is an innovative domestic Excess and Surplus Insurance Company and Accredited Reinsurer. Founded in 2022, ASIC focuses on delivering best-in-class technical underwriting expertise and providing primary and reinsurance capacity for low-limit, non-natural catastrophe risks. ASIC is committed to delivering value and supporting sustainable growth for its partners in the E&S market. To learn more, visit https://www.amspecialty.com/.

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M&A Insights 2021

Insurance Business America uncovers the answers to brokers’ biggest questions about mergers and acquisitions, with expert insight from MarshBerry, Baldwin Risk Partners and Relation Insurance

Read on

Industry experts

Mashberry

Gerard Vecchio

Relation Insurance

Timothy J. Hall

Mashberry

Phil Trem

Baldwin Risk Partner

Trevor Baldwin

M&A Insights 2021

Insurance Business America uncovers the answers to brokers’ biggest questions about mergers and acquisitions, with expert insight from MarshBerry, Baldwin Risk Partners and Relation Insurance

Read on

Industry experts

Baldwin Risk Partners

Trevor Baldwin

Mashberry

Phil Trem

Relation Insurance

Timothy J. Hall

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Mashberry

Gerard Vecchio

Published September 28, 2025

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“There has been tremendous growth since the market last retracted in 2011. Growth in the market has certainly reflected its strength, stability, and ability to provide solutions for complex risks”

Brady Kelley, Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA)

The Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association is the membership association of professionals and specialty market leaders dedicated to the wholesale distribution system. WSIA represents the interests of its members and the valuable role they play in the insurance market through networking, education, talent recruitment and development, regulatory and legislative advocacy for the wholesale, specialty, and surplus lines industry, and by promoting the value of the wholesale distribution channel.

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One80 Intermediaries is a leading privately held insurance wholesaler and program manager with over 55 offices across the US and Canada. Offering placement services and binding authority, One80 specializes in property and casualty, financial lines, benefits, life, travel, accident and health, affinity programs, warranty, and specialty coverage. Serving businesses, non-profits, public entities, individuals, and associations, One80 provides access to markets in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Key office locations include Boston, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Seattle, Toronto, and Montreal.

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Upland Capital Group, Inc. is an AM Best rated “A-” VIII specialty property/casualty insurer headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Through its wholly owned insurance carrier, Upland Specialty Insurance Company, the company markets, underwrites, and services specialty insurance products in select markets to include excess transportation, construction casualty, excess casualty, primary general liability, excess public entity, professional liability errors and omissions, excess cyber liability, and product recall.

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Referencing the recent growth the market has seen, Kelley told IB that this data is reflective of just how resilient the sector is and how adept professionals are at steering through the constant change. “There has been tremendous growth since the market last retracted in 2011,” explained Kelley. “Growth in the market has certainly reflected its strength, stability, and ability to provide solutions for complex risks. There is also no doubt that various lines of business can experience different phases of hardening or softening. Those market cycles absolutely could be complex to navigate, and it’s our market’s agility and resilience that positions it incredibly well to navigate those cycles and respond to what their clients need to manage the most complex risks.” Sweeney, who has her boots on the ground in the casualty space, told IB that from her perspective the market is incredibly strong though somewhat precarious.

“We have some competing micro and macroeconomics that are affecting our rate environments and the influx of premium and opportunity,” she told IB. “When we look at the past four to five years, limit compression was a very common theme. However, we are seeing the standard and admitted market flexing back into large, complex casualty with primary and supported excess leads. That’s not something we have seen for a while.”

premiums by way of tariffs and inflation. For example, for every one percent increase in the price of steel, that translates to an additional $4.4 million in premium to the E&S space. As tariffs and inflation continue to develop or change, whether positive or negative, that in itself has an augmented effect on our premium.”

“[It’s that] expertise that wholesalers and specialty underwriters can offer their clients because they deal with complex risk and customized solutions every day. I would [also] add access. Wholesalers have access to specialty underwriters and markets that are simply not available to a lot of retailers or the standard market. Engaging a wholesaler comes at no additional cost. Analyses by Conning in 2016 and 2021 have confirmed that wholesale distribution does not increase the cost of the transaction for the insured. Lastly, I would simply add financial stability to that value proposition. AM Best notes that carriers in the surplus lines segment are well positioned to continue meeting global challenges.”

Sourcing ‘people with passion’ Finding niche opportunities, the group agreed, is really where E&S excels. Burlingame mapped out a three-step playbook for leaders here – evaluate existing books for aggregated risk, work closely with retailers to uncover their pain points, and, perhaps most intriguingly, build programs around areas of personal ambition and interest. “People with passion are much more likely to continue in the industry and grow their books of business,” he said. Tassone’s approach is equally rigorous. He told IB that at AM Specialty, they’re looking for seasoned programs, proven track records of predictable loss ratios as the market cycle changes – and a robust submission so they can make a proper decision quickly. Sweeney stressed the role of analytics, arguing that today’s data resources make niche development far more accessible. “The access to research, analytics, and data is light years beyond what we had 15 or 25 years ago… Partnering with a good wholesaler and a creative carrier, that’s how we can develop niche programs.”

