What Makes Us Distinguished

Bill Malloy serves as the CEO of Distinguished. His insurance career began in 1980, giving him considerable US and international insurance market expertise. Most recently, Bill was President of Acrisure Ventures. Before Acrisure, Bill was a Partner at Aquiline Capital, where his responsibilities included assuming the CEO role for various portfolio companies. Before Aquiline, Bill was the Global President of Marsh. Bill is currently Chairman of the Board for Antares Re and a member of Intact’s US Advisory Board.

Jason Rotman is the President and CFO at Distinguished. Prior to joining, Jason was an Executive Advisor to Aquiline Capital Partners, where he co-led the firm’s insurance team. During his tenure at Aquiline, he was also a member of the Investment Committees of the Aquiline Financial Services Funds and the Aquiline Technology Growth Fund. Jason holds a B.A. in economics from Duke University.

Steve Sitterly is the Chief Operating Officer, bringing over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Distinguished, Steve was Executive Vice President of Acrisure, where he focused on driving organic growth through product development, technology enablement and carrier negotiations. Steve holds a B.A. in Economics from Siena College and an M.B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany.

Elizabeth Babington, CPCU, ARM is the President, Umbrella and Excess Liability, responsible for maintaining carrier relationships and overseeing new program development for our Umbrella products. Elizabeth joined Distinguished in 2017, bringing with her over 20+ years of varied insurance industry experience in underwriting, retail brokerage, wholesale brokerage and program administration. Previously, Elizabeth worked at companies including Crum & Forster, Willis, PACCAR Financial Corp., and Ultra Risk Advisors (previously National Specialty Underwriters). Elizabeth holds a CPCU designation and received her BS in Accounting and Finance/Computer Science from Oregon State University.

Barb oversees Distinguished’s Community Association program including package, D&O, crime, and umbrella products. She is responsible for the program’s strategic planning, product management, and underwriting profitability. Barb joined Distinguished in 2017, bringing over 30 years of commercial insurance experience, with a focus on excess liability. Previously, she worked for Great American Insurance and Liberty Mutual in many roles including Production Underwriter, AVP Excess Liability Underwriting Manager, Product Management Consultant, and VP Program Underwriting Manager. Barb received a BA from the University of Dayton and an MBA from Miami University, Ohio. In addition, she maintains CPCU, CPL, and ARe designations.

Ryan is the President of Executive Lines at Distinguished. With a career spanning 28 years, Ryan brings extensive leadership experience in the management, financial institution, and professional liability sectors. Prior to his role at Distinguished, he founded Ascot Insurance U.S.’s executive lines practice and served as its Executive Vice President and Head of Management Liability. Ryan has also held key positions at companies such as Sompo International, Aspen Insurance, Axis Insurance, and AIG, gaining invaluable insights and expertise along the way. He started his journey in the insurance industry in 1995 as a D&O underwriter with AIG and honed his skills as a wholesale broker with Swett & Crawford. Ryan earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Management from Eckerd College.

Patrick has over 27 years of insurance industry experience where he has held various leadership roles in underwriting, sales, marketing, product management and claims. Patrick comes to Distinguished with a goal of reinventing art and collectible insurance. He is passionate about improving the customer experience for brokers, agents, and their clients to make insuring the things people love to collect, super easy.

James is the Vice President of Corporate Development at Distinguished, joining the firm in 2023. Before joining Distinguished, James was Vice President of Commercial Insurance & Programs at Vault, where he led the build of the firm’s commercial MGA business. Before Vault, James was Vice President of Large Accounts within Acrisure LLC, a top-10 global brokerage and leading M&A consolidator. James holds a B.A. in economics from Davidson College and MBA from NYU Stern.

Karen is the Chief Talent Officer, responsible for human resources and talent development across Distinguished and its subsidiaries. Karen joined in late 2019, bringing with her a great wealth of insurance industry experience to make Distinguished an employer of choice. Prior to joining Distinguished, Karen held senior human resource positions at JLT, Hamilton Insurance Group, and AIG. She received her BS in Human Resources from Indiana University – Bloomington.

Ursula is Distinguished’s General Counsel and oversees our legal operations. Her responsibilities include ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations, overseeing licensing and filings, and providing strategic direction to underwriting division leaders. Ursula joined Distinguished in 2023, bringing over 30 years of legal experience in the insurance and reinsurance sectors. Prior to joining Distinguished, Ursula served as SVP & General Counsel of the Americas Region for AXA XL, a division of AXA. Over her legal career, she has held various other General Counsel positions, each with a diverse range of responsibilities. She has supported underwriting teams and (re)insurance clients at Valiant Insurance Group, Liberty International Underwriters, Skadden Arps, Gulf Insurance Group and Wilson Elser. Ursula obtained her undergraduate degree from Boston University and her J.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.

