The Underwriter Behind the Policy: 28 Years of Keeping It Simple

Karla Barnette has been the engine behind AdvisorCovered.com’s E&O program for nearly three decades for RIAs, independent advisors, and life and P&C insurance agents.
She knows the policy inside and out — and she’ll pick up the phone to prove it.

Some people spend a career in insurance, moving from product to product, company to company, always chasing the next thing. Karla Barnette is not one of those people.

As Vice President at ProSurance Group Inc., Karla has spent 28 years as the dedicated underwriter for one program — a financial professional’s E&O product built specifically for small RIAs, independent advisors, life agents, and P&C brokers. She knows every coverage nuance, every common question, every edge case that comes through the door. She’s the person who picks up the phone when an insured calls with something that doesn’t fit neatly into the online application.

She’s also, somewhat remarkably, a four-time consecutive national tennis champion – 65 age group – which tells you something about her disposition. People who compete at that level tend to be precise, consistent, and very hard to rattle.

Karla is retiring this year from underwriting but has agreed to maintain availability for AdvisorCovered to help continue to grow the program. Before she wraps up this year’s underwriting, we sat down with her to talk about the program, the people, and what 28 years of underwriting the same niche actually looks like from the inside.

AdvisorCovered: How long has this E&O program been running, and what makes it different from what else is out there?

Karla: We’ve provided this product as a master policy through Nationwide since 2007. It’s designed specifically for small independent professionals with no claims history or regulatory issues. The whole philosophy behind it is simplicity — we keep it straightforward so advisors can get covered fast and get back to work. No one got into financial planning because they love filling out insurance applications.

AdvisorCovered: What’s the most common coverage question you get from AdvisorCovered.com insureds?

Karla: Honestly, the one I get most often is about entity coverage — people ask whether their LLC or S-Corp is covered if the policy is written in their individual name. The answer is yes. If you sign up as a firm, all of your employees are covered.  If you sign up as an individual, the policy will also pick up coverage for your firm.

If you have a personal policy, your entity is also covered for professional activities you perform as an advisor. A lot of independents form an LLC or S-Corp for liability protection and then worry they’ve created a coverage gap. They haven’t.

We also get a lot of calls about which quote path to take. The application has two options — RIA Firm, and IAR/Planner — and it trips people up when they’re a solo practitioner who has incorporated. Our recommendation in that situation is almost always to go the RIA Firm route, even if you’re the only person in the firm. It gives you the right structure for how you’re actually operating.

AdvisorCovered: What about advisors who are thinking about retirement or selling their practice — how does the Extended Reporting Period work?

Karla: ERP comes up a lot, especially now with so many independents getting acquired by larger firms. When you have a claims-made policy, and you stop practicing — whether you retire or sell you need tail coverage to protect against claims that come in after the policy ends but relate to work you did while it was active.

We offer ERP options at 12, 24, and 36 months. Pricing is typically calculated as a percentage of your final annual premium — 100% for a one-year tail, 175% for a two-year, and 225% for a three-year tail.  The exact figure depends on your practice and how long you’ve been with the program.  The longer you’ve been a policyholder in good standing, the more flexibility we tend to have. It’s a quick referral — just reach out, and we’ll get you a number fast.

AdvisorCovered: What about advisors who need higher limits or have revenues above what the online application handles?

Karla: The online application is built for advisors and insurance agents who meet the underwriting guidelines, and it can quote and bind instantly.   Above that, it kicks over to a referral underwriter automatically — you don’t have to do anything extra except make sure you fill in the comment fields explaining your situation. Our turnaround on referrals is typically 24 hours, depending on when it comes in.

So it’s still fast, just not instant.

AdvisorCovered: Has the master policy aggregate limit ever been an issue?

Karla: No.  In all the years we’ve been writing this program. Each master policy has its own annual aggregate, and we actually run separate master policies for the RIA/registered rep segment and the life agent and P&C segment. As the program grows, we have the ability to increase the aggregate with Nationwide — we’ve done it before.  But we’ve never had a situation where an individual insured couldn’t get the limits needed to cover the expected program’s most common claims.

AdvisorCovered: You’ve spent years going to financial services and wealth management conventions. What’s that experience like?

Karla: I love it. Honestly, the best part is dinner with insureds — sitting down with people you’ve talked to on the phone for years and actually getting to know them. Financial professionals are genuinely interesting people. They care about their clients, they care about their businesses, and they’re always curious about what’s going on in the industry.

Running the booth is fun too. You get such a mix of people — some who’ve never thought about E&O, some who have very specific questions, some who just want to talk through a situation they’re dealing with. The question I probably get most at conventions is some version of “am I really covered for that?” — usually after someone describes a scenario they’ve been quietly worrying about. More often than not, the answer is yes. That’s a good conversation to have in person.

AdvisorCovered: Four national tennis championships are not a small thing. How did that happen?

Karla: A lot of early mornings and a very patient coach. I’ve been playing my whole life and competing seriously for most of it. Tennis rewards consistency and patience more than raw power, which I think is part of why I’ve always loved it. You can’t just overpower the court — you have to think, adapt, stay composed when things aren’t going your way. There’s something very underwriting-adjacent about that, actually.

AdvisorCovered: Quick-fire Questions:

Forehand or backhand? Forehand, without question.

Where did you first get interested in insurance? At THE Ohio State University. Emphasis on “the.”

Have you ever lost a set to someone who pulled a broken racket out of a nearby garbage can? Yes. And I’d rather not talk about it.

How many underwriting calls do you take in a week? About 50 to 60. Some are coverage questions, some are referrals, and honestly, some are just people calling to catch up. I’ve known a lot of these folks for years. That part of the job I’m really going to miss.

AdvisorCovered: Any parting words after 28 years?

Karla: Just that it’s been a genuine pleasure. This industry is full of hardworking people trying to do right by their clients, and getting to support them — making sure they had the right coverage, picking up the phone when something came up — that never got old. I’m proud of what this program has become. I look forward to maintaining insured relationships and marketing with AdvisorCovered, relationships we developed over the years, and the thousands of calls.  If you see me at a conference, come by and say hi. Karla’s always got you covered.

And to anyone reading this who’s been putting off getting their E&O sorted: don’t. It takes about five minutes online. Do it today.

You might also like: See our interview with John Wagner, President of ProSurance Group Inc. John is the architect behind the AdvisorCovered.com E&O programs, and has a vast wealth of knowledge to insurance agents and advisors.

AdvisorCovered.com provides E&O insurance designed specifically for independent financial professionals — RIAs, IARs, financial planners, life agents, and P&C agents. Get a quick quote online. If your situation falls outside the standard quoting path, reach out, and we’ll arrange carrier referrals.