Ace Underwriting Group

A Brief History of our company.

1989:
     AAA Ace Underwriters, Inc. was founded and our original office, in 500 square feet on Sheridan Street, in Hollywood was opened for business in August of 1989.  President Ralph Francis and one other agent were the first employees.  In November of 1989 the Florida legislature changed the insurance code, now requiring all motor vehicle owners to carry PIP and Property Damage Liability insurance.  AAA Ace Underwriters was in the right place at the right time.  By the end of 1989 AAA Ace Underwriters had over 500 clients.  

1990:
     AAA Ace Underwriters diversifies and forms Sensible Software Systems to handle the development and implementation of new software strategies.  The Tag Rater software program is developed to assist independent agents to handle Florida tag & title work.  Agencies across Florida subscribe to the Tag Rater.  Ace Underwriting Group is formed.  Three group members are AAA Ace Underwriters, Ace Underwriting Group and Sensible Software Systems.  Alice Francis joins Ace Underwriting Group from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. as head of our wholesale insurance brokerage unit.  Ace Underwriting begins use of its toll free line (800)368-4227.  Radio advertising is used and total number of customers grows to over 1000.  Ace Underwriting Group joins Professional Insurance Agents of Florida. 

1991:
     Ace Underwriting Group opens its Tampa Bay branch office on 139th Avenue directly across the street from the Hillsborough County tag office.  Six new policies are written the first day.  Growth of the Tag Rater software continues.  First Response Services is added to the group as a 24-hour claims management firm.  The automation of claims service begins for all Ace Underwriting Group customers.  Agents sign up and begin selling First Response to their clients.  Over 10,000 policyholders across Florida are members of First Response by the end of the year.  Ace Underwriting Group designs its first hurricane preparedness and disaster plan for serving its clients in case of a natural disaster.  Preparations include redundant computer systems in the Tampa office, emergency generators, cellular telephones and employee responsibilities in case of emergency.  Ace Underwriting Group's wholesale division begins writing commercial lines and homeowners policies throughout Florida.  The Ace Underwriting Group network of agents grows to over 500.  Ace Underwriting Group begins offering insurance to students at USF at the weekly USF Flea Market.

1992:
     A tough year for the insurance industry.  Hurricane Andrew wipes out parts of Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.  While in a mandatory evacuation area, the home office of Ace Underwriting Group was up and running at 8:00am while the last remnants of the storm were still in progress.  All affected homeowner and business insurance customers were contacted, and all reports were filed with their insurance carriers before noon that day.  The disaster planning at the Ace Underwriting Group was so efficient, WSVN (Channel seven in Miami) television advises customers of independent agents who can not reach their insurance agency to call First Response for emergency help. Over 500 claim reports were taken by Ace and First Response for customers of other agencies.  Because of Hurricane Andrew, no insurance policies are written for 3 weeks following the storm.  During the days following the storm, our employees were delivering food, water and supplies to our network of agents throughout Dade county.  While many of the agencies were destroyed, the few that were able to operate were doing so without power or water.  Our daily delivery of food and water was a needed relief.  Radio advertising begins in Tampa Bay on  stations targeting the 18-24 year old audience.  Sponsorship of the "Bubba the Love Sponge" show begins on WFLZ 93.3 FM.  Similar advertising is run on upstart WBGG 105.9 FM in Miami. 

1993:
     Response from our radio advertising campaigns in Miami lead Ace to open its third location in Hialeah.  Just off the Palmetto Expressway.  However, in a related move the Florida Department of Transportation begins its improvement project on the Palmetto at approximately the same time.  The project is scheduled to last 24-36 months.  After several months of horrendous sales (and traffic) Ace is forced to close the Hialeah office.  Servicing of the Hialeah clients falls to the staff in Hollywood.  The staff is now at 8 in Hollywood and two in Tampa.  Ace Underwriting Group forms the Travel Authority a travel benefit firm and begins operating the Travel Authority travel benefit program.  Open to all who travel by car, bus, plane or train the Travel Authority offers Accidental Death coverage and other valuable benefits for its members.   

1994:
    Ace Underwriting Group ends its radio advertising campaign for more traditional yellow page advertising.  First Response adds its 100,000th member.  The Staff in the Hollywood office hits 11.  Hillsborough County moves the tag office from 139th Ave to Florida Ave.  Ace Underwriting also moves its office to better located space at 104 E. Fletcher Ave., just off I-275.  Sales continue to accelerate, Ace Underwriting reaches 2000 customers.  Ace Underwriting Group applies for and gets the website www.underwriting.com from InterNic.  Ace's website is one of the first to go live offering insurance products via the internet.  Policy holders still needed to visit an office to be insured.  Ace Underwriting Group joins Specialty Agents of Florida.

1995:
     Ace Underwriting Group become Excess and Surplus general agents and begin to sell commercial lines to hard to insure businesses such as oceanfront condominiums and day care centers.  All lines of Commercial insurance are represented statewide.  Ace Underwriting group occupies 1500 square feet of space in its Hollywood Location with 13 employees.  Consolidation of files begins with the Hollywood office becoming the "customer service center" for all Ace Underwriting and First Response customers.  Sensible Software begins the expansion of its proprietary database management system using Alpha 4.  First Response begins sending follow-up reports to its agents with claim data including adjuster's name, direct telephone number and claim number.  File space in Hollywood is exceeded for the first time and dead files are put into 250 square feet of storage in Hollywood to make room for active files now exceeding 2500 in number.

1996:
     Telephone lines number 12 in Hollywood plus three in Tampa.  Additional fax machines are added in Hollywood to aid in submission of risks from over 600 agencies throughout Florida on commercial lines.  More capacity is added in Hollywood as our original computer system and base-2 coaxial network is replaced by modern Pentium 200 based computers and our first 10base-t Ethernet.  Long distance charges between offices in Hollywood and Tampa exceeds $2000 per month.  Our employees see our agency management system in color for the first time.  By the end of the year, our active policy count approaches 3000.   Coverage via the internet is now available on www.underwriting.com and applications are completed via US Mail. 

