Founder Shield vs Gallagher D&O Insurance

Founder Shield is a retail insurance brokerage, described on its site as “the innovation arm of The Baldwin Group,” and places Founder Shield Directors & Officers Insurance with third-party carriers rather than underwriting the policy itself. ⁷Company-reported. About-us page; applies to Founder Shield's brokerage model generally, restated here for this line.

Gallagher's Executive and Financial Risk practice places D&O liability insurance and advises on program design; it does not underwrite the policy, which is issued by a carrier selected during placement. ¹⁰Company-reported. Group-level executive-and-financial-risk practice page.

Founder Shield says it places policies, including Founder Shield Directors & Officers Insurance, only with carriers rated A- or better by AM Best, chosen for the client's industry. It does not name the issuing insurer for this line; that depends on which carrier the policy is placed with. ³Company-reported. General carrier-selection FAQ, not specific to this line's placements.

The executive-and-financial-risk page does not name the insurer that would issue a given client's D&O policy; it says Gallagher weighs carrier qualifications and performance data alongside a client's own insurer history and preferences when deciding which carriers to approach. ¹⁰Company-reported. Group-level executive-and-financial-risk practice page.

Founder Shield targets D&O at public and private businesses, venture-backed companies (it says almost every institutional term sheet requires the coverage), and businesses owing more than $1 million to creditors. ⁶Company-reported. Directors & Officers Insurance product page.

Gallagher specifically markets D&O placement and advisory support to special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) around their IPO and de-SPAC process, and to companies going public through an IPO or direct listing. ¹⁰Company-reported. Group-level executive-and-financial-risk practice page, SPAC and IPO subsections.

Founder Shield describes a three-part structure: Side A pays individual directors/officers directly when the company cannot or will not indemnify them, Side B reimburses the company for indemnification it pays, and Side C provides entity coverage for the company itself. ⁶Company-reported. Product page; the issued policy and declarations control actual coverage.

Gallagher says its D&O team constructs policies addressing lawsuits from shareholders, employees, competitors, suppliers and government bodies, and can evaluate an existing D&O program against the market. ¹⁰Company-reported. Group-level executive-and-financial-risk practice page; a service description, not a specific policy's insuring agreement.

Founder Shield's page describes a typical market base layer of $5 million to $10 million in combined A-B-C coverage, but does not publish a specific limit Founder Shield itself offers; actual limits are set on the quote. ⁶Company-reported. General market description on the product page, not a stated Founder Shield minimum or maximum.

The executive-and-financial-risk page does not publish D&O limits, retentions or premium ranges. ¹⁰Not publicly disclosed. Checked the group-level executive-and-financial-risk practice page.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

For SPACs and IPOs, Gallagher describes bundling D&O coverage before and after the IPO with related lines such as representations and warranties, E&O, cyber, tax and contingent liability coverage, plus risk-management and claims support at each stage. ¹⁰Company-reported. Group-level executive-and-financial-risk practice page, SPAC subsection.

You request Founder Shield Directors & Officers Insurance through Founder Shield's website or an insurance advisor rather than binding coverage directly; Founder Shield says its placement team then approaches carriers on the client's behalf. ^7,3Company-reported. About-us and carrier-selection pages describe the general placement process, not a line-specific application form.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Gallagher says its Executive and Financial Risk practice has a dedicated claims-advocacy team with in-house attorneys specializing in these lines, and that it uses quantitative benchmarking, including measuring the judicious use of Side-A-only D&O coverage, to guide more precise coverage structures. ¹⁰Company-reported. Group-level executive-and-financial-risk practice summary; describes a support service, not a guarantee of claim payment.