Management Consultants Specializing in
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About Us

Our company's basic character, including how we deal with our clients, is largely a function of our history and our people. The following sections, combined with the more tersely rendered information in our FAQ section, will give you a pretty clear picture of the character of Synebar Solutions, Inc.

Mission Statement
History
Philosophy
Our Approach
Our People

Mission Statement Back To Top

It is the mission of Synebar Solutions, Inc. to:

Provide client underwriters with factual, objective risk information which will enable them to select, price and retain quality business for the attainment of their companies' growth and profit objectives.

Assist our client carriers in attracting and retaining quality, profitable business by providing loss control services to their insureds that the insureds will recognize as valuable.

Provide insured businesses with information, resources, guidance and counsel that will assist them in overcoming the barriers that prevent them from attaining their own objectives for efficiency of operations, conservation of manpower, reduction of waste, and control of insurance costs.

History: Why this company was started Back To Top

By Dean B. Wisecarver, Founder

This company was started, quite simply, to fill a need in the market for seamless outsource loss control work for insurance companies, and to have some fun in the process. The key terms here are "seamless" and "fun." Seamless means functioning pretty much as if we really were direct employees of the insurance companies we represent. Fun means doing work we so much enjoy, that gives us such fulfillment because it actually accomplishes something, that our enthusiasm carries us beyond our clients' expectations. That's fun!

I spent 24 years working for a large, major insurance carrier. I was the Director of the National Accounts Loss Control Department for many of those years. Our department handled large, sophisticated risks all over the country, often in areas where we did not have in-house loss control representatives. We occasionally had to outsource loss control services to serve some of our customers. Frankly, we had trouble finding experienced, management-oriented outsource people who could handle things professionally, make appropriate decisions on our behalf while face-to-face with our customers, and take charge of representing us well. We found that most small, local consultants were generally very OSHA and/or engineering-oriented, not management-oriented. We found that most of the people from big "fee" companies were generally poorly trained and inexperienced so we had to screen each representative very carefully to find those that could handle our assignments in the way we wanted. Even then, most of these people had been doing such basic work for so long they were reluctant to take charge and make good decisions on our behalf without constantly calling and seeking direction. It wasn't hard for our customers to see the difference between the outsource consultant and our own people. It wasn't "seamless."

As fate would have it, years later I was recruited by a large fee company to build a higher level of loss control service, one that would accomplish what I could not find while I was the buyer. I got a rude awakening. My new employer couldn't understand why my department needed to spend so much time and money recruiting and training good, professional consultants. Furthermore, I was startled to discover how little my new associates really understood about insurance companies: the regulatory requirements they face, the financial considerations that drive their decisions, or the competitive pressures they feel. I finally left that company determined to build a new company that could do what needed to be done, one staffed by salaried, professional consultants who could establish the level of communications and trust necessary to represent a client carrier seamlessly.

I wanted to establish an outsource company that would allow carriers freedom to rely on our expertise, judgment, and our ability to make decisions that are in the carrier's best interests and are in line completely with the carrier's goals. The result is Synebar Solutions, Inc. and I feel quite comfortable saying that since our founding in 1995 we have proven that outsource services can be delivered seamlessly.

Our Philosophy Back To Top

Our experience has taught us that there are some key barriers that make carriers reluctant to give a loss prevention/loss control service company both the authority and the responsibility to do all the loss prevention service. Here are two of the most prevalent barriers:

Most loss control outsource companies typically pay field representatives on a per job commission basis. In fact, the representatives of many companies are independent contractors who are paid only for completed work. But this approach is so standard that even in companies where field people are direct employees, they typically get paid only for work completed. The more work they crank out, the more money they make. This causes the carriers to believe that too often the field representative's primary objective isn't so much about doing a really good job for the carrier as it is to get an assignment completed and get paid.

Carrier representatives rarely have direct contact with individual field representatives. This lack of contact, combined with the knowledge of how they are paid, makes it difficult to believe the service company's field representatives could possibly see an assignment's objectives the same way the carrier would.
These inherent barriers make it difficult for most carriers to believe the outsource companies' representatives can be trusted to make prudent decisions on behalf of the carrier while face-to-face with insureds.

Our mission at Synebar Solutions is to eliminate these key barriers, at least for the select few clients we take on. To accomplish our mission, we have adopted the following operating principles:

Our client carriers have direct access to all of our people, individually or collectively, to allow dialog, training, and clear understanding of goals, objectives and performance expectations.

