AIU Holdings: New Name, Same Unwavering Commitment

The more things change… the more they stay the same. Or so the proverb goes. The last twelve months have seen significant change. Some might say unprecedented. Our financial markets are much different than they were. Our political leadership has changed.

What hasn’t changed is owners’ and developers’ need for a partner to help manage the difficult risks of brownfield projects and our commitment to being the insurer they turn to.

AIU Holdings is forging a new future as a worldwide general and property casualty company while maintaining a connection to our powerful underwriting legacy, a dedicated claims operation and a strong financial foundation.

Environmental, a division of AIU Holdings, is no exception. Infused by the energy of a new management team and an innovative suite of products, we’re well positioned to deliver our industry leading coverages and value-added programs to owners and developers of brownfield properties.

For nearly three decades, we’ve been at the forefront of the environmental insurance industry, in large part due to the talent of our people. People with years of experience underwriting risks faced by brownfield developers. That tradition continued earlier this year when Russell Johnston was named President and Chief Executive Officer and Kim Hanna was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

With over 20 years of experience, Johnston joined the company in 1990 as an underwriter and was most recently President of Risk Management. Prior to that position, he served as Division President of National Accounts and President of Domestic Risk Management.

Hanna has over 13 years of environmental insurance experience and held various positions of increasing responsibility in the Environmental organization including Vice President, Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer. She’s a fellow of the Insurance Institute of Canada and licensed by the Environmental Risk Management School of Southwest Texas University.

Experience and knowledgeable people is one side of the equation. The other? Delivering what the market demands, often before they realize it. Environmental has delivered innovative environmental insurance products and value-added programs longer than anyone in the industry and we continue to do so with new systems such as eDelivery and recent products such as the Environmental Infrastructure Solutions policy.

eDelivery is an Internet-based system that enables the delivery of policies and midterm endorsements in electronic PDF format with more accurate and efficient results. It provides electronic archive of policies and endorsements enabling insureds and brokers to access policies and endorsements from any computer with Internet access, saving valuable time.

Earlier this year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act designated over $100 million for the evaluation and cleanup of brownfield sites. Our solutions for brownfield redevelopment have always consisted of flexible environmental insurance products including Pollution Legal Liability Select® (PLL Select®), Clean-up Cost Cap, and the combined Pollution Legal Liability/Clean-up Cost Cap (PLL/CCC) policies. All of these policies respond to the environmental insurance needs of developers, private associations, business groups and public organizations involved in the redevelopment of Brownfield properties.

We’ve recently introduced Environmental Infrastructure Solutions, a first-of-its-kind environmental policy designed specifically to meet the demand for project owners and contractors of all disciplines who engage in the construction and operation of infrastructure projects. Environmental Infrastructure Solutions combines Contractors Pollution liability coverage, insured property coverage for new conditions, operations and maintenance operations coverage and emergency response coverage on one form. For brownfield projects that include new infrastructure development, the Environmental Infrastructure Solutions form offers an attractive additional alternative to our traditional product suite.

Longer than anyone else in the environmental insurance marketplace, Environmental has developed the most comprehensive set of policies available. It’s no accident. We are aggressive in our market research and product development, which has led to a variety of environmental insurance products that are designed to be responsive to the environmental exposures faced by a wide range of businesses and industries. It’s a company culture that places a priority on delivering innovative products and backing them up with unmatched claims services.

Our name may have changed but our spirit of innovation, our dedication to customers and our commitment to write the risks faced in brownfield redevelopment projects remains strong.

AIU Environmental is a division of AIU Holdings, based in New York City

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