Bellevue, WA, Aug. 24, 2015 – Distinguished Programs Holdings LLC (“Distinguished”) announced the pending acquisition of Bellevue, Washington-based Fulcrum Insurance Programs (“Fulcrum”).

Business to be merged into Distinguished’s NSU division and rebranded “Distinguished Specialty”

Bellevue, WA, Aug. 24, 2015 – Distinguished Programs Holdings LLC (“Distinguished”) announced the pending acquisition of Bellevue, Washington-based Fulcrum Insurance Programs (“Fulcrum”). Fulcrum is a leading program administrator focused on the real estate and hospitality industries on a national basis. Distinguished’s businesses include National Specialty Underwriters (“NSU”), also a Bellevue-­‐based program administrator focused on real estate and hospitality. The businesses will be combined and rebranded as “Distinguished Specialty”. Fulcrum principals Dusty Rowland and Eric Arthur will be joining Distinguished Specialty as senior executives and Rowland will join Distinguished’s Board of Advisors when the deal is concluded.

“Fulcrum has an outstanding reputation and a deeply talented team,” stated Jeremy R. Hitzig, CEO of Distinguished. “We’ve admired the company as competitors and are thrilled that they will be combining with our organization. We believe that together we will deliver best in class programs for the hospitality and real estate industries with a focus on quality, service and innovation.”

Rowland co-­founded NSU in 1995 and Arthur spent a part of his career there as well before the two launched Fulcrum together in 2008. Fulcrum subsequently developed innovative programs for “green buildings” and helped launch the non-­profit Association of Green Property Owners & Managers (“AGPOM”) in 2009. Commenting on the deal, Rowland, President of Fulcrum said “We’ve worked hard to build Fulcrum from a start-­up to a successful player in our industry. As we considered our next steps, the potential to reunite with NSU and join Distinguished Programs was extremely compelling. Together, we have a strong foundation for growth and an opportunity to push innovation in the industry.”

Both Fulcrum and NSU are best known for their flagship high limits umbrella liability purchasing groups targeting commercial and habitational real estate, hotels, resorts, casinos and restaurants with individual accounts able to obtain limits of $250-­$300 million through these exclusive programs. Distinguished Specialty will also feature additional programs including general liability, auto, property, GKLL, crime, pollution and cyber liability.

Brooks Chase, President of NSU will become President of Distinguished Specialty. He noted that the combined businesses “will have some of the best talent in the industry, strong insurance carrier and brokerage relationships and more than 10,000 real estate and hospitality locations insured in our programs.” He added that the “addition of Dusty, Eric and the Fulcrum team will help take us to a new level and give us a great platform to launch new products and services for our customers.”

The transaction is being finalized and is expected to close in the next 60 days.

About Distinguished
Distinguished is a portfolio of businesses dedicated to serving the full spectrum of the insurance industry. Headquartered in New York, Distinguished’s businesses include Distinguished Programs, a leading national insurance program administrator focused on niche products for select business segments including real estate, community associations, hospitality and cultural institutions and ReSource Pro, a leading business process outsourcing and productivity solutions business for the insurance industry with delivery centers in China and India. Distinguished also owns Certus Claims Administrators, a California-­based TPA focused on hospitality and construction casualty claims and Saranac Insurance Company Limited, a Barbados-­based reinsurer. For more information, please visit www.distinguished.com.

Contact: Jamie Schraff, Vice President, Corporate Communications (818) 559-1524, jschraff@distinguished.com

About Fulcrum
Fulcrum Insurance Programs is one of the leading program administrators focused on the real estate and hospitality industries. Fulcrum’s innovative programs include specialized insurance coverages and tailored services for “green buildings” through the Association of Green Property Owners & Managers (AGPOM). Founded in Bellevue, Washington in 2008, Fulcrum has been recognized as one of the regions “100 Fastest Growing Private Companies” by the Puget Sound Business Journal and is a recipient of the Target Markets Program Administrators Association “Best Practices” designation. For more information, please visit www.fulcrumprograms.com.

Contact: Tara Hughes, Director of Marketing (425) 213-1259, thughes@fulcrumprograms.com