Mani Meiyappan is the Chief Information Officer at Distinguished, assuming the role in December 2024. Since joining the firm in 2020, Mani has led critical initiatives, including Project Optimus, a multiyear transformation focused on modernizing legacy systems and building next-generation technology capabilities. Before Distinguished, Mani spent over 20 years in insurance technology, working across Property & Casualty, Excess Liability, Lloyd’s, and Reinsurance sectors. His expertise spans application development, enterprise architecture, and managing global technology teams. Mani holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, India.

Eric is an Insurance Professional with 20 years of experience, specializing in inland marine. He currently holds the position of President of Inland Marine Program at Distinguished Programs, where he leads strategic initiatives and underwriting efforts for the inland marine business unit. Before his current role, Eric held key positions at renowned insurance firms such as Argo Group, Berkley Fire & Marine Underwriters, Selective Insurance, The Hanover Insurance Group, and Firemans Fund Insurance Company, showcasing his expertise in the field. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Coastal Carolina University in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.  

Rick is the President of American Hole ‘n One and Grand Prize Promotions. Rick joined the company in 2017 as the Chief Sales Officer and was appointed in 2019 to take over the President position at the company. In his current role, he has the responsibility for the strategic direction, P&L, and all facets of operations for this division of Distinguished Programs. Prior to working with American Hole ‘n One, Rick spent over 20 years in executive positions with York Risk Services Group and Zurich Financial Services. He is a results-driven senior sales executive with an incredible ability to build, motivate and decisively lead teams with proven results in driving B2B growth and delivering multimillion-dollar growth in revenue, earnings, and market-share ratings.

Doug has over 27 years of environmental underwriting experience and joined SiriusPoint in January 2017 from Great American Insurance Group, where he was a Senior Vice President. In 2008, Doug helped to build and launch Great American’s environmental division that produced over $300M in profitable premium over his tenure there. In addition to his time at Great American, Doug has held leadership roles with other environmental insurance carriers, including XL in Exton, PA as a Vice President – Executive Underwriter and at AIG in San Francisco, CA as a Zonal Vice President, and Product Line Manager. Doug earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Villanova University in 1993 and has his Resident Producer and Surplus Lines Licenses in all 50 states.

Heidi oversees the overall strategy and management of Distinguished’s primary programs for restaurants and hotels. Heidi joined Distinguished in April 2019 with the acquisition of ProHost USA, a program administrator specializing in restaurants, where she served as President. She has an extensive background building programs for restaurants and related risks at ProHost. Her career experience also includes a variety of positions at Twin City Group, a retail brokerage. She is a past president of Target Markets Program Administrators Association and currently serves on the Advisory Board. Heidi earned a BA in Government from Cornell University and an MBA from Metropolitan State University.

Neal Sullivan is Senior Vice President and Shared Services Leader for Distinguished Programs. In this role he oversees IT, Compliance, Project Management, Analytics, as well as numerous back-office operations. Since joining Distinguished in 2000, Neal has worked in multiple leadership roles across the organization, assuming his current position in 2022. Prior to joining, Neal was an underwriter for Chubb Insurance. He received his BA in Economics from Connecticut College and an MBA from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.

Ritchie Vener is the Chief Growth Officer of Distinguished Programs LLC, responsible for all marketing and PR activities across the business. Ritchie joined Distinguished in 2019, bringing 20 years’ experience as a CMO for rapidly growing companies, all in financial services and insurance. Prior to joining Distinguished, Ritchie was CMO of York Risk Services Group for 11 years, preceded by marketing leadership positions at GE Capital and its subsidiaries. Ritchie received a BS in Finance, Summa Cum Laude and an MBA with High Honors, both from Boston University.

Katie is the President, Real Estate and Builder’s Risk for Distinguished’s Real Estate Programs including City Insurance, New York Brick & Brownstone, Vacant Building and Builder’s Risk programs. She is responsible for the program’s strategic planning, product management and underwriting profitability. Katie began her insurance career in 2007 at Distinguished and has worked through the ranks to her current position. She has concentrated in Property and Casualty Underwriting and Program Management.  Katie received her BS in Finance from Rhode Island College.

Prior to founding Distinguished in 1995 and The Distinguished Social Ventures Foundation in 2012, Andy spent 28 years in the retail insurance brokerage industry in a variety of gopher, account management, production, new product design, and executive roles. As the company’s Founder, he tries to stay out of trouble by mentoring younger colleagues and working on new programs.

A graduate of Cornell University and the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School, he has earned both the CPCU and CLU designations, was a member of Lloyds of London, and a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). He is currently a member of the World Presidents Organization (WPO) and the Chief Executives Organization (CEO).