NIF Group : Everything you need to know

Everything you need to know about NIF Group

Fact file:

Headquarters: Manhasset, NY

Number of offices: Six

Number of employees: >120

Founder: Michael A. Orlando

NIF Group is a national program manager and regional wholesale broker. The New York-based firm underwrites programs for non-profits, social service agencies, bowling centers, and contractors. It also offers access to specialty property & casualty insurance, such as contractors, difficult products, environmental, property and management/professional liability.

Headquartered in Manhasset, NY, NIF Group has six offices located on the east and west coasts of the US, employing over 120 people. Its offices are staffed with program underwriting, and/or binding authority and brokerage placement facilities.

As a full service program administrator, NIF deals with most functions normally performed by an insurance company, including underwriting, policy issuance, claims administration, distribution, accounting, sales and marketing.

The NIF Group timeline

NIF Group can trace its roots back to 1976, when Michael A. Orlando founded North Island Excess & Surplus, an Insurance Holding Company, in the state of New York. Two-years later, North Island Facilities was formed in Great Neck, New York.

By 1981, NIF Services of New York added its first branch in Manhattan. The Group’s expansion continued throughout the 1980s, with NIF Services of New England opening in 1982, NIF Services of New Jersey opening in 1983, and NIF Services of Mid-Atlantic being added in 1989.

In 1990, NIF acquired Danmar Associates and combined it with NIF Services of New York. The Group made further mergers and acquisitions in 1995, with the purchase of Flegenheimer Facilities (which merged into the Long Island office) and the purchase of Hudson Valley surplus lines wholesaler, Moore Excess, which merged into NIF Services of New York.

The Group launched its specialty brokerage division called NIF Pro in 1994. Two years later, NIF Governmental Services was formed as a specialty division to underwrite municipalities and special districts.   

In 2001, NIF Group celebrated its 25th anniversary. After two and a half decades of organic and inorganic growth, NIF has grown into one of the largest independent managing general agents (MGA) and wholesale brokers in the US.

The year of 2007 saw NIF Group open its first office on the west coast of the US, with the birth of NIF Pacific, located in the Seattle suburb of Bothell Washington. The following year, NIF acquired HDR Insurance Managers, a well-known underwriter of artisan contractors, which now operates as NIF Services of California.

NIF Group acquired by JenCap Holdings

On December 07, 2016, JenCap Holdings LLC announced it had agreed to acquire NIF Group. JenCap Holdings was formed in March 2016 by The Carlyle Group and JCH management in order to consolidate specialty insurance distribution businesses, including managing general agents, program managers and transactional wholesale brokers.

“NIF was a target for JenCap from day one and we’re happy to be partnering with one of the most successful independent MGA/specialty brokerage businesses in the country,” commented John F. Jennings, president and chief executive officer of JCH. “Michael Orlando and Mark Maher have built a tremendous business and we’re thrilled they’ve chosen JenCap to perpetuate NIF’s commitment to excellence and service to their clients.”

NIF founder Michael Orlando said: “We wanted a partner that felt the same way about our commitment to clients, employees and carriers and we realized early on that JenCap was the right fit.”

Wholesale brokerage

NIF’s National Wholesale Brokerage places a large variety of risks including, but not limited to:

• General liability for real estate and residential properties; manufacturers and wholesale distributors; retailers; medical facilities; and products;
• Contractors liability for general contractors, trade contractors and specialty contractors;
• Allied medical professional liability for medical professionals;
• Products liability for difficult product lines, like medical devices and pharmaceuticals, where non-standard and creative solutions are required;
• Umbrella and excess liability coverage on many classes of business such as contractors, real estate, manufacturers, products liability accounts, auto liability driven accounts, and medical labs.

NIF Pro

NIF Pro is a specialty brokerage division within NIF Group. Formed in 1994, NIF Pro provides management and professional liability insurance products to producers for their existing and potential clients. The unit is 100% wholesale and it provides coverages including:

• Management liability insurance (D&O and EPLI);
• Professional liability insurance E&O;
• Financial institutions management and professional liability insurance;
• Cyber, security & privacy media liability insurance.

Program administration

NIF Group is a celebrated program administrator for non-profit social service agencies, complex social service agencies, bowling centers, contractors and property. It is particularly famous for NIF Nonprofit Advisor, a leading source for insurance solutions and non-profit intelligence for brokers and advisors. The Group also offers program solutions for property, personal lines, contractors, bowling centers, and the trucking industry.