From a Knack for Math to Becoming a Vermont Captive Actuary, Maigh Wright Shares Her Story

Vermont native Maigh Wright has found a stimulating career in her home state’s captive industry.

By: Jonathan McGoran | April 1, 2022

Like many lifelong Vermonters, actuary Maigh Wright grew up not knowing what captive insurance was, how important it is to her state, or that she would one day become a vital part of that industry.

“I went to school for statistics, and I didn’t really want to be a teacher,” she explained.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I just knew I really liked math. So, I started with the actuarial exams. Actuaries do insurance. I wasn’t necessarily going for insurance, but that’s where the actuarial career led me.”

An actuarial recruiter connected her with a management consultancy active in insurance. Now, she’s working as a vice president and actuarial consultant with Marsh in her home state.

“It just happens that the office was here in Vermont because of the captive industry, and they worked a lot with captives,” said Wright.

A Sense of the Practical

While Vermont is known far and wide as a major domicile for captives, the state’s residents are largely unaware of the industry.

“I had no idea what [captives] were, [but] I was interviewing for the job, and I had to do my Googling and research on what the company I was interviewing for was, as well as captives,” said Wright.

“Someone like Maigh is a great example that you can live in a pretty rural area and be able to make a huge difference to the Vermont economy and the broader captive industry.” — Brittany Nevins, captive insurance economic development director, Vermont Department of Economic Development

“I think that’s common with students or people who aren’t in the industry. It’s not really an everyday sort of thing that you would necessarily know about. When I tell people that’s what I do, I usually have to explain what it is.”

The explanations generally don’t end there.

“The actuary piece is the same,” Wright said. “A lot of people don’t know what an actuary is.”

Among those who do, however, Wright is a bit of a star.

“Any account that’s working with Maigh should consider themselves lucky to be able to work with such a great professional,” said Tabitha Prestler, senior director of risk finance & insurance at Wilbur-Ellis.

“Maigh’s realistic, and she’s practical, and she doesn’t just look at the numbers,” said Prestler. “She tries to understand your business and how the numbers fit in, which you see happening more with actuaries, but it’s not consistent. Maigh is always consistent. She wanted to understand the business before she just jumped into the data, because she wants to understand how the data fits into the business.”

Michael Serricchio, managing director and America’s sales and advisory leader for Marsh Captive Solutions, agreed.

“Maigh is an absolute pleasure to work with,” Serricchio said. “She’s articulate, very focused on clients and does a really good job explaining to the clients the complicated subject matter of actuarial science and what our reports say.”

He also cited her excellent communication skills.

“One aspect of a recent project that we worked on had to do with some really technical pricing for a certain class of business going into a captive, and she actually did a ton of work to derive the most precise, exact premium dollar amount,” said Serricchio.

“When a client questioned something, she had a really good response and was able to articulate exactly what happened, why it happened … She was forced to step back, a couple hundred-thousand foot view of things and actually was able to pivot and do that really well. Not a lot of actuaries can do that.”

Wright’s communication skills have benefited more than just her clients.

Brittany Nevins, captive insurance economic development director for the Vermont Department of Economic Development, said Wright is both good at her core functions and as ambassador for the Vermont captive industry. The narrative that talent from the largely rural state doesn’t have to go to New York or Boston to find work is one that bears repeating, and Wright is a good example of that, Nevins said.

“Someone like Maigh is a great example that you can live in a pretty rural area and be able to make a huge difference to the Vermont economy and the broader captive industry,” Nevins added.

According to Wright, of the nearly 400 approved captive actuaries in the Vermont domicile, she is one of less than 10 that lives in the state.

“I really love being able to work in such an exciting industry and role but still have the perks of small-town living. That’s my favorite thing about living in Vermont and working in this industry,” Wright said.

“One of my other favorite aspects is that I’ve had the opportunity to travel a fair amount, pre-COVID, and I really love being able to live here in Vermont while experiencing so many different places. And I really like getting to meet clients and colleagues in person, because I think that helps build stronger relationships and learn more about them, both professionally and personally.”

She also values the diversity of experience that comes with working as a consultant.

“I like the consulting world because I like being able to work with all different companies and learn a little bit about so many different industries.”

Emerging Risks

Working in P&C provides even more variety.

“I’m glad that I landed in the P&C field. It’s been a good fit with all the variety, so not only do I have exposure to the different types of companies, but I also work with all the different types of coverages and different types of risk financing vehicles,” Wright said.

