“I spent 17 years on the carrier side, with the last nine years running regional operations of a commercial-lines carrier. The experience helped me gain a better understanding of the independent agency system, managing people and making decisions on how to grow profitably.”

Ware's father ran Guaranty National, an E&S insurance company, for 13 years out of Denver before retiring in 1996.  

“After Crum & Forster was sold I didn't like how things were going, and I didn't want to move my kids again,” Ware recalls. “The gentleman who used to own Genesee was contracted with my father's company and also sat on his advisory panel—and I remembered once hearing him say although he wanted to retire from the MGA business, he didn't want to sell his company to a competitor, only to the right buyer.”

Ware realized that this was the ideal opportunity at the right time, and in 1998 he purchased Genesee and became the E&S insurer's CEO and majority owner.

“Working for an MGA is different. Having your own capital at risk makes every decision more important,” he says.

“Typically, independent agents try all of their standard markets first and only when they begin to realize that they are being declined do they come to us,” Ware continues. Genesee is often asked to provide a quote on the same day a submission is received, and on many occasions it is asked to quote in less than an hour.

“We need to have a very strong understanding of all the market's underwriting criteria, so we know where to place the accounts we underwrite,” says Ware. “A standard company underwriter only needs to know their carrier; we need to know over 30 markets.”

When Genesee was acquired in 1998 it primarily wrote binding contracts for policies dealing with transportation. That year it wrote $4.5 million in premiums; in 2013 Ware expects to exceed $75 million. In 2008 Genesee began a separate wholesale brokerage company named Genesee Special Brokerage, run by David Palmer, that specializes in large property accounts and coastal wind.

Genesee has built up its binding authority to work with casualty, property, inland marine, professional, pollution, garage and excess and programs businesses; they've also run a special program for the drug-testing industry since 1999, and in June of this year opened one for inflatable bounce castles and slides.

“We do not write personal lines, and we will not write any account that is less than $500 in premium,” Ware says. “As for classes of business, we write all commercial lines except Bonds.”

Ware describes Genesee's national staff of 55 as a team of “generalists” writing many classes of business. They have authority contracts in the southeastern U.S. and in the Rocky Mountain states, but would write open brokerage in any state.

The CEO's own day-to-day work varies but is never stale, he says.

“We have over 15 binding authority contracts and 15 brokerage contracts with more than 30 carriers,” says Ware. “This requires a great deal of planning and communication with all our carriers. We review profitability, pricing, underwriting quality and planning and claims.”

Ware spends a lot of time developing close personal relationships with such carriers as Nautilus Insurance Group; Markel Corp.; Atlantic Casualty Insurance Inc.; and Western World Insurance Group—all of whom share his understanding that without trust and loyalty, the environment needed to make quick underwriting judgments on another's behalf would not exist.

“The most challenging aspect of working as an MGA is dealing with changing carrier appetites and how it affects your existing book and the ability to write new business,” he says. “We recently had a carrier visit us in September of 2012 to give us an award for 30 years of service—only to call us in early 2013 to advise us that they were moving in a different direction and parting ways. Those are the decisions by carriers that are the most frustrating. 30 years of a relationship ended via one phone call!”

His team threw out the memorial plaque in question and moved on.

Ware says that Genesee has plenty of longtime relationships that keep new and old opportunities abundant. These days, he is putting together a separate Program Management division to complement its work for the drug-and-alcohol testing industries and the clients who rent inflatables.