In His Own Words: Q&A with Applied Underwriters’ Menzies on Buffet, California and ‘Pumping Entrepreneurial Power’ Steve Menzies, founder and chairman of Applied Underwriters Inc., is a busy man. Since he reacquired his company from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in 2019, he has been buying businesses, creating new subsidiaries, welcoming new teams of professionals and growing his firm domestically and internationally. He describes it as building an “entrepreneurial power plant.” Insurance Journal had many questions for Menzies. What was it like working with Buffett and why did AU leave Berkshire? What’s his grand scheme for the company and why expand now? And what about the disputes with California regulators? Menzies agreed to answer questions in writing on these and other issues. The following is an unedited version of the questions and his answers.