This is critically important. Most loss prevention service companies don't want their field representatives making independent decisions, and certainly don't want them talking directly to the client carrier except on rare occasions. But, without this type of personal contact and communications, it is impossible to build the trust and understanding so essential to sharing common objectives. Certainly, internal loss prevention representatives would be expected to have this level of contact. Just because our people are not direct employees does not mean we should allow barriers to exist that reduce the communications necessary to do the job effectively. It is, in reality, a matter of trust. We trust that our field representatives understand both our mission and our client's mission. We know all our people are professional, experienced loss prevention consultants so we know we won't be embarressed by allowing them to have close, personal contact with client-carriers' people. How else can we be certain we are doing things that are in the carriers' best interests?

Our clients are encouraged to provide work assessments, performance evaluations, and feedback just as they would for their own employees. The feedback should include how well we are meeting the carriers' expectations and how the policyholders perceive the loss prevention services they are getting via our activities. Since our mission is to represent our client-carriers seamlessly, this performance feedback is essential. Like most outsource companies, we fully understand and appreciate that our clients always have the right to terminate using us if we fail to meet performance expectations, or if our type of services are no longer needed. This is one of the major advantages of outsourcing in the first place. We encourage and welcome feedback and assessments from our clients.

Our consultants are all full-time, fully salaried employees whose performance is assessed internally and whose salaries are administered according to how well they do all aspects of their work. Of course, one of the most important aspects of individual performance is how well our consultants represent our clients to their insureds. The better our consultants meet our clients' expectations, the better they get paid. It's that simple.

We believe that professional, personalized management consultation service is one of the three essential customer-oriented services carriers must provide to establish themselves as attractive, viable markets for the insureds' business. The key operative phrases in this statement are "professional, personalized...customer-oriented...attractive." Embodied in these simple phrases is an entire matrix of operating principles and behavior characteristics that, over the years, we have refined and integrated into the way Synebar Solutions does business. Our people understand our operating principles and they understand they are measured on how well they live up to them, not on how many assignments they can crank out.

Certainly, there are many other philosophical issues that guide us and those listed above are among the most important. However, there is one more that deserves some attention here. The carriers with whom we work best are those that understand and share our belief that loss control services are not just for the "problem" insureds but are usually best directed at the good, profitable insureds – the ones the carriers want to retain, the ones who appreciate the service and attention. We believe this approach not only helps our client carriers retain their existing good business but also makes their program viable to other good business not yet insured that would be attracted to a carrier and program that seems committed to helping good companies get better.

Our Approach Back To Top

Our primary focus, or business niche, is serving as the loss prevention partner with carriers and MGAs on specialty programs where our contributions will add significant value to the programs in the eyes of the target insureds.
To sustain this focus, Synebar Solutions offers:

Dedication and commitment to bringing added value to the overall program through highly professional loss prevention and control consultations and services.

Commitment to learning the target risks' business very well, including the language, the goals and objectives, the market for their business, their labor market, and their competition, and applying that knowledge to:

The carrier/MGA:

The insured:

Providing truly pertinent risk assessment information to underwriters.
Providing well-written, comprehensive risk assessment reports.
Maintaining open, regular, direct personal communications with underwriting and others involved in the program administration.
Sustaining enthusiastic commitment from every one of our consultants to the success and integrity of the program.
Creating two-way feedback on performance issues – how the program is doing and how our activity is adding value and fulfilling our role.

Providing highly specific management support services, related to loss prevention, to insured businesses.
Supplying pertinent, direct consultative service aimed at helping the insured businesses attain their own goals and objectives.
Delivering broad-based risk management information via specialized information sheets, program-specific newsletter, and executive seminars.
Remaining readily and easily available to insureds to answer questions on loss control issues and to provide resources and information via telephone, fax, e-mail, or the Internet.

Our approach results in a truly seamless representation of the program in a way that helps attract and retain the good risks in the target market. That is what we mean by "added value." Please refer to the other sections of our site for more information.

Our People Back To Top

As we stated above, we specialize in being the loss control partner for carriers and MGAs with niche, specialty programs, and we are very good at it. Part of the reason we're good at it is because we have fun at it. Having fun is what makes us focus on all the little things that really should be done and is what drives us to do each assignment as if it were a showcase of what we are capable of doing. We are also good at it because we find fulfillment in doing something of substance, using our experience, knowledge, and skills to make something good happen. Having fun and gaining fulfillment makes our work intrinsically motivating. That's the way we do business and that's the kind of people we have at Synebar Solutions.