As for where the opportunities are now, Tassone pointed to cannabis, tenant liability, and, unsurprisingly, cat-exposed property. “We’re seeing more opportunities on the wildfire side, more on the homeowner with wind… It comes down to appetite, being flexible, and being a problem solver.” Sweeney sees promise in large, complex casualty, adding that its requirement for expertise, risk tolerance, flexibility, and creativity is the highest. Strategic coordination, she revealed, can also boost returns. “Pursuing an aggregate supplier, a hauler, and a contractor using said aggregates… compounds your ability to capture rates.” When asked, however, Burlingame added that he sees opportunity often starting closer to home, recalling how in Colorado, rising wind and hail deductibles created an opening for creative solutions.

“A retailer could make a quick pivot to figure out how to buy those deductibles down and offer that to the condo associations… You then become a subject matter expert in that particular area, and you can round the portfolio out with the original, traditional lines.” Looking ahead to what the future holds for the E&S space, all panelists agreed that even the most agile strategies depend on one thing – talent. “The market needs talent,” Kelley warned. “We do outreach to well over 100 RMI programs each year by putting industry pros in college classrooms and promoting career opportunities in our segment. We’ve expanded that outreach with our WSIA Talent, Advocacy & Engagement Foundation too; its mission is to stimulate and attract an even broader pipeline of talent through outreach to non-RMI programs.”

And for Sweeney specifically, this outreach and passion for educating the next generation of industry leaders is something that hits home for her and is something she is excited about perusing in the months to come. “I’m one of those lucky people that was picked out of a room and told you are going to be in insurance,” she told IB. “I was the first in my family to get involved in it. Fifteen or so years ago when I joined the industry, nepotism was looked at as maybe a negative thing. Now it is just evidence of sharing good things with good people. I like to encourage people to not hide what we do, but to brag about it. If I walk into an office and don’t see young people, I don’t see the future.” To stay updated on the travel market and travel insurance insights, follow Allianz Global Assistance Canada on LinkedIn.

One percent price increase equals millions in premiums As Sweeney explained, in the excess casualty market, this is evidence of potential shrinking coupled with maturing new capacity. As she told IB, looking back toward 2021, there were around 35 new entrants to the market in a six-month time frame. Now, four to five years later, these entrants have bigger staff, better systems, stronger treaties, and bigger balance sheets to support larger plays. “We are seeing a trend of insureds not purchasing as many excess limits and asking for more payment plans,” she added. “Which can be a sign of potential financial instability. But mostly, we are seeing an augment in increased

‘Better forms, better coverages, cheaper prices’And it’s reflective of the current state of play in the casualty market at large. But for Burlingame, who runs binding authority programs with average premiums in the $2,000 to $5,000 range, any volatility is amplified. “It’s small, transactional business, both GL package and monoline property, across most of the areas,” he explained. “So it’s much more volatile to the admitted markets’ ins and outs. If you look at spaces where you have an admitted footprint that’s had significant presence, and they’ve started restricting capacity to cat exposure, wildfire, hail, wind, hurricanes… the E&S markets have moved in quickly, adjusting rates and picking up premium. But as the market changes… admitted markets are now becoming more interested in writing business because they’re getting more premium now that the states have approved them.”

When those carriers return, Burlingame told IB, they often do so with “more competitive forms, coverages, prices, and structures… they take the low-hanging fruit back into the admitted market,” leaving the higher-risk remainder to E&S – a cycle that’s been this way for a long time. If the constant cycling sounds disruptive, it’s also fueled an undeniable trend: more opportunities flowing into the E&S space. Tassone described it as a “tremendous amount” of submission activity.

“Whether it’s transportation, cyber, personal lines, homeowners, non-standard automobile – the pipeline continues to flow into the company. We’re looking at opportunities where the MGA has that underwriting expertise… they’ve got the distribution, the unique insuring agreement, the claims and loss control expertise – everything but price. We’re very much focused on MGA business that provides predictable loss ratios through the changing market cycles, especially if we’re going to deploy reinsurance capacity or provide our paper as the carrier.” Adaptability, innovation, flexibility If there’s one quality the panel agreed defines the wholesale market’s value, it’s adaptability. For Sweeney this means innovation and flexibility, she told IB.

“We encourage creatively developing coverage language, unique limit structures, unique terms and conditions for our insureds. Our flexibility on rate and risk is what drives our value the highest during the toughest markets.” Burlingame sees it as “customization and speed to market… we have the ability to change forms quickly, make modifications, add new restrictions or endorsements … the ability to go to market without having to wait for state filings.” Sometimes, he added, the need is fleeting – “think about a world sport event or a giant conference… we can quickly capture the premium and then move on to the next opportunity.”

Equally, as Tassone added, adaptability is also about problem-solving. “Opportunities come to us because the admitted market won’t accept them,” he explained. That can mean anything from frequency and severity issues to risks located in cat-prone areas, or class of business such as transportation, cannabis, travel/cancellation coverage, controlled burn. “We can set the pricing, the terms, engineer the account to make it acceptable,” he added. Kelley expanded the list further, recommending that professionals add expertise here, explaining that it’s especially important that wholesalers have access to specialty underwriters and markets that aren’t available to most retailers.

US surplus lines surge

Source: AM Best

DPW exceeded $100B for the first time in 2023, reaching a record $115.6B This marked a 17.4% increase over the prior year In 2023, surplus lines DPW as a percentage of the property/casualty industry’s commercial lines DPW increased, reaching 23.8%

of insurance brokers view recruiting young talent as a strategic challenge for their businesses

64%

of brokers expressed concern about the industry facing a future workforce gap

56%

of firms are eager to hire younger employees

Half of these firms are struggling to recruit individuals aged 30 and under

66%

Talent challenges

Source: Ecclesiastical