Liberty Mutual Surety has appointed Douglas Schrift and charged him with developing the company's subcontractor default insurance ("SDI") offering.
In a statement, Liberty Mutual explained that SDI is a two-party catastrophic insurance coverage that protects general contractors from losses due to a subcontractor's failure to perform during the course of a project. It is a roughly $650 million market that is rapidly growing in the construction market.
Mr. Schrift will report to Fran McGrath, chief credit officer for contract surety at Liberty Mutual Surety.
"The booming construction market, a shortage of skilled labor, and competitive margins are causing large contractors to seek ways to protect their multi-year projects against subcontractor default," said Mr. McGrath. "By offering the product, Liberty Mutual is better able to meet the full risk management needs of contractors, from surety and SDI to primary, excess and specialty coverages. Douglas' experience and strong relationships with large contractors made him the ideal candidate to lead our SDI operation."
Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, Mr. Schrift was managing director for Aon's construction services group SDI practice. Before that, he was vice president and director of risk finance for Lend Lease Americas, the legacy operation of Bovis Lend Lease.
Liberty Mutual added that its SDI product will be available in the fall of 2019.
Learn more: www.libertymutualsurety.com.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].