Mitch Blaser is the COO of global operations and CEO of the Bermuda platform for Ironshore, Inc., a worldwide specialty insurance company. He oversees Ironshore's rapid growth since 2006, opening numerous international offices. In 2009, Ironshore partnered with CV Starr & Co. to form IronStarr Excess for excess liability, financial, and healthcare lines. By 2013, Ironshore had 24 offices worldwide and was looking to expand its Bermuda business through additional syndication arrangements like the one with CV Starr, which Blaser notes the Bermuda market supports well. Syndicating with Ironshore is attractive due to its strong balance sheet as a privately held company able to maintain excess capital for growth conducive to

1. By Mitch Blaser

2.  A 1973 graduate of George Washington
University, Mitch Blaser today serves Ironshore,
Inc., the worldwide specialty insurance company,
as the COO of its global operations and the CEO
of its Bermuda platform, where he maintains his
offices in the firm’s global headquarters. Mitch
Blaser also serves as the CEO of IronServe, a
division launched in 2012 to provide all
necessary support services for Ironshore’s
underwriting operations.

3.  Ironshore has grown rapidly since its
founding in 2006, and revenues from
premiums have increased by about 5 times in
the last 5 years. During this period, the firm
opened offices in numerous locations in the
United States, UK, Canada, Ireland, Asia, Latin
America and Australia. In 2009, it partnered
with a Bermuda company, CV Starr & Co., to
form IronStarr Excess, through which it sells
excess liability, financial and healthcare lines
of business.

4.  By 2013, Ironshore had opened 24 offices worldwide
and was exploring additional avenues of growth. One
of these was the expansion of its Bermuda business
by replicating the syndication arrangement it had
formed with CV Starr. According to Blaser, the nature
of the Bermuda market accommodates syndication
nicely.
Syndication with Ironshore is an attractive proposition
because the company, has a very strong balance
sheet and since it is privately held it is not subject to
the capital management pressures of public
companies and can maintain excess capital to
support growth which is conducive to syndication.