She added, “I’ve also been working a lot with emerging risks, like cannabis and cryptocurrency. I’ve been doing that as some of the formation and feasibility companies are writing that sort of risk. It’s interesting to be at the forefront of those developing industries.”

Wright’s enthusiasm for her work has increased since becoming a credentialed actuary.

“When I started out, I was an analyst and doing the leg work. I was working through my actuarial exams, and so now that I’ve passed them and I’m credentialed, I’m now the one who’s relaying the results to the stakeholders and relaying the message directly to them.”

Adding to that enthusiasm has been a move to captive formation.

“Since I joined Marsh … I’ve been doing a lot more on the formation and feasibility end of captives,” said Wright. “I’ve enjoyed that because it really gives me the chance to see the company grow from the ground up instead of just stepping in once they’re established.”

Wright values the deep knowledge and understanding that comes from working with a captive from its formation.

“If this is going to be your client, it’s nice to know it from the beginning,” said Wright. “Some of the bigger companies and bigger captives, there’s just so much to know and to learn …you’ll never know what’s gone on completely the past 20 years. When you start from the beginning, you feel like you’ve got a really good understanding of everything.”

Longevity and Stability

But while Vermont’s captive industry is so dynamic, it offers considerable stability, as well.

“Vermont really benefits from its longevity,” said Wright. “Some things just come with time, and they’ve really built a strong foundation and a strong domicile here. A big part of it is that the legislators know the importance of the industry to the state’s economy. And I think it gets the attention it needs that it might not in other states. There’s no lack of knowledgeable service providers.”

In ways, the sector’s dynamism actually contributes to that stability.

“There’s a lot of stability because of the evolving needs and the emerging risk,” said Wright.

“Companies are always looking for ways to optimize their captive program. And I see insurance as a timeless commodity. So people and companies are always going to want to protect their assets, and captives give them the opportunity to really be involved in that process and to create incentives to promote effective risk management strategies.”

Wright sees captive growth trends continuing for the foreseeable future: “They’ve been trending in that direction for many years, and I think they’re going to continue to grow. I think more and more companies recognize they can benefit from their own risk management initiatives, and a captive is a great tool for that.”

One of the only limits on that growth is talent. While Vermont’s captives have not been particularly impacted by the recent labor shortage, there is a long-term demand for talent.

“While it’s natural to have some turnover in staff, the pressing need is in keeping pace with the growing volume of business,” Wright said.

In fact, if there is one minor drawback to Vermont, it’s that, as a small state, it has a smaller labor pool.

“It’s not a big state, and we don’t have as many options for hiring,” said Wright. “Thankfully with the remote work capabilities the last few years, that’s changing a lot. So hopefully it will help.”

Spreading the word on the benefits of working in Vermont captives should help, including the fact that the average pay in the sector is about $91,000/year plus benefits, in a state that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, had a median income in 2019 of $31,492.

“I kind of fell into the role, but it’s worked out really well,” Wright said.

“I really like the industry and the job and the variety of work that I get to see. I like to think this is where I would’ve ended up even if it’s not where I had started,” Wright said. &

Jon McGoran is a magazine editor based outside of Philadelphia. He can be reached at [email protected].

How a Carrier Partner Can Help Navigate a Challenging Management and Professional Liability Market

A combination of a choppy economy with increased claims frequency and severity could lead to rate increases in the Management & Professional Liability market.

By: Risk & Insurance | April 3, 2024

Rates in the management & professional liability (M&PL) markets were on the rise from 2020 to early 2023 and are now falling rapidly.

M&PL divisions manage a number of different insurance products including management liability (D&O), professional liability (E&O), employment practices liability (EPL), fiduciary liability policies, cyber, etc. In 2023 and into 2024, a big influence on the marketplace has been the extremely aggressive and softening public company D&O market.

Though these rates have been softening for management liability, that may change over the next few years as companies continue to adjust their business models motivated by economic uncertainty. Layoffs were up nearly 200% last year, Forbes reported, even as other recession indicators, like the inflation rate, improved. A recession could lead to an increased claim activity and force carriers to raise rates.

“Whenever there is a meaningful downturn in the economy, we tend to see claim frequency pop up,” said George Schalick, Jr., senior vice president of the Management and Professional Liability Division at Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY).

With continued fiscal uncertainty, businesses potentially already burdened with pandemic-related claims should seek a carrier with a long history in M&PL products. They will provide much-needed risk management guidance and be better positioned to support their insureds during market fluctuations.

