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Keystone taps Baldwin exec as brokerage leader. * by Claire Wilkinson Keystone Agency Partners said Wednesday it appointed former Baldwin Group executive Kevin Meskell as national brokerage leader, a newly created role. New York-based Mr. Meskell most recently was national placement leader at The Baldwin Group. Before that, he was U.S. placement leader for Marsh Affinity. Earlier in his career, he was a reinsurance broker at Guy Carpenter, now Marsh Re. Tampa, Florida-based Baldwin announced in July it had hired former NFP executive Renee Guthart as national director - placement. Private-equity firm Warburg Pincus acquired a majority stake in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania-based Keystone in 2025. Keystone, founded in 2020 by Bain Capital, is the 26th-largest brokerage of U.S. business, according to Business Insurance's latest ranking. September 2, 2026

Keystone names Kevin Meskell as National Brokerage Leader. Sep 02, 2026, 09:03 ET Marsh veteran brings decades of placement leadership to one of the nation's fastest-growing brokerages MECHANICSBURG, Pa., Sept. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Keystone, one of the largest and fastest-growing insurance brokerages in the United States, today announced the appointment of Kevin Meskell as National Brokerage Leader. In this role, Meskell will lead Keystone's national brokerage strategy - deepening the company's carrier relationships and strengthening the placement capabilities behind every Keystone agency and Platform Partner. Meskell joins Keystone from The Baldwin Group, where he most recently served as National Placement Leader. Prior to Baldwin, he spent his career at Marsh, most recently as U.S. Placement Leader for Marsh Affinity - where he advanced through senior placement and leadership roles across multiple regions and specialty practices, building deep expertise in property & casualty, commercial lines, casualty, and underwriting. Earlier in his career, Meskell served as a reinsurance broker at Guy Carpenter. "Adding Kevin to our leadership team is exactly the kind of investment we're making to serve the agencies and clients who trust us," said Mike Walsh, Chief Executive Officer at Keystone. "Kevin brings the kind of carrier relationships and placement expertise that comes from decades at the highest level of this industry. His experience puts something powerful in the hands of every producer across our network - and it signals to the carrier community that Keystone is building at a scale that matters." "What pulled me to Keystone is the combination - the scale of a top-30 broker with the depth of a national independent agency network, and a leadership team focused on making that a real advantage for producers," said Kevin Meskell. "I'm here to build the brokerage engine that helps them win." The appointment comes during a period of significant momentum for Keystone. Business Insurance recently named Keystone the 26th largest retail broker in the United States and the 4th fastest-growing broker among the Top 50. Operating across 33+ states with more than $500 million in revenue and 180+ agency partners, Keystone combines the local expertise and community relationships of independent agencies with the scale, resources, and carrier relationships of a national broker. About Keystone Keystone is recognized by Business Insurance as the 26th largest retail broker and the 4th fastest-growing broker in the United States. Founded in 2020, Keystone empowers independent agencies through strategic partnerships, best-in-class services, and capital investments. For more information, visit www.mykeystone.com SOURCE Keystone Agency Partners

Baldwin Insurance Group Q2 earnings call highlights. July 30, 2026 Key points. * Baldwin Insurance Group reported mixed but improving second-quarter results: revenue reached $493 million, adjusted EBITDA rose 37% to $117 million, and adjusted diluted EPS was $0.48, despite a GAAP net loss of $39 million. Adjusted free cash flow increased to $46 million from $9 million a year earlier. * CAC partnership performance helped offset integration-related weakness in legacy Insurance Advisory Solutions. CAC revenue rose 23% to $94 million, while IAS organic revenue declined 2% amid rate pressure, accounting changes and client-retention impacts from integration efforts. * Management maintained its broad 2026 outlook and expects improving growth: third-quarter guidance calls for $485 million-$495 million in revenue, mid-single-digit organic growth and adjusted EPS of $0.42-$0.46. The company also said its AI initiative is producing cost savings and improving operational efficiency. * Interested in Baldwin Insurance Group? Here are five stocks we like better. Baldwin Insurance Group NASDAQ: BWIN reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $493 million, adjusted EBITDA of $117 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.48, as the company said momentum from recent partnerships and its CAC integration helped offset several transitory headwinds. Chief Executive Officer Trevor Baldwin said total organic revenue growth was 2% in the quarter. However, he said growth would have been 8% after treating three January partnerships as if they had been owned during the comparable prior-year period and excluding revenue-recognition and integration-related effects. The three partnerships collectively grew 25% during the quarter and 34% in the first half, according to the company. The company recorded a GAAP net loss attributable to Baldwin of $39 million, or $0.42 per diluted share. Chief Financial Officer Brad Hale said adjusted net income, which excludes share-based compensation amortization and other one-time expenses, was $68 million, or $0.48 per diluted share. Profitability and cash flow improve. Adjusted EBITDA rose 37% from the prior-year quarter to $117 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased about 110 basis points year over year to 23.7%, which Hale attributed to the contribution from CAC, including realized cost synergies, and margin expansion in the Mainstreet Insurance Solutions, or MIS, business. Adjusted free cash flow rose to $46 million from $9 million a year earlier, aided by EBITDA