People news: Almy Joins Preferred Mutual as commercial-lines underwriting director

NEW BERLIN, N.Y. — James (Jim) Almy has joined Preferred Mutual Insurance Company as director of commercial-lines underwriting.

Almy will be responsible for overseeing the strategy and production of the commercial-lines business unit at Preferred Mutual, including product advancement and initiatives, pricing, research and development, and risk analysis, the firm said in a news release.

Almy has more than 20 years of commercial-lines underwriting experience, having served in a number of property and casualty underwriting positions, the insurance company said.

He most recently served as an agent’s E&O (errors and omissions) insurance underwriting manager for the last seven years at Utica National Insurance Group, per his LinkedIn page. Almy has worked at Utica National since 1994. His other positions at that firm included commercial-lines underwriting supervisor and senior/account commercial-lines underwriter.

Almy earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and he holds the chartered property and casualty underwriter (CPCU), chartered financial consultant (ChFC), and associate in underwriting (AU) industry designations.

Preferred Mutual Insurance, based in New Berlin, provides property and casualty insurance coverage to more than 232,000 individual and business customers through a network of more than 490 independent agents throughout New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The insurer employs more than 290 people.

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