In advance of this year's annual meeting of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Office, NU asked NAPSLO members to describe their perpetuation and recruiting challenges and strategies. Here's what five respondents said:

Tap Johnson III, president of TAPCO Underwriters based in Burlington, N.C.:

We are a family-owned business started 25 years ago. My son is in the business, but he is 21 and not ready for perpetuation.

At TAPCO we have a management team that has been here an average of 15 years. My company runs itself.

A lot of business models are based around one owner. If he or she is gone, what is the make-up of that company? Here, we have set up management so that if I'm hit by a truck nobody would know the difference and the company would be as robust as it is today.

I empowered my managers years ago to build their own destiny, and I would either back them or tell them they are wrong. They have taken the company as large as they like. Since the year 2000, when I implemented that, we have tripled the company. People get the credit for everything they do.

Alan Jay Kaufman, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Farmington Hills, Mich.-based insurance wholesaler Burns & Wilcox Ltd.:

Recruiting is a very important part of Burns & Wilcox's ongoing strategy. We want to expand our talent base with the best and the brightest in the insurance industry and financial world. Our overall goal is to establish a perpetual, viable candidate pool to fill key positions now and into the future as well as create a system and structure that identifies and develops candidates to fill these positions. In the past year, we have launched a comprehensive online recruiting system for eligible candidates.

Employees are an important element in our recruiting efforts. Our current employees know the business, and they know qualified candidates who could be a positive addition to the Burns & Wilcox team.

Training is another element to recruiting and retaining quality employees. The H.W. Kaufman Institute, our corporate university, provides opportunities for professional development and career training courses for our employees.

Frank Mastowski, president of Montvale, N.J.-based wholesale broker Jimcor Agencies:

When hiring, the key to our success is picking candidates that match our culture and approach. We do make mistakes and correct them quickly.

We first look from within to promote our staff as we continue training and preparing our people to grow and we challenge them to continue to always improve. Training even in a downcycle is important and successful for us.

Arthur Seifert, president and CEO of Dallas-based Lighthouse Underwriters LLC, a program underwriter and subsidiary of U.S. Risk Underwriters:

When I started Lighthouse Insurance, before it was sold, there was a limited talent pool. So I hired a lot of people right out of college. The issue with that is once you train them and they get up and running, they realize they can get paid more working somewhere else.

The recruiting thing is tough and I don't know what the solution is. We need to bring more younger talent into the market.

When you have a niche market that we serve, I like to hire people who have a background in that market and teach them the insurance piece. We have to be creative about finding people outside of our own industry a lot of times. You can teach them the insurance part.

James A. Roe, president of Arlington/Roe & Co., an MGA and surplus lines broker in Indianapolis, Ind.:

We have successfully recruited a number of insurance graduates from the many excellent universities in the Midwest that have insurance programs. We continue to be a place of employment that many in the industry desire to be a part of, so we have a steady flow of candidates.

We will always hire an individual that brings the right skills and entrepreneurial attitude and work ethic as long as we can justify over a period revenue generation or value-added service work. We hire for the future.

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