1997:
     Critical mass is reached in our Hollywood office as no more room for expansion is available.  Ace Underwriting Group opens a Plantation branch in 1100 square feet of space on Broward Boulevard and takes part in the 4th of July Parade which begins from its parking lot.  Growth continues in all lines of business.  www.underwriting.com receives it 1000th hit.  Ace Underwriting Group exceeds 3000 active policies.

1998:
     Ace Underwriting Group moves its customer service center to Plantation along with 6 employees from Hollywood.  Plantation now becomes the home office.  Hollywood is reduced in size to 1000 square feet as the additional 500 square feet is no longer needed for customer service operations.  Conversion to the Windows 98 operating system takes place and new high speed internet servers, mail handlers and database servers are added using Microsoft Windows NT.  2.2KVA uninterruptible Power Supplies are installed in Plantation to assure stability for communication between the home office (Plantation) and the Hollywood and Tampa branches.  6 dial up lines are used to connect the branches to Plantation.

1999:
     Ace Underwriting Group assumes all responsibility for its own web server and mail handling becoming autonomous from any ISP.  This makes Ace Underwriting Group one of very few insurance portals on the World Wide Web operating its own servers.  The investment in technology makes Ace Underwriting Group known throughout the insurance industry as a cutting edge operation.  Several insurance companies seek advice from Ace Underwriting Group's Sensible Software Systems division on ways to automate and migrate to the web.  Active accounts reach 3500.  Ace Underwriting Group purchases US Pak-N-Ship in Plantation adjacent to the Plantation office.  Openings are made to expand the facility to over 2200 square feet.  A similar operation is set up in 500 square feet of space in Hollywood.  Accounts are opened with UPS and FedEx and US Pak-N-Ship becomes operational serving the area with a myriad of business services.  Ace offers its commercial accounts free mailbox service at US Pak-N-Ship. 

2000:
     After the non-event of Y2K, it was business as usual at the Ace Underwriting Group.  After its first Christmas season, US Pak-N-Ship's inventory and service structure is expanded.  Another round of computer upgrades for the branch offices is done.  DSL lines are installed for the first time in Plantation and Hollywood.  Tampa is connected by Nextel 2-way radios and a monthly savings in long distance is established.  DSL provider Northpoint goes bankrupt and leaves Ace Underwriting Group without service with 24 hours of notice.  After only 1 day of downtime, AT&T establishes a commercial cable circuit and the Ace servers are back online.  Tampa begins using Road Runner cable service and all offices of Ace Underwriting Group are web enabled and online 24-hours a day.  Active accounts reach 4000.  Ace Underwriting Group's commercial insurance customers include all 67 counties in Florida from Key West to Pensacola.  Ace's president Ralph Francis and Vice President Alice Francis represent agents statewide at Specialty Agents corporate roundtable on automation and systems in Orlando.

2001:
     Ace Underwriting Group opens its newest venture Convenient Photo with the purchase of Noritsu photo processing equipment.  The photo lab is opened in another 1000 square foot expansion of the Plantation office.  This full service photo processing center services 126, 135 and APS film, as well as a host of digital media.  US Pak-N-Ship opens a new sign and banner division and begins commercial printing of business cards, letterhead, stationary and envelopes.  Also, instant issue rubber stamps are added to the product line of US Pak-N-Ship.  All of the US Pak-N-Ship services are available at all Ace Underwriting Group offices.

2002:
      www.underwriting.com begins a new internet advertising push with pay-for-click services in several web search engines including MSN, Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, Alta Vista and Google.  Ace adds this corporate history page to its website.  (By the way...The Florida Department of Transportation has completed about 66% of the 1993 Palmetto Highway project to date.   Some decisions [like closing Hialeah], while hard to make, are sometimes for the best!)

2003:
        Ace Underwriting Group increases its staff to 12 and takes an additional 800 square feet in Plantation to house its growing number of files.  Computer upgrades and a new redundant internet connection assure 100% up time to the branch offices.  Strategic partnerships are begun with Progressive and GMAC insurance.  A+ auto insurance is now available to all of Ace's customers statewide!

2004:
        Growth continues as Ace Underwriting Group reaches over 4000 active policies.  Ace Underwriting Group is invited to take part in the new DRIVE insurance product launch in Las Vegas.  Ace quickly becomes one of Drive's largest and fastest growing agents.  Ace also begins a strategic partnership with AIG the world's largest insurance company.  Ace  Underwriting Group now represents over 35 insurance and finance companies giving it the ability to compete with any policy written in any part of the state.  This increased competition stirs growth and in the 4th quarter sales are up over 35% over 2003.

2005:
        Ace Underwriting Group opens it's fourth office in Deerfield Beach.  This 1300 square foot facility is staffed and equipped with the latest computer and communication systems.  The first Ace office to use the Windows XP operating system and a super fast  DSL connection, the Deerfield office is state of the art.  Complete with room for expansion and a conference room, the Deerfield office will carry the growth of the Ace Underwriting Group well into the future.  Active accounts approach 5000 and with increased co-branded advertising in cooperation with Drive insurance the growth continues more than 35% in the first quarter.

2006:

        Ace Underwriting Group has it's most profitable year to date with over 6000 active policies.  Additional sales agents are added to the Hollywood, Tampa and Deerfield offices.  Ace's proprietary database management system is enhanced with new features.  New alliances are made with more insurance carriers and the number of companies represented exceeds 50.  Premium volume on new business exceeds 7.5 million dollars. 

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