William R. Berkley to be Foundation Lecture Series Speaker

William R. Berkley, founder of the Fortune 500 property-casualty insurance holding company, W. R. Berkley Corporation, has accepted NAPSLO's invitation to share his perspective  on the current business environment as well as the insurance industry at the NAPSLO Annual Convention.

 

Mr. Berkley is the 2010 Derek Hughes/NAPSLO Educational Foundation Lecture Series Speaker. His program is set for Wednesday, October 13 at 9:30 a.m., during the general session program. The Foundation Lecture Series was established in 1998 to bring prominent business or political individuals to the annual convention to speak on relevant topics of the day.

 

Berkley, who founded the company in 1967, has served continuously as Chairman and CEO over the past 43 years. He has overseen the growth of the company into one of the largest commercial lines writers in the United States that operates in the following five segments of the property casualty insurance business: specialty insurance, regional property casualty insurance, alternative markets, reinsurance, and international. W.R. Berkley NAPSLO member firms include Admiral Insurance Co., Carolina Casualty and Nautilus Insurance Co.

 

During his career, Mr. Berkley has also founded a number of public and private companies, some of which he continues to lead as chairman or director, and has similar roles in several financial institutions, including two banks and a number of industrial companies.

 

A graduate of New York University and the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, he is active on the boards of both New York University and Georgetown University, and serves as Chairman of Achievement First, a group of charter schools serving inner-city children in the New York metropolitan area. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his business, civic and philanthropic activities over the years.