For Newfront’s John McCall, innovation is key when it comes to complex situations for his client—and his bespoke solutions have had an impact across the insurance industry, especially for companies going through de-SPAC transactions.

That’s why Risk & Insurance® named John, Financial Institutions & Fintech Practice Leader for Newfront, a 2023 Financial Services Power Broker®. The Power Broker awards are an annual selection of the most effective and influential commercial insurance brokers.

“John has a reputation for identifying and building novel options that meet clients’ needs and lead the broader insurance industry forward in a positive way,” says Deirdre Finn, the Practice Leader of the Executive Risk Solutions (ERS) team at Newfront.

This summer, John worked with a multi-billion-dollar valuation client that went public via merger with a de-SPAC. John and his public Directors & Officers (D&O) team heard about excess carriers taking coverage positions that were contrary to the primary carrier’s position, even stating that there was no coverage for the claims when they were deemed covered under the primary policy. John and his team created an industry-driven solution, collaborating with every head of underwriting, legal, and claims at each of the 25+ carriers on the program over the course of three months. The work underwent 30+ iterations as they built true industry consensus and partnership on the issue they were trying to solve for the sake of all clients and carriers in a de-SPAC claim scenario. This resulted in a solution that ultimately transformed coverage and claims handling for D&O insurance that can be applied to any de-SPAC transaction going forward.

John’s solution-driven thinking has actually changed outcomes for other Newfront clients, too. “We've already repeated it for another client that I have zero involvement with,” John says. “That's the beauty of how we're set up as an organization: we can take good work, and then repeat it ten more times for another ten clients down the road.”

This network effect led to tangibly better outcomes for scores of clients dealing with de-SPAC claim scenarios. John’s approach is one that resonates. “Not only are we saving our client millions of dollars on the front end every day, but most importantly, we are saving our client millions of dollars when it comes to recovery,” he says. “We're not waiting for a bad situation to happen and learning the hard way. We're learning proactively by listening to our environment and leveraging our relationships with our network.”

Culture-focused, John prides himself on developing a world-class team to provide thoughtful guidance and individualized programs to meet and support the goals of his clients. 

“He knows that no client is the same as the next,” Deirdre says.

Congratulations to John, along with Shantelle Cabir, Cameron Lock, and Erik Stenson, who were all named to the 2023 Power Brokers program. Additionally, we want to congratulate our other team members that were **finalists **for the Power Broker designation:

• Gay Chung

• Shari Cornaggia

• Adam Gabler

• Jonathan Naranjo

What is a Power Broker?

A Risk & Insurance Power Broker® is an individual who stands out among their peers for the exceptional client work they delivered over the past year. While brokers play many key roles in the insurance industry and risk profession, a Power Broker® award recognizes problem solving, customer service and industry knowledge. The Power Broker awards program is a way to broadly recognize and promote outstanding risk management and customer service among the brokerage community.

Who selects the winners?

Power Brokers are selected by risk managers based on the strength of the testimonials they provide to a team of 15 Risk & Insurance editors and writers.