Orion180 CEO on the business’s transition to full-stack carrier

The surplus lines carrier began writing non-admitted homeowners’ insurance in coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina in December 2022. It also has state approval pending in North Carolina.

Ken Gregg (pictured), CEO of Orion180, told Insurance Business that the move is about having more control over the firm’s book of business.

“It’s been in the plans from the inception of the company. We want to be able to control our customer experience and what we’re able to bring to the market,” Gregg said.

“When you’re an MGA, you’re primarily a distributor of product. For us, the natural progression is to become your own carrier and control your product, control your pricing, and control the experience.”

The timing was ripe for Orion180 to make the strategic shift, according to Gregg. The company has produced around $150 million in written premiums in under five years, and its scale of production had a reached a point where becoming a carrier was the natural next step.

“We’ve been putting it together for the last year and a half,” the CEO said. “We got to the point of critical mass to make the transition.”

‘Expect more’ from Orion180

Headquartered in Florida, Orion180 serves more than 80,000 policyholders across the US Southeast. It has secured an A “Exceptional” rating from ratings agency Demotech.

It plans to expand its existing footprint and add additional lines of businesses later this year. The carrier currently operates in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and will soon step into Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

“For us, it’s about natural progression. We’re expanding up through the West, and then we’re probably going to into Florida as well, which is where we operate anyway,” said Gregg.

Further expansion will come as it “makes strategic sense” to Orion180, which aims to be a national provider of insurance solutions.

While its more than 1,500 partner agencies wouldn’t be impacted by the transition, Gregg emphasized that the move would be about ensuring continuity and ensuring that agents have a great experience with Ortion180’s tech platforms.

“Our tagline is ‘expect more,’” he said. “We want to bring flexibility and technology [to agents] and to help them do a better job of providing those solutions to customers.”

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