Eagle Guard Core Cell Company (EGCCC), a newly formed protected cell captive insurance platform based in Wilmington, North Carolina, launches this week with the aim of giving profitable mid-market businesses a more cost-effective route into alternative risk financing. Founded by Wilmington-based professionals Ryan Legg, Matt Propst and Mike Moran, EGCCC follows the founders' own experience operating a captive insurance company, which they say exposed a gap in the market for a segregated cell structure built for business owners by business owners, rather than one controlled by traditional insurance companies. The concept is developed in collaboration with USI broker Jarrett Shearin and his Wilmington-based team, who helped the founders identify growing demand for more flexible risk solutions. EGCCC operates as a protected cell captive, allowing participating companies to "rent" a dedicated cell within the existing licensed insurance entity. Each cell retains full economic ownership of its programme while remaining insulated from other participants. The structure is intended to let businesses retain underwriting profits, access reinsurance markets and benefit from investment income, without the time, cost or administrative burden of forming a standalone captive. "Captive insurance has historically been a powerful but underutilised tool for mid-market companies due to complexity and cost barriers," says founder and member-manager Mike Moran. "EGCCC changes that by delivering a turnkey structure that allows companies to take control of their risk strategy without the burden of building a captive from scratch." The platform is aimed at profitable organisations seeking a more disciplined and transparent approach to managing risk, particularly as businesses face rising premiums, reduced coverage and less predictability in the commercial insurance market. To support the structure, EGCCC has assembled a network of strategic partners, several of them also Wilmington-based. Live Oak Bank provides banking infrastructure across all cells, supporting premium flows, claims payments and capital management. Rockefeller Capital Management, through its Decision Point Wealth Partners team, oversees investment management of surplus funds. Additional partners include GuideFire Captive Management, Cherry Bekaert, The Actuarial Advantage and Deaton Law Firm. The company says the coordinated partner model is intended to reduce the complexity and cost traditionally associated with captive formation, while maintaining governance, transparency and operational rigour. EGCCC's board also includes Luke Waddell, president of Cadence Realty and a former Wilmington City Council member. "With EGCCC, businesses gain control with minimal operational burden," says Matt Propst, also a member-manager of EGCCC. "At the end of the day, this is about giving businesses a better platform to take control of one of their largest and least predictable expenses." By leveraging shared infrastructure and an expert partner network, EGCCC says participants can convert insurance spend into retained capital, improve financial predictability and strengthen their balance sheets over time.