Why Insureds Might See an Uptick in M&PL Claims

George Schalick, Jr., Senior Vice President of the Management and Professional Liability Division, Philadelphia Insurance Companies

The current soft market might come as a bit of a surprise as it does not track with previous underwriting cycles and economic conditions. Afterall, many privately held and non-profit organizations struggled during the early days of the pandemic with shutdowns and rapidly declining revenues. But the Government assistance programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program loans, helped keep many afloat during the tough times.

“During COVID many organizations stopped doing business until they were able to sort out all of the health and safety challenges,” Schalick said. “They were forced to lock down, but then all the government assistance programs allowed them to keep people employed. The increased volume of claims we anticipated we would see coming from the lockdowns and restrictions that were imposed upon businesses in the U.S. didn’t manifest at first.”

“Just because there wasn’t an onslaught of reported claims at the beginning of the pandemic, doesn’t mean the circumstances that would give rise to a claim being reported didn’t occur. Courts and the judicial system were closed or slowed and now that they are back open, we’re starting to see the circumstances that occurred during the COVID lockdowns becoming claims today,” Schalick said. “Litigation is progressing.”

Added to the delayed pandemic litigation is a concern over newer claims that might be filed as the country inches toward an economic downturn. Though a recession was avoided in 2023, experts think a soft dip could occur in 2024, with 76% of economists saying there’s a 50% or less chance of an economic downturn this year — that almost always results in more management liability claims.

“During the Great Recession in 2008, we saw an almost immediate spike in claims because of the economic conditions and the pressure it placed on organizations. They were making personnel changes with significant belt tightening almost immediately.” Schalick said.

What’s in Store for M&PL Policy Rates in 2024?

Despite an uptick in claims and increased economic uncertainty, management liability rates haven’t increased, resulting in market-wide pricing levels that may not meet the increased pressure of rising settlements and jury verdicts.

“Rates are going the other direction and settlement values are not falling,” Schalick said.

The mismatch between rates, claim frequency and severity is, in part, because carriers experiencing the dramatic soft market in the public D&O market are seeking premium gain in the private and non-profit market.

“In the public company market, the rates have been decreasing significantly. The rates were increasing in the private, not-for-profit market, and rightfully so, but there’s a desire to supplement overall mid-size D&O for carriers who also write private not-for-profit, and they see that as an opportunity to aggregate premium,” Schalick said. “So the always competitive landscape in the private, not-for-profit market has dramatically increased in the last 18 to 24 months.”

Still, companies of all sizes and types should be concerned about management liability rates in the future. Legal system abuse is resulting in increases in both the amount of litigation and the size of verdicts plaintiffs are receiving.

Certain areas of the country are particularly vulnerable to this type of legal system abuse. As a result, insureds in these localities are likely to be vulnerable to rate increases.

“The environment is so positive for the plaintiff that forces premium increases so carriers are able to stay in that market long term,” Schalick said.

Why a Tenured Carrier Partner Can Help Insureds Navigate An Uncertain Market

It’s clear that insureds are facing an uncertain M&PL market over the next few years. Fortunately, carriers with a long history in the M&PL space will be there to offer stability.

Philadelphia Insurance Companies has been supporting this market for 35 years. PHLY is committed to offering long-term rate stability, even as economic and claims trends start to push premiums upwards. They have an appetite for all sorts of companies, large and small, for-profit and nonprofit alike.

“We’ve been at this game for a long time and are one of the most tenured underwriters in this space,” Schalick said. “We like to stay very consistent.”

PHLY has worked with both for-profit and non-profit on management liability policies. With dedicated M&PL teams throughout the company’s 13 regions, PHLY provides the support agents and brokers are looking for on behalf of their clients. The teams know their regions well and can respond to local trends. They’re also dedicated to making the renewal process as easy as possible for their partners and policyholders.

“We have real confidence in our results, so we focus a lot on making the renewal experience as painless as possible for all agents and insureds,” Schalick said.

The company is also investing in tools to help insureds avoid losses. Earlier this year, they launched a new online risk management platform, PHLYGateway, which offers resources for insureds on how to create an employee handbook and trainings on issues such as recognizing workplace sexual harassment and discrimination.

If insureds have questions, they can consult a Best Practices Help Line, provided via the platform. That way, they can get on the spot risk management guidance to help them prevent claims.

To learn more, visit: https://www.phly.com/mplDivision/managementLiability/default.aspx.

This article was produced by the R&I Brand Studio, a unit of the advertising department of Risk & Insurance, in collaboration with Philadelphia Insurance Companies. The editorial staff of Risk & Insurance had no role in its preparation.