FirstBest Systems Establishes Underwriting Knowledge Center

Lexington, MA - FirstBest Systems, developer of advanced Underwriting Management Systems that enable commercial insurance carriers to profit from better underwriting, recently announced the formation of an Underwriting Knowledge Center. Led by insurance industry experts with a significant amount of insurance expertise, the new group will offer customers deep, focused insurance industry knowledge and best practices to enhance the core business process of underwriting.

FirstBest Systems is a new software company formed to address the need in the commercial insurance industry for a web-based solution, specifically designed to address today's underwriting challenges. With the formation of the Underwriting Knowledge Center, FirstBest now offers a complete business solution combining state-of-the-art software and industry best practices, to help carriers achieve profitable growth and greater customer intimacy with agents.

The FirstBest Underwriting Knowledge Center will be led by Robert R. Lukas, Vice President, Underwriting Sciences. With more than 30 years of insurance industry and IT experience, Lukas is an expert on establishing effective IT governance models for property and casualty (P&C) enterprises and exploiting technology to create revenue-generating opportunities. Lukas is the former CIO of the Hartford's Property/Casualty Company. He founded and directed the Hartford Technology Services Company, a Hartford subsidiary that provides technology services to the Hartford and other corporations. He also served as president of CLA Corp., a Hartford subsidiary that marketed insurance software and technology services to other insurance carriers.

The Underwriting Knowledge Center team also includes:

• Kelly Lynch, FirstBest Senior Director, Underwriting Sciences,Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). Lynch brings more than 15years of insurance industry experience to FirstBest, including underwriter for Kemper National Insurance Company, loss control engineer for highly protected risk (HPR) property accounts with Industrial Risk Insurers, manager of facultative and treaty business for Swiss Re America's Engineered Risk Department (ERD), and manager of Quanta U.S. Holdings'program division, where she had operational and underwriting oversight over more than $175M of direct written premiums written by Managing General Agents on behalf of Quanta.
• Paul Cummings, FirstBest Vice President, Engineering. Previously, as vice president of worldwide software development for the S1 Corporation, he led the creation of S1's Enterprise Insurance product line and managed development of other Web-based financial services products.
• Leonard C.G. (Geoff) Smith, CPCU, FirstBest Strategic Advisory Board.With over 35 years of insurance industry experience, Smith was most recently executive vice president, CIO and board member of ePolicy. After a 30-year career at Hartford Financial Services Group, he retired as president, Commercial Affinity Operations, one of three Hartford North American Property/Casualty operating companies. His career there spanned commercial P&C underwriting and sales leadership.
• William F. (Bill) Cutting, CPCU, FirstBest Business Analyst, Underwriting Sciences. Cutting brings 25 years' experience in underwriting management and sales to FirstBest. Previous roles have included production specialist with Lexington Insurance, a leading P&C insurer; underwriter consultant with Kemper Insurance Companies; director of underwriting for RTW; portfolio underwriter for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.; senior underwriter with American International Group (AIG); and pricing analyst with The Hartford Insurance Group.

"Carriers today are looking for a way to unlock the rich knowledge and best practices they have in their best underwriters to improve the consistency of underwriting," said John Belizaire, CEO of FirstBest Systems. "We have created a solution that includes a next-generation product and deep industry expertise to help solve that problem."

SOURCE: FirstBest Systems