Chris Janis joined the CRC team in May 2020 as President of Binding for CRC Group’s Chicago office, where the team specializes in small business needs. He’s responsible for establishing and maintaining strong relationships with carrier partners and leveraging premium with the appropriate markets, ensuring profitable collaboration with valuable industry partners. He also keeps an eye on production and P/L, successfully fostering an internal infrastructure that values world-class service, quality products, and streamlined processes that optimize team efficiency.
Chris initially joined the E&S wholesale side of the insurance industry as an Underwriter for Atlantic Specialty Lines in 2008. In 2010, he made the move to USG Insurance Services, Inc. where Chris served as an Underwriter and Producer before earning promotion to the role of Executive Vice President and Branch Manager in 2014. During his tenure with USG, Chris was successful in refocusing a lackluster Chicago-area office to become one of the company’s largest profit centers by scaling personal and team production, earning him multiple awards as USG’s Top Producer in the process.
As Chris’s career has progressed, his passion has migrated toward empowering new producers through mentorship. He truly enjoys sharing marketplace knowledge and building a culture of collaborative teamwork that helps team members succeed and achieve professional development goals. Chris makes it a point to create space for others to grow by bringing them challenges and then providing solid support as they strive to create their own books of business. Beyond his capacity for mentorship, Chris also offers a proven history of maintaining positive relationships with binding authority markets and a clear understanding of what different carriers want, providing a competitive edge in obtaining the best possible deal for CRC’s partners. Clients and colleagues alike appreciate Chris’s honesty, relentless effort to meet client needs, and ability to set clear expectations or provide balanced, insightful feedback to producers, markets, and carriers.
Chris, his wife, and young daughter, live in the Chicago area where they enjoy spending time together and traveling. Outside the office, you’ll also find Chris spending an occasional day on the golf course.