Below is a brief description of each of our people. Before you read these serious yet light-hearted biographies, you should know a few important facts:

We have people who meet all of the various state requirements for providing primary loss control services so our work on your behalf won't put you at odds with insurance departments or workers' compensation regulators during market conduct audits.

All our people work at being good writers so both your underwriters and your insureds can make clear sense of our letters and reports.

All our people have extensive technical backgrounds but are more management-oriented than engineering-oriented.

Those who know us find the term "enthusiastic" (a wonderfully contagious characteristic) is almost an understatement in describing our people.

And, perhaps most important, all our people are full-time, salaried employees. Please refer to the FAQ section of this Web site for additional details.
Let's meet the people who make a difference for our clients:

R. Bruce Wright, Loss Control Consultant & President
Based in Central Ohio
Bruce is a defector from the major "corporate" environment, having spent over 24 years in the commercial P&C industry. His background includes many years with a major carrier, several years as national sales director of a large TPA, and even a few years as a VP of a national wholesale brokerage company. His frustration with meaningless, time consuming reports to higher-ups, with less than effective customer service approaches, and the sheer bureaucracy of large companies led him to us. He now enjoys the opportunity to personally contribute to something meaningful – to have impact on the people he works with outside as a consultant and to effectively influence the company he is now a part of. In short, he came to Synebar Solutions to have fun and to do work that accomplishes something, and so far he is doing both. He's also been known to have fun in fast company, racing sports cars at tracks all over the eastern US. The fact that he earned his CPCU designation somehow belies his fun-loving nature.

Back To Top

Synebar Solutions, Inc. Home Page

	Our company's basic character, including how we deal with our clients, is largely a function of our history and our people. The following sections, combined with the more tersely rendered information in our FAQ section, will give you a pretty clear picture of the character of Synebar Solutions, Inc.
	Mission Statement History Philosophy Our Approach Our People

	Provide client underwriters with factual, objective risk information which will enable them to select, price and retain quality business for the attainment of their companies' growth and profit objectives.
	Assist our client carriers in attracting and retaining quality, profitable business by providing loss control services to their insureds that the insureds will recognize as valuable.
	Provide insured businesses with information, resources, guidance and counsel that will assist them in overcoming the barriers that prevent them from attaining their own objectives for efficiency of operations, conservation of manpower, reduction of waste, and control of insurance costs.

	Our client carriers have direct access to all of our people, individually or collectively, to allow dialog, training, and clear understanding of goals, objectives and performance expectations. This is critically important. Most loss prevention service companies don't want their field representatives making independent decisions, and certainly don't want them talking directly to the client carrier except on rare occasions. But, without this type of personal contact and communications, it is impossible to build the trust and understanding so essential to sharing common objectives. Certainly, internal loss prevention representatives would be expected to have this level of contact. Just because our people are not direct employees does not mean we should allow barriers to exist that reduce the communications necessary to do the job effectively. It is, in reality, a matter of trust. We trust that our field representatives understand both our mission and our client's mission. We know all our people are professional, experienced loss prevention consultants so we know we won't be embarressed by allowing them to have close, personal contact with client-carriers' people. How else can we be certain we are doing things that are in the carriers' best interests?
	Our clients are encouraged to provide work assessments, performance evaluations, and feedback just as they would for their own employees. The feedback should include how well we are meeting the carriers' expectations and how the policyholders perceive the loss prevention services they are getting via our activities. Since our mission is to represent our client-carriers seamlessly, this performance feedback is essential. Like most outsource companies, we fully understand and appreciate that our clients always have the right to terminate using us if we fail to meet performance expectations, or if our type of services are no longer needed. This is one of the major advantages of outsourcing in the first place. We encourage and welcome feedback and assessments from our clients.
	Our consultants are all full-time, fully salaried employees whose performance is assessed internally and whose salaries are administered according to how well they do all aspects of their work. Of course, one of the most important aspects of individual performance is how well our consultants represent our clients to their insureds. The better our consultants meet our clients' expectations, the better they get paid. It's that simple. We believe that professional, personalized management consultation service is one of the three essential customer-oriented services carriers must provide to establish themselves as attractive, viable markets for the insureds' business. The key operative phrases in this statement are "professional, personalized...customer-oriented...attractive." Embodied in these simple phrases is an entire matrix of operating principles and behavior characteristics that, over the years, we have refined and integrated into the way Synebar Solutions does business. Our people understand our operating principles and they understand they are measured on how well they live up to them, not on how many assignments they can crank out.