More than 6,200 solar panels, installed on rooftops and atop 15 new parking canopies over the prior six months, are now supplying power to Assurant’s campus off East Leffel Lane in Springfield, Ohio.

 

Assurant solar group is pleased to welcome David Smith as the senior product manager for the team at Assurant, Inc., a Fortune 500 company providing specialized insurance products and related services in North America and select worldwide markets. In this role, he leads the development of innovative insurance products and services designed to reduce solar project risks for project developers, owners and lending institutions.

Smith has more than 35 years of experience in the commercial property-casualty insurance industry.  His experience has included roles in carrier, reinsurer, managing general agency and retail brokerage enterprises.  Previously, he served as the Program Director for PowerGuard Specialty Insurance Services developing warranty insurance programs for solar equipment and wind turbine manufacturers.  Prior to that role, Smith was the chief operating officer at Commodore Insurance. Smith also has held senior leadership roles in underwriting and business development roles at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, rising to the rank of regional underwriting executive during 20 years of service.  He is a member of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory-sponsored International Photovoltaic Quality Assessment Task Force.

In his career, Smith has worked with a variety of renewable enterprises, including manufacturers of inverters, solar panels and concentrated solar energy systems providing risk management advice. 

Smith holds a Master of Arts in English from the University of California, Los Angeles and bachelor’s degrees in English and American studies from California State University, Chico.

http://www.solarbuildermag.com/featured/third-sun-solar-ohio/

At a midsize solar photovoltaic project located in the heat of the desert, the owner worries

http://www.solarindustrymag.com/digitaleditions/Main.php?MagID=3&MagNo=59

The solar industry continues to mature..

http://www.solarpowerworld-digital.com/solarpowerworld/2013hb#pg2

 Assurant explains truSolar, a new initiative led by Pricewaterhouse

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/video/trusolar-aims-to-ease-the-pain-that-solar-developers-experience-in-getting-funding

Although the solar power industry’s rate of growth is likely to slow down from last year’s record pace, the sector’s still expected to expand its energy footprint.http://www.nacleanenergy.com/articles/15340/financing-the-future-of-solar-power 

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/bringing-bank-money-to-solar

  “The consortium is an exciting step forward for the industry, and we are thrilled to take part in the dialogue to develop uniform project standards to encourage solar project development,” said Jeanne Schwartz, vice president of new venture commercialization at Assurant. “More than 95 percent of the country’s lending institutions have been sitting on the sidelines watching the solar industry’s rapid growth during the past few years. To improve participation and fuel continued growth, the industry needs to adopt these standards to deliver greater efficiency to the loan underwriting process.”

The consortium, led by Distributed Sun and DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, will work on developing solar project credit screening, rating and underwriting standards. Assurant joins ABB, Mosaic, PanelClaw, SMA America, Standard & Poor’s, Booz Allen Hamilton, Rocky Mountain Institute and U.S. National Labs NREL and Sandia as founding members of the consortium, providing technical advice and development support.

Combining the member companies’ strengths and expertise on specific points in the solar project development value chain, the consortium will work toward developing and testing a truSolar™ standard framework in 2013. The framework is expected to be transferred to a standards body in 2014 and then made available as open-source to the entire industry.

For more information on Assurant’s solar group, go to www.assurantsolar.com.

About Assurant, Inc.
Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and select worldwide markets. The four key businesses — Assurant Solutions, Assurant Specialty Property, Assurant Health and Assurant Employee Benefits — partner with clients who are leaders in their industries and build leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments. Assurant provide debt protection administration; credit-related insurance; warranties and service contracts; pre-funded funeral insurance; solar project insurance; lender-placed homeowners insurance; manufactured housing homeowners insurance; individual health and small employer group health insurance; group dental insurance; group disability insurance; and group life insurance.

Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has approximately $28 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. Assurant has approximately 14,000 employees worldwide and is headquartered in New York’s financial district. www.assurant.com.

About truSolar
truSolar™ is an industry-driven standard for project selection, underwriting and approval.  It involves an underwriting process that rigorously tests and identifies higher yield, lower risk solar investment opportunities.  The system works to reduce project failure before, during and after construction, and increases the bankability of the industry’s solar pipeline. truSolar™ is designed to mitigate events of default and business interruption from power off-takers with unrated – less than investment grade – credit.  By scoring project performance, site profile and counterparty risk criteria with sophisticated rating tools, truSolar™ provides a framework to lower capital costs and support trade credit insurance for power-purchase-agreement revenues. The truSolar™ Working Group is dedicated to developing the truSolar™ standard, representing nearly $100B in global annual revenues, more than 600 years of institutional experience, and the industry’s best-practice, applied business knowledge throughout the value-chain.

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Media Contact:                                 

Vera Carley                                                                        

Director, Media Relations and Financial Communications                                               

Phone: 212-859-7002                                       

vera.carley@assurant.com