About Us

Jake Rothfuss is CEO of Velocity Risk Underwriters, LLC and WKFC Underwriting Managers, both part of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers, following the acquisition of Velocity Risk Underwriters, LLC in 2025. He became CEO of Velocity Risk in 2023, after serving as President beginning in 2020. He first joined the firm in 2018 as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Systematized Risk.

During his tenure at Velocity Risk, he co-founded Velocity Specialty Insurance Company (VSIC) and helped scale the firm into one of the leading specialty property insurance platforms in the United States. He has also served on the boards of several privately held insurance-related businesses.

Earlier in his career, Jake spent nearly a decade at Farmers Insurance, where he held senior leadership roles including Chief Operating Officer of Business Insurance and Head of Commercial Multi-Peril, Commercial Auto and Workers Compensation. His insurance career began at The Hartford in 2002, where he led various product lines across personal auto, homeowners and small commercial through 2009.

Jake earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Brockport and an MBA in Finance and Competitive Strategy from the University of Rochester.

Ravi Singhvi was named President of WKFC Underwriting Managers in March of 2023. Prior to that position, he was WKFC’s Chief Operation Officer, with his primary attention on administration of audit, new product innovation, and catastrophe management. Previously, Ravi served as Vice President of Analytics at AJG/RPS from 2011-2018 and led the creation of RPS’ catastrophe modeling department. His primary focus was to streamline the modeling process and create data for action.

Ravi began his career at NAPCO LLC property wholesale in 2001 through 2011. At NAPCO LLC he served as Vice President of Analytics and a member of the Corporate Operations Board. Ravi earned his bachelor’s degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago focused on supply chain management/business continuity.

Whitney Alt serves as the Vice President of Distribution, overseeing distribution strategies for both Velocity Risk and WKFC. She joined Velocity Risk in 2021 and expanded her leadership to include WKFC in 2025.

Prior to joining Velocity, Whitney was at ICAT for 9.5 years where she held numerous roles including Vice President, National Distribution.

Her career has been dedicated to the commercial property sector, specializing in distribution and business development. Whitney is committed to building strong relationships, enhancing the customer experience, and seeking out opportunities to strengthen distribution strategies.

Whitney is based in Boulder, Colorado, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Brendan brings 25 years of experience in property insurance across diverse geographies and industries. He began his professional journey as an engineer in various heavy industry sectors before joining FM Global in 2001 as a Field Engineer. Over his nine-year tenure at FM Global, Brendan held roles in Account Engineering, Underwriting, and Sales.

In 2010, he launched the Australia and New Zealand Property and Energy portfolio for Axis Insurance, later relocating to the United States in 2014 to manage an E&S Property team in Chicago. Brendan transitioned to Ascot Insurance in 2021, where he led Ethos Property MGA, developing underwriting teams and securing capital support in both the US and London for several property programs.

With the acquisition of Ethos Property programs by Ryan Specialty in September 2024, Brendan stepped into the position of Chief Underwriting Officer at WKFC Specialty. In this role, he oversees legacy Ethos Property, WKFC Excess Flood, WKFC Wind Deductible Buy Down, AgRisk, and Velocity DIC EQ programs.

Brendan holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from New England University in Australia.

Jim joined Ryan Specialty in February of 2017 and has over 30 years of underwriting experience in Commercial Property & Marine. Jim has extensive experience in building profitable underwriting portfolios and has a wide range of experience in underwriting Energy, Mining, Marine, Railroads and Agriculture. Most recently, he was SVP of Zurich Specialty Wholesale, where he established a dedicated wholesale E&S Property operation that included underwriting guidelines and pricing matrices. Over the course of his career, he has held senior underwriting management positions within Wm H. McGee, AIG/Lexington and Ironshore.

Doug has spent his career with the WKFC team. Upon graduating from SUNY Farmingdale in 2008 with a degree in management technology, Doug started at WKF&C Agency, Inc. as a claims assistant to Robert Klipera. Through the mentoring by Robert Klipera, Doug rose the ranks in the organization. Doug held various positions from Claims Analyst to Chief Claims Officer, to which he was promoted in 2022. Today, Doug is highly involved in carrier relationships and data analytics. Doug has obtained his broker’s license and completed his AIC (Associates in Claims) designation from The Institutes. Doug has implemented many strategic solutions with the ultimate goal of underwriting profit.

Joan Bauer is Chief Operating Officer at WKFC and CorRisk Underwriting Managers. Previously, she served as Director of Strategic Initiatives, leading the BOP program and co-leading the Deductible Buyback Program. She has been with WKFC since 2010, initially training as an underwriter under Dawn D’Onofrio. Joan is instrumental in the implementation of new initiative and programs and facilitates improvements between underwriters, management, and development teams.

Prior to WKFC, Joan led her team as a property broker in the southeast, where she worked for a leading global specialty insurance distributor. Joan graduated with a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following undergrad, she moved to Charleston, South Carolina, and obtained an A.S in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, four stepchildren and rescue pup Sidney.

Dieuly joined WKFC in September of 2015 as Associate Underwriter in their property division. He was given the opportunity to lead the newly created Renewal Express Department (RED) Team in 2016, which was designed to help optimize and enhance servicing of renewal property accounts across all the WKFC offices. The RED team has since grown to be a ten person team handling over 3,000 accounts collectively each year. In 2019, Dieuly was promoted to Assistant Vice President – Underwriting and subsequently, in 2020, earned his CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) designation from The Institutes. Dieuly is a graduate of New York University with a bachelor’s degree in history.