2015 40 Under 40 Broker Awards: Joseph Charczenko

Joseph Charczenko

Partner

Construction Risk Partners

Age: 39

Joseph Charczenko's background as a construction project manager has helped him to build his career as a partner with Construction Risk Partners.

Mr. Charczenko worked as an estimator, project engineer and superintendent with Peter Kiewit Construction Co. in Waltham, Massachusetts, before he decided to move in 2001 to New York, where he was recruited to work in the construction underwriting practice for Zurich North America.

He rose within Zurich's ranks to oversee a $350 million book of construction insurance business for Zurich's Northeast region before joining New York-based Construction Risk Partners in 2010.

Mr. Charczenko led the brokerage's formal expansion into New York City and is now heading the company's development of a Long Island, New York, office slated to open in November.

Working in the construction business before joining the insurance sector has given Mr. Charczenko insight into his clients' needs and risks, he said.

“In a lot of ways, I still consider myself more of a construction professional than I do an insurance professional,” he said.

Mary Bishop, an associate partner with Construction Risk Partners, said Mr. Charczenko's previous experience in the construction industry has given him a special rapport with the brokerage's customers.

“He's so good at building that bridge and communication between what the insurance world knows and what the contracting community knows,” said Ms. Bishop, who has worked with Mr. Charczenko since 2010. “He's such an effective communicator.”

Outside of work, Mr. Charczenko spends time as a board member with two charities that he says are close to his heart — the New York-based Performance Based Building Coalition, which uses private investment to renovate and replace aging public infrastructure; and New York-based Groundswell, an organization that promotes art to at-risk youth through the painting of public murals.