Innovative Insurance

ince USI Insurance Services was established in 1994, it’s grown from a single office with $6.5 million in revenue and forty associates to an enterprise with more than $2.7 billion in revenue and more than 10,000 associates across 200-plus offices nationwide.

Based in Valhalla, New York, USI is an insurance brokerage and consulting firm delivering property/casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, specialty program, and retirement solutions to large risk management clients, middle-market companies, small firms, and individuals. In Alaska it operates offices in Anchorage and Sitka.

“We’re part of the Pacific Northwest Region: Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii,” says Vice President of Property and Casualty Dena Lythgoe of the Anchorage office.

Michael Venneberg

Photo provided by Michael Venneberg

“Our Alaska operations have grown substantially over these past ten years,” he says. “We are fully staffed in both Anchorage and Sitka. The Sitka office was established in 2020, giving us a significant presence in Southeast Alaska.”

Venneberg joined USI in 2020, after it purchased his firm, Venneberg Insurance, which had its headquarters in Sitka.

“Our Sitka office has roots back to the late 1960s,” he says.

USI has more than 150 years of consulting and brokerage experience through its acquired agencies, according to USI, with some offices dating back in their communities as far as the late 1800s.

Photo provided by Gana-A’-Yoo, Limited

Through USI ONE, a one-of-a-kind solutions platform operating in real time and customized for each client, the company is able to develop strategic, timely, and effective risk management and benefit programs in terms clients can easily understand. The data produced also shows how the recommended solutions can have positive effects on a company’s bottom line.

“USI Northwest brings substantial resources to the Alaska construction market,” says Venneberg. “In addition to an excellent surety team, we use loss control and other technical resources to help our clients manage their insurance and risk management programs.”

The emphasis on client satisfaction is bolstered by the company’s attention to detail and focus on the client.

“We bring creative solutions to their insurance and risk management needs,” he says. “In addition to a broad array of traditional insurance carriers, we access group captives, structure deductible plans, and look for other ways to achieve the best results for our clients.”

Venneberg says he and Lythgoe specialize in commercial insurance, such as is needed for construction and marine industry clients and Native corporations.

“Insurance plays such a crucial part in construction,” Lythgoe says. “Safety and risk management are very important.”

In Petersburg, Rock-N-Road Construction Vice President Ambre Burrell says USI helped her choose which insurance was a fit for her company.

Photo provided by Dena Lythgoe

In Sitka, McG Constructors, Inc. Vice President Chad McGraw says his company had been with Venneberg Insurance for decades.

“It’s a firm we’ve been in contact with for over thirty years, so one of the biggest benefits of them moving over to USI was a smooth transition,” he says. “It still feels like it’s a small local company in a small town—and that’s important in Southeast Alaska.”

McGraw continues, “The service is excellent, so we would never even consider going with anyone else.”

Members of Associated General Contractors, or AGC, of Alaska since March 2020, Lythgoe says being an AGC member has been helpful, because the association looks out for its members. Venneberg notes that he has appreciated “attending events and better understanding the issues and challenges our clients face in the Alaska market.”