Brown & Riding has added Omar Hasan to its National Property Practice, bringing nearly two decades of experience in catastrophe-exposed and layered property programmes across builders risk, commercial real estate, gaming, habitational, hospitality, industrial and retail risk.
The hire lands at a specific moment in the property market. Catastrophe-exposed property rates fell 15% to 20% in 2025, with most syndicates budgeting for another 10% reduction this year, according to RPS market data. Layered and shared placements are seeing the sharpest relief of all - in the range of 10% to 30% at renewal, according to USI's 2026 outlook - well ahead of what single-carrier deals are delivering. Capturing that spread is not automatic. It requires a broker who can rework the tower structure across multiple carriers rather than simply renewing what was already in place.
Jeff Rodriguez, president and CEO of Brown & Riding, said Hasan has built a reputation as a trusted partner among clients and colleagues, and that his collaborative approach, deep relationships across the industry and commitment to finding creative solutions make him a strong fit for the firm.
The distinction between specialist and generalist placement is showing up across the wholesale market more broadly. US E&S insurers have posted double-digit direct written premium growth for seven straight years, according to Fitch Ratings, even as an estimated 91% of insurers have adopted AI in some form. As AI handles the routine end of underwriting, judgment on the unusual and hard-to-place risk becomes the thing clients are actually paying a broker for.
Recent Ivans Index data adds a layer of nuance. Commercial property renewal rates eased to 6.16% in July, down from 6.24% in June, continuing a retreat from the 8.01% average recorded in the fourth quarter of last year. Rates are still positive, just less so - which means the margin a specialist broker can find is narrowing, and the skill required to find it is becoming more valuable as that margin shrinks.
Nowhere is that skill tested more directly than in habitational and hospitality, where the same broker often has to read two opposite conditions at once. Lockton reported that habitational property capacity has become abundant, with wood-frame rates down 5% to 15% at renewal. Hospitality property is only just bottoming out, with underwriters still weighing sexual misconduct liability and crime scores across hotel books even as the property side eases. Treating those as one conversation risks missing where the actual leverage sits in each.
Brown & Riding is the only fully independent, employee-owned wholesale broker consistently ranked among the top national P&C wholesalers by premium volume. A firm competing on independence rather than scale has more riding on whether its specialists can outperform the market, not just access it. Adding a specialist with Hasan's depth across layered CAT programmes and the lines where the market is most bifurcated is a specific and well-timed addition to that bench.
