January 14, 2026 The Providers Risk Management Association has convened the expertise of four founding firms to launch Providers Risk Management Association. This Association will provide critical risk management services to a variety of businesses and a variety of insurance coverages including Property and Casualty coverage, Executive Lines coverage including EPLI (Employment Practices Liability Insurance) and D&O (Directors & Officers Liability Coverage), and Workplace Violence and Trafficking Liability (Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act TVPRA Liability).
Services include:
- AI-driven Survey & risk scoring of a member’s premises and operation
- Crisis risk management services
- Anti-trafficking risk assessment and mitigation protocols
- Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) Helpline
Domiciled in Illinois, the Association will be registered as a Risk Purchasing Group in the first quarter of 2026.
“Effective risk management starts with understanding how risk manifests at the individual business level,” said Tarek Timol, CEO and Founder of Understudy Insurance Services. “Understudy delivers data-driven reports to participating organizations that identify areas of elevated risk across a wide range of industries, complementing the specialized expertise within this consortium and supporting more informed underwriting and risk mitigation efforts.”
Wes Lyons, Chairman of Hotel Shield, adds, "Research over the past decade shows that the hospitality industry is exposed to significant human trafficking liability and the risk to the industry is growing at an alarming rate. We’re building a solution at Hotel Shield with the urgent objective to solve human trafficking in the hospitality sector, and a key benefit of implementing Hotel Shield can be a wide reduction in criminality.”
About the Founding Partners:
Understudy. AI driven surveys that compile reports for member businesses. The reports include not only property & casualty exposure information but also executive lines perils. These reports curate data from publicly available sources including social media, 911 call and crime data, as well as over 2,500 other data points. Every insurance company does a similar but usually less robust search. Member businesses can now be aware of how they are being perceived. Risk factors that may be identified can be addressed to mitigate or minimize risk. www.understudyins.com
Martin LaPointe has led a team of experienced employment attorneys that has fielded over 90,000 Helpline calls over a 10-year period. Owners of businesses and their managers can call the Helpline for assistance on a wide variety of Employment Practices issues including employee termination and discipline, discrimination, sexual harassment, state federal and/or local Wage and Hour issues, family leave, and disabilities.
Crisis Risk. The principals of Crisis Risk represent clients that include the world’s largest global companies as well as educational institutions and governmental entities (counties, villages, towns, States, and insurance pools). They have decades of firsthand crisis and consequence management experience, as well as legal and insurance expertise, giving them the ability to provide critical decision support to clients facing urgent crisis events. www.crisisrisk.com
Hotel Shield. Hotel Shield is committed to combating trafficking through cutting-edge technology, services, and risk management solutions. The firm was co-founded by legal, law enforcement, technology, anti-trafficking, and risk management veterans, along with the Eagle Venture Studio. Hotel Shield's lead investor is the Eagle Freedom Fund, a global venture fund with offices in Fort Worth, Singapore, and Zurich that invests in tech companies committed to decimating human trafficking. www.hotelshield.com
MKCG. The Mark Kollar Consulting Group (MKCG) specializes in addressing the needs of insurance start-ups and developing innovative insurance programs. As a Surplus Lines Broker and Intermediary, we bring together professionals from various disciplines to create effective insurance solutions. www.mkconsultinggroupllc.com.