growth and working-capital dynamics. Hale said CAC benefited from an $11 million working-capital tailwind during the quarter, reversing an approximately $30 million headwind in the first quarter related to assumed bonus and commission liabilities from the merger. The company ended the period with net leverage of roughly 4.5 times after spending $80 million to repurchase approximately 4 million shares. About half of its authorized $250 million repurchase program had been used by the end of the second quarter, Hale said. Management declined to address market speculation surrounding possible capital-structure alternatives. Baldwin said the company does not comment on market rumors, while Hale said future repurchase decisions would be weighed against its stated leverage range of four to 4.5 times. Insurance Advisory results affected by integration changes. Insurance Advisory Solutions posted a 2% organic revenue decline. Baldwin said the legacy IAS business experienced a 240-basis-point rate-and-exposure headwind, a 150-basis-point impact from a procedural accounting change that was fully lapped at June 30, and a 240-basis-point client-retention impact tied to CAC integration efforts. Discover more Cryptocurrency News Financial News Market Cap Calculator The integration changes included aligning compensation plans, go-to-market capabilities and business structures, as well as eliminating redundancies. Baldwin said the actions resulted in approximately $8 million of annualized revenue attrition associated with a small group of departing employees and are expected to affect legacy IAS revenue by $4 million to $5 million in the second half. He added that the revenue impact in legacy IAS has been more than offset by CAC's performance. CAC generated $94 million of revenue, up 23% from the second quarter of 2025. It booked more than $80 million of new business year to date, up 43%, while closed-won business including future effective dates exceeded $100 million. CAC's sales velocity was 59% across all product lines and 19% for recurring business, while retention was above 92%. Baldwin cited demand across private equity, financial lines, public-company accounts and transaction-related products. Net growth in transaction-related product lines was 44%. Management said it expects rate-and-exposure pressure to ease in the second half, largely because the second quarter includes a significant concentration of catastrophe-exposed property and property reinsurance renewals. Baldwin acknowledged that the broader insurance market is softening, particularly in property lines. UCTS and Mainstreet trends. Organic revenue growth in Underwriting Capacity and Technology Solutions, or UCTS, was 6%, or 7% including Obie on an as-if owned basis. The segment benefited from multifamily, admitted-home and real-estate-investor products, partly offset by softness in excess-and-surplus home business and lower reinsurance brokerage revenue at Juniper Re. Baldwin said Juniper Re's quarterly results were affected by about $4 million of lower year-over-year revenue, tied to risk-adjusted rate decreases on major property placements and a prior-year stub cover. He said the company still expects Juniper Re to produce organic growth above 20% for the full year. The company's reciprocal insurance exchange, BRE, is licensed in 13 states and has begun migrating business in states outside Texas. Baldwin also said a second proprietary builder program with Hippo and Spinnaker is expected to launch in select states by year-end. MIS delivered 4% organic growth, improving from an approximately 5% decline in the first quarter as the company lapped a QBE commission-rate reduction on May 1. Excluding QBE and Medicare underperformance, management said MIS organic growth would have been approximately 10% in both the second quarter and year to date. The company said its embedded mortgage relationship with Fairway Independent Mortgage is ahead of plan in its first three months on the platform. However, Hale noted that the relationship will not contribute to organic growth until the company laps its April 1, 2026 start date because it included the purchase of Fairway's legacy agency. Guidance and AI initiatives. For the third quarter, Baldwin forecast revenue of $485 million to $495 million, mid-single-digit organic growth, adjusted EBITDA of $105 million to $110 million, and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.42 to $0.46. The company maintained most of its full-year outlook, now expecting mid-single-digit organic growth for 2026 and high-single-digit growth or better in the fourth quarter. Hale said the change reflects the revenue effects of structural changes in legacy IAS. Baldwin said execution of the company's $3B/30 Catalyst Transformation Program remains on track. The company has expanded its relationship with Anthropic and rolled out Claude across the organization. He said Baldwin has converted more than 47,000 tasks over 17 weeks at a quality rate above 98%, and recently above 99%. Among other examples, Baldwin said AI-supported direct-bill processing improved monthly reconciliation rates from about 90% to a sustained 98%, while reducing annual run-rate costs from $3 million to $1 million and internal labor costs from $1.2 million to roughly $400,000. About Baldwin Insurance Group (NASDAQ:BWIN). Baldwin Insurance Group, Inc NASDAQ: BWIN is a specialty insurance and surety firm that underwrites contract bonds, commercial insurance policies and related risk-management services. Its core offerings include contract and commercial surety, which provide performance and payment guarantees to obligees in construction, service and public-sector projects. In addition, the company delivers complementary commercial lines coverages designed to mitigate liability, property and workers' compensation exposures. Through a network of regional agency offices primarily across the Midwestern United States, Baldwin Insurance Group serves contractors, developers, small and mid-sized businesses as well as municipal and public-sector clients. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. Before you consider Baldwin Insurance Group, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. 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