Agency Management

Any firm targeting high-tech companies as a critical niche must not only talk the talk but walk the walk with prospects and clients, or risk losing accounts to more cutting-edge service providers.

Michael G. Cherkasky, former Marsh & McLennan Companies chief executive, was appointed yesterday to take over as chairman of the scandal-scarred New York State Commission on Public Integrity.

Fear was the most prevalent topic at the IIABA conference in Washington, with inflation, the deepening recession, federal regulation, health care reform and swine flu among the bogeymen raised.

Conditions are ripe for a hardening market, but economic realities may not allow that to happen right now, a senior executive with CNA predicts, calling for independent agents to focus on delivering better service and added value as risk managers.

Out of all the economic problems facing insurers and their agents these days, the prospect of runaway inflation spurred by massive government spending is the biggest long-term threat, top CEOs warned.

Eliot Spitzer's political rehabilitation is in full throttle, with the latest evidence being the sympathetic cover story in the April 27 edition of Newsweek, headlined: "How Could I?"

Alex Soto received the IIABA's Woodworth Memorial Award here last week for his years of service and contributions to the independent insurance agency system.

The American Association of Managing General Agents is gearing up for its annual meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., later this month, drawing its members to the gathering with the promise of networking opportunities.