John Baird

Background

About John Baird

A career of operational performance in property casualty industry. I transform businesses with deep insurance industry knowledge shaped by my broad operational skills and military experience. I lead organizational change and guide top-performing teams, establishing a market presence built around adaptability and authority. By building strategic relationships, I influence stakeholders with solid, data-backed recommendations, steering realignment in planning, talent, financial management, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Below is a selection of the top accomplishments from my career: Developed and led diversification strategies improving AmeriTrust Group's stability and profitability. Transformed company from a Program carrier with a majority of it's premiums written in WC and in one state, to a balanced commercial P&C carrier,(geographic, distribution, LOB)- Commercial premiums as a percentage written in California moved from over 60% to less than 25%- Premiums from Programs moved from over 70% to 33%- WC premiums as a percentage gross written premium moved from 64% to less than 25%. The execution of the business plans significantly allowed the company to improve expense ratio, increase surplus to all time highs, and build strong underwriting operations with reliable analytics enabling data driven decisions improving the company's speed to market. Delivering consistent and predictable underwriting profit supporting ATG's efforts to realize consecutive upgrades from AM Best. The transformation restored the A- rating in just over two years without any infusion of outside capital. Restored profit to underperforming Midwest Region which had posted several years of underwriting losses. In three years moved operation from -$75M loss to +$75M profit while earning carrier of the year from Indiana Big I and improving market position in Michigan from 29th to 9th. Led team to develop strategies to profitably navigate the Great Recession from 2007 - 2009. Developed LRO approach which delivered underwriting profits through a challenging market cycle. Transformed unprofitable Personal Lines operations into a divisional structure improving the combined ratio from 139% to 80%. I am excited to expand my professional network. If you would like to connect, please contact me at 313bairds@gmail.com. AREAS OF EXPERTISE Diversification Strategy, Underwriting Profitability, Organizational Restructuring, Strategic Relationship Building, Multi-line Operations Management, Team Leadership & Development, Financial Performance Improvement