Friedman Named NU Publisher;
Sclafane Promoted To Managing Editor

Sam Friedman has been appointed publisher of NationalUnderwriter's Property & Casualty/Risk & BenefitsManagement Edition, in charge of advertising sales, marketing andthe editorial policy of the weekly newsmagazine.

Mr. Friedman will retain his current title of editor-in-chief.However, his day-to-day editorial management responsibilities willbe limited beginning next month to the magazine's Editorial andOp-Ed pages.

Susanne Sclafane, NU's senior editor, will be promotedto managing editor on Jan. 2, placed in charge of editing thepublication's news and feature sections, as well as overseeing thedaily “NU Online News Service.”

Dan Lance, who had been director of advertising sales andmarketing for all five of NU's magazines, has been namedpublisher of NU's Life & Health/Financial Servicesedition, as well as Technology Decisions, a monthlytargeting the industry's chief information officers.

The changes were made to provide more focused management of thebusiness side of The National Underwriter Company's magazines.

Mr. Friedman joined NU in 1981 as a staff writercovering the independent agent beat. He was promoted to assistanteditor in 1994, managing editor in 1986, editor in 1996, andeditor-in-chief in 2000. He is also a member of The NationalUnderwriter Company's Board of Trustees.

Before coming to NU, Mr. Friedman was an associateeditor at Modern Grocer, a newsweekly covering thesupermarket industry, as well as managing editor of a number ofcommunity newspapers and a reporter for the Associated Press.

Ms. Sclafane came aboard NU as a staff writer in 1995and quickly rose through the ranks. Before joining the magazine,she had a long career in the insurance industry as an actuary andconsultant, starting out with the National Council on CompensationInsurance.

Ms. Sclafane remains a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Societyand a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. She hasspecialized in financial reporting and coverage of the excess andsurplus lines markets for NU, and has managed the magazinewhenever Mr. Friedman was absent in the past two years.

“We've already made some bold moves this year and last,” notedMr. Friedman, citing:

The redesign of National Underwriter as anewsmagazine.

The launch of the daily Web-based “NU Online News Service” atwww.NationalUnderwriter.com.

The successful introduction of the “NU CommercialInsurance Agency of the Year” award program.

The debut of “Agency Technology: On The Cutting Edge”–a specialmonthly section devoted to the nuts and bolts of getting agents upto speed on the latest hardware and software, as well as how tomost effectively employ tech.

“We'll have an even more exciting story to tell in 2003,” Mr.Friedman added. “For one, National Underwriter is boostingagent/broker circulation from 33,000 to 46,000 readers as of theJan. 6 edition, and we'll be adding features that agency principalscan use to better manage their businesses and increase sales.”

In addition, Mr. Friedman noted that NU will launch amonthly “Corporate Insurance Buyers Report” in the Jan. 6 edition,with bonus circulation to 15,000 risk managers, CEOs, CFOs andother top company executives who make the final decisions onpurchasing insurance coverage, risk management services andemployee benefits.

“Each month, top corporate insurance buyers will get an editionin which the overall theme is of keen interest, not only to riskmanagers, but to our agent/broker and insurance company readers aswell,” he explained. “However, the cover theme will be supplementedby a variety of regular and semi-regular features targetedspecifically at risk managers and others in big companies whose jobit is to limit losses and either transfer or self-insure whateverexposures are left.”

He added that “when packaged with our state-of-the-marketreports on insurance, reinsurance and specialty lines, ourstate-of-the-art technology reports, our industry-leading coverageof legislative and regulatory developments in Washington and keystates, and our original 'Hot News' coverage on the Web as storiesbreak, we offer both readers and advertisers the most comprehensiveand compelling information service in the industry for insurers,agents and brokers, and corporate insurance buyers.”

Sam Friedman

Susanne Sclafane

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, December 8, 2002.Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.