HUB Arbor Insurance Group

Mark Shipp has spent nearly 30 years dedicated exclusively to serving the tree care and vegetation management industry.

Mark was the Founding Broker for the TCIA endorsed insurance program, ArborMAX in the early 2000’s, and sat on the executive board for many years. He also helped architect the TCIA Accreditation program. Counterintuitive to other brokers focused solely on rate, Mark’s chief objective with the 200+ tree care companies he works with nationally, has been to instill a safety culture within the organizations to help them manage their risk more effectively. This strategy has made a significant impact on those organizations, and significantly reduced their total cost of risk over the long run.

Due to his thought leadership, Mark was recently invited onto the Utility Arborist Association’s Safety Committee. Made possible by his expertise and representation in the industry, Mark has been a ‘market maker’ and built several exclusive programs for HUB Arbor Group clients which include proprietary offerings for General Liability, Auto, Excess Liability, and Contractor’s Equipment.

Most recently, Mark was successful in launching a first-of-its-kind homogenous group captive for qualified tree care companies, Ascend.

HUB Arbor Insurance Group has secured a national admitted carrier that will write your company’s Auto, General Liability, and Excess Liability policies with enhanced coverages.

HUB Total is a comprehensive approach to your Workers’ Compensation program. This involves a collaborative plan with our select carrier partners, HUB’s internal resources (Risk Consultants, Fleet Management Specialists, Claims Advocacy Partners, etc.), and the HUB Arbor Insurance Group team to develop a precise process to reducing worker injuries. Our carriers underwrite to the improved risk profile of your company based on quantifiable claim reduction targets, which result in premium reductions upfront and over time.

With the increasing modernization of tree care and use of heavy equipment like the Sennebogen, Tractors, Cranes, and Knuckle Booms, many brokers and admitted carriers have difficulty properly insuring these assets. The HUB Arbor Insurance Group has an exclusive program with an admitted carrier that has a preset underwriting template and dedicated equipment claim experts to properly insure and safeguard your business’s assets.

The HUB Arbor Insurance Group has a proprietary SAAS tool for tree care and vegetation management companies with large fleets. This tool helps streamline the hiring process, training protocols, driver performance monitoring, real-time incident uptake, claims management, and reporting analytics for your company in an easy-to-use platform.

The HUB Arbor Insurance Group works exclusively with former tree climber and safety expert, Josh Caudill. Josh is the Founder of the Safety Leadership Innovators. He works together with HUB Arbor Insurance Group’s clients to build out safety committees, protocols within their organizations and assists in climber training programs and proper cutting techniques. Josh is well versed in working in all specialties from general tree trimming to utility line clearance certification programs.

No matter the setting, tree care management involves risk and often results in expensive or limited coverage options. Some organizations don’t even have access to coverage, while others are paying a steep price for the minimal coverage they do have.

For some tree care management specialists, one solution is a specialized group captive insurance program.

In a traditional insurance model, organizations with few claims wind up subsidizing those with many claims. With a captive, however, premiums are based on the risk associated with the participating organizations, not the entire industry. So when a select group of safety conscious tree care experts form a captive, they pay significantly less for insurance coverage but still have appropriate protection against risk.

The Ascend Captive is the first ever, member-owned group captive program designed specifically for the vegetation management and tree care industry, exclusive to HUB Arbor Insurance Group. This new facility is the brainchild of Mark Shipp which uniquely caters to best-in-class vegetation management and tree care companies who have excellent safety measures and are tired of the inefficiencies of the standard market that create:

• Inherent pricing swings regardless of a company’s risk management practices
• Pricing reactivity in the event of a catastrophic loss
• Above average companies within the industry subsidizing poorer performing companies through class rating 

In addition, the Ascend Captive provides unique resources that are specifically directed toward the vegetation management and tree care industry. These resources are focused around delivering results that will ultimately reduce the ultimate cost of insurance for vegetation management and tree care professionals and give them an advantage over their competitors.

Our team of specialized tree care industry insurance specialists will work closely with you to determine if the Ascend Captive is the right solution for your organization’s needs and exposures.