New reinsurance broker accentuates "independence, experience and energy" as advantages for clients

MINNEAPOLIS, June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dan Koshiol, a 15-year veteran of major reinsurance brokerage firms, has formed StoneHill Reinsurance Partners, LLC, "which will bring a strong combination of youth, energy and independence to provide unbiased advice to insurance companies and others in the reinsurance marketplace," Koshiol, president and chief executive officer of the new firm, announced today.

Koshiol's prior experience includes senior positions with reinsurance brokers Guy Carpenter & Co. LLC, John B. Collins and Associates, Inc., and E.W. Blanch Company.  He is joined in the new venture by Lindsay Ginter, senior vice president, who also held positions at Collins and E.W. Blanch and, most recently, managed a reinsurance captive for Wells Fargo and Company.

"We see a marketplace need for a broker who will solely invest time and resources on their clients," Koshiol said.  "As brokers consolidate and look for additional revenue growth, some clients are being asked to purchase, at an added cost, products and services which historically have been included in the brokerage relationship.

"Insurers need their brokers to be business partners offering objective advice, with the independence and drive to bring forward the right resources at the right time," Koshiol said.

Koshiol added that, while StoneHill's lean size will enable it to work closely with clients, the company's principals have built strong relationships with a wide array of reinsurers and other service firms which will provide broader access to services and capabilities than the traditional intermediary.

"This gives us access to the resources our clients need, without fitting their need to an in-house product offering," he added.  "And, our relative youth enables our clients to know that we are helping them plan for the long term."

Koshiol said that, in addition to the structure, placement and servicing of reinsurance treaties, StoneHill has internal capabilities and external access to a full complement of reinsurance services, including technical accounting and claims, pricing analysis, contract documentation and reinsurer market security guidance.  It will also advise clients on acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, entry into new markets and capital allocation strategies.

Koshiol has focused on the specialty casualty segment, with an emphasis on medical professional liability, since he began his career at Blanch in 1997.  He joined Collins in 2001 to help form that broker's professional liability team; eventually, Collins became the largest broker of reinsurance for medical professional liability insurers in the United States.

In her tenure at E.W. Blanch and Collins, Ginter also focused primarily on reinsurance for professional liability insurers.

Additional information is available at www.stonehillre.com.

SOURCE StoneHill Reinsurance Partners, LLC