Managing clients and growth: TigerRisk’s new CEO describes competing in an oligopoly

On October 4, 2021, TigerRisk Partners made a big announcement. Thirteen years on from the company being founded by industry veterans Jim Stanard and Rod Fox, it would get its second chief executive: Rob Bredahl.

The move was made amid some other changes at the firm. Chief executive officer Fox took the role of executive chairman, while Tim Ronda, formerly global geographic leader of reinsurance solutions at Aon, would join as president.

The move represented the start of a new chapter for the broker, which had always been driven by the vision and energy of its original founders. It noted that it was Ronda’s arrival that prompted the succession plans. Yet the company also stressed the continuity.

Bredahl, who was formerly president, joined TigerRisk in 2019 and the plan was always for him to succeed Fox. In the announcement, it noted that the pair have known each other for 40 years. They first met at Middlebury College in Vermont before working together at EW Blanch, Benfield and then TigerRisk.

“I am delighted to take up this role and continue the momentum and growth Tiger has seen over the last year and move the company into a new and exciting phase,” said Bredahl at the time.

“The organisational changes we have announced this week signal the next step in our company’s evolution. This CEO transition has been planned for a long time and has been implemented just as the business is gaining traction in the market.”

Bredahl added: “Rod will still stay in the business and be very hands-on, but the change will allow him to focus more on what he is great at: advising clients and prospects and doing deals.”

Fox concurred: “I will still be working full-time in the business making sure clients are getting what they need and allowing the company to move forward. When Jim and I founded the company in 2008, naysayers gave the company little chance to thrive, but 13 years on here we are with a phenomenal market-leading team and a bright future ahead of us.”

Future plans

Just weeks after the announcement, Bredahl spoke to the 1:1 Club, Intelligent Insurer’s online, on-demand platform for one-on-one interviews with industry leaders, to talk about the changes, what they mean for TigerRisk Partners and his future plans.

Reflecting on the shifts in management, Bredahl said that they had already been enormously beneficial to the company. “The market looks at us differently with such a key hire,” he said, referring to Ronda’s appointment.

Bredahl was keen to point out that there will be a continuation between his tenure and that of his predecessor.

“I’ve been the president of the company, and I was on the board, so I’ve had a lot to do with shaping the strategy over at least the last three years,” he said.

“Not a lot is going to change. Our strategy is very simple. We’re going to become a world-class reinsurance broker by hiring people very methodically, as well as adding lines of business and geography.”

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An inflection point

Bredahl explained that the company is at an inflection point, from which it will turn from being a small firm into a larger one.

“Not too long ago, everybody knew each other very well and it was easy to get things done without a lot of structure. But as we move into being a bigger, mid-sized company, we need more management reporting lines, plus infrastructure and organisation.

“That will be the big difference between Rod’s tenure as CEO and mine. It’s much more to do with where we are in the lifecycle, rather than any change in strategy,” he said.

A shift towards growth has seemingly been on TigerRisk’s strategy board for some time. In April 2020, a portion of the business was sold to private equity firm Flexpoint Ford. As Bredahl noted, it seems to have been a move showing a demarcation between the first decade or so of its existence and the next period, during which the company plans to grow and take on more of a market share.

“We did the deal to provide liquidity to the partners who had been hard at work for 10 years. The deal helped retain existing employees because it was tangible proof that we were building something that was tremendously viable.

“It also aids recruitment because it’s easy to say that a piece of paper or equity is going to be worth something, but it’s different when you can prove it.”

One aspect of TigerRisk that Bredahl is proud of is the company’s corporate finance capability which, he said, is “first rate”.

“I’d put our capability up against the biggest banks. We’re out there raising capital, doing mergers and acquisitions transactions, and forming new companies on a regular basis,” he said.

“The other area where we are different is in strategic advisory. We hired Bill O’Keefe about nine months ago. Bill started life as an intern for me at Benfield Insurance more than 20 years ago. He became a very good young broker and then went back to business school before joining McKinsey & Company.

“He ran a portion of the property and casualty (P&C) advisory group as a partner. We hired Bill back into reinsurance—I would never hire someone from McKinsey who had never been a broker, but Bill had a unique resumé. So, we are offering first-rate advisory services to our clients as part of our reinsurance broker offering.”

Where does TigerRisk fit into the market? While many would judge themselves against their competitors, Bredahl said the company was looking less at them and more at how it manages its own growth.

“The top three reinsurance brokers have a market share of about 87 percent, based on the latest numbers I’ve seen from public documents. That is, at least, an oligopoly.

“We are growing very rapidly, even if we have only a 4 percent market share now. As these larger companies try to buy each other, it creates a dislocation that’s been helpful to us when it comes to recruitment and bringing on new clients. But honestly, I don’t care about what they’re doing,” he said.

“This year, we will grow our revenues by around 30 percent, although it could be more. The market itself has grown by 10 percent. If we continue to grow at that rate, our share is going to increase well beyond 4 percent,” he concluded.

To view the full 1.1 Club interview click here