九色视频

Welcome to the first in a series of interviews with our Aerospace experts where we delve into the dynamic intersection of the insurance industry and the world of aviation, exploring insights and experiences from our underwriting, claims and risk consulting colleagues.


It is a completely different path from a political science major to the Chief Underwriting Officer for the Americas Aerospace insurance team, but Eric Donofrio is a pilot at heart. Eric had managed to marry both his passion for flying and his business acumen into a successful career helping aviation and aerospace clients protect their businesses.

In a recent conversation with 九色视频 Eric talked about his background and how his skills and those of his team enhance the customer experience and offer an extra level of support and expertise. Interestingly, his degree had nothing to do with aviation, but he believes it fits perfectly with the needs of his customers.

Q: What brought you to the aviation industry market?
Eric: Unlike a lot of our people who went to university to study aviation, I was a Poli Sci major with an Econ minor. But I grew up in an aviation family – my father was a pilot in the Air Force. As I teenager, I would fly with my dad and fly on my own. I had (completed my pilot training and licensure) outside of school.

When I graduated, it came time to decide what I wanted to do. I had completed an internship in Washington with a lobbying group that was aviation-related. However, my dad had worked in the insurance industry for a short time in the 1970s. He knew someone in the business and encouraged me to call them. So my first job was with one of our underwriting competitors as a general aviation underwriter.

That seems to be the way most of us get into the insurance industry. It’s usually a friendly connection to someone in the industry for a lot of people. For me, the insurance industry offered me a way to marry both my educational background and my love of aviation into an exciting career.

We in the industry like to call an insurance career our little secret. I tell my friends where I’ve traveled to and what I’m doing and they think I get to do the most interesting things. And I do – I have gone to rocket ship launches, rollouts of new airplanes, things of that nature.

Q: What are some of the key focus areas for you right now?
We have four different product lines. One is our Airline coverage, which includes third-party liability as well as hull damage, and includes war, terrorism. We handle the insurance business for large national and international airlines and airports.

Another book of business is our products coverage. From the people who build the aircraft to suppliers of aircraft parts of all kinds – anything tied to the aircraft itself falls under the classification of Products Liability insurance. I use the example of a rug manufacturer who buys products liability insurance because they sell their rugs to an aircraft manufacturer.

Our largest line of coverage is General Aviation insurance. Anything that flies that is not considered airline or military is covered by this type of policy. Corporate jets, law enforcement, air ambulance, pipeline and powerline patrols are good examples of the types of aircraft that are covered.

Lastly, our Space portfolio is an interesting one. It covers, physical damage and loss of use associated with satellites.

Q: How does your team and how do you deal with the challenges that come in the market? Because we've been going through a bit of a hard market overall, and I'm just wondering how, how you approach your job differently?
It's tough question. I think our folks have done, well handling the hard market. When the hard market arrived, like everyone else, we had to shift. The industry became quite used to decreasing premiums and rate during the soft market. When the hard market arrived, the entire insurance industry had to transition psychologically during the shifting power balance. And industrywide, it is a shift that had to occur. You cannot run profitably if you are not able to adapt to changing market conditions.

So we revamped our approach to risk selection, and because our team has such a deep and diverse background, we were able to do so successfully. Those of our team who were brokers can view the landscape from a broker perspective and can understand how the client thinks and what is driving their decisions. With that kind of knowledge, we are able to select the right risks and price them properly.

Plus, we have at our disposal the entirety of the 九色视频resources. There are a lot of smart people in every step of the insurance lifecycle. We have the expertise to understand the business, the pricing, and the needs of the market. We use tools like machine learning to develop our rating model and understand our book of business better. We work hand-in-hand with our claims team. We know what is happening in every part of the process, and our entire team is engaged.

Q: What are some of the issues and or the events in the past year that have impacted your line of business?
The political unrest and military actions taking place in other parts of the world are always of concern in the aviation and aerospace industry. Likewise, product liability issues that are newsworthy also cause concern. Still, flying has never been safer. Despite concerns brought up in the media, aviation has an unparalleled safety culture. Pilot training, staff training, safety department oversight, and FAA oversight have all made aviation one of the safest forms of transportation.

Q: What are some of the more interesting aspects of your job?
There is so much. Walking an assembly line and learning what it takes to build an aircraft, watching a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, behind-the-scenes tours of space capsules and new launch systems, walking around the launch pad – it’s all part of getting to meet our clients in their place of business and learning about their pain points and building a program that helps them protect their business.

These are things that no other job can deliver. They are also part of the excitement of meeting clients and working with them to bring our expertise to bear on their operations. Knowing that what I’ve done today will help my client tomorrow is the best reward.