In January of 2005 former outside directors of Enron and Worldcom agreed to pay a total of $31 million out of their own pockets to settle securities class action litigation stemming from two of the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history.  These and other “out of pocket” settlements are a clear indication that the legal climate has changed for corporate directors.  While examining this changing climate, we discovered that a gap in coverage exists for corporate directors once they retire or resign from a board.  Retired Directors Assurance (RDA) was designed to fill that gap.

Retired Directors Assurance Underwriting Services (RDAUS) was created to serve as the underwriting manager for the Retired Directors Assurance (RDA) program.  RDAUS is a Program Agent for ACE Westchester, the U. S. based wholesale focused property and casualty operations of the ACE Group of Companies.  ACE Westchester is part of ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE), the Bermuda based holding company for the ACE Group of Companies and one of the world's leading insurance and reinsurance organizations.  RDAUS is the underwriting manager for Retired Directors Assurance (RDA), a new insurance product designed specifically to address the liability exposures of retired or former directors of public, private and non-for-profit companies.

The management group of RDAUS is lead by Steven E. Wilson, a 25 year veteran of the insurance industry who, prior to forming RDAUS, spent 9 years with RLI Insurance Company and prior to that, 16 years with the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.  Steven H. Anderson and Robert E. Ellis make up the remainder of the management team at RDAUS.  Both came to RDAUS from RLI Insurance Company.