One of NAPSLO's fastest-growing efforts has been its NextGeneration initiative, geared toward recruiting young talent to thesurplus lines industry. Next Generation co-chairmen Steven Grossand Scott Culler agree that now, more than ever, there is a need toinform and educate students and young professionals about theE&S Insurance Industry.

“We're a very experienced industry, and there is so muchopportunity and need for us to fill the gaps as we move forward toget that next wave—that 'next generation'—involved in ourbusiness,” says Culler. “We need to add that talent, now.”

Gross adds that since Next Generation started about five yearsago, “we've gone from a group of people that tried to put ittogether, to now having over 650 members. That shows me that thereare plenty of young people in the industry now—but it's certainlynot enough to replace the aging population.”

In response to the need to recruit more young surplus linesprofessionals, Next Generation spent the year visiting collegecampuses with the focus on to educating potential risk managementstudents about the surplus lines industry, as well as conductingweb events with students. The group worked closely with insurancefraternity Gamma Iota Sigma, attending symposiums, job fairs andseminars held at college campuses. The group plans to continue withthese measures in the coming year.

“More and more schools are starting to create risk managementmajors,” says Gross. “A lot of colleges do not focus on the surpluslines industry, so we have made an effort to create awarenessaround it and why it's a better alternative for a graduatingcollege student to have a career in.”

And Next Generation's efforts aren't going unnoticed byinsurance educators. “The University of Colorado just started arisk management school, and they specifically reached out to us tohelp them think about what they should be doing to communicate andnetwork with the industry,” Gross adds.

NAPSLO is also working to recruit new members through itsInternship Program. Six graduates of NAPSLO's internship programare attending the Annual Convention, and will be interviewed todetermine who will be the Joseph H. Blades Memorial Scholar andreceive an additional three-week internship in London with insurerBell & Clements next summer.

Another intern will receive the Bermuda Scholarship, which is anadditional three-week internship with an insurer in Bermuda nextsummer. The winners of the scholarships will be announced Wednesdayat 10:15 a.m. All the interns will shadow NAPSLO members and attendconvention events, so keep an eye out and make sure to say hello toyour next generation of colleagues.

“The Internship Program is such a good program that these kidsare going back to their schools and telling their peers about it,”says Gross. He adds that many of the presenters for NextGeneration's college campus visits and symposiums are past NAPSLOinterns.

To help graduates and Next Generation members just getting theirfeet wet in the industry, NAPSLO has also launched a Job Portal onits website where NAPSLO members can post entry-level jobs, saysGross, “and students are able to post their resumes, so membersthat are looking to hire graduates have that opportunity.”

“It's great for [members] to see the type of talent that'scoming out,” says Culler about NAPSLO's Internship Program and JobPortal, in addition to the efforts of the Next Generation group.“It's extremely impressive to see the caliber of these studentsthat are ready to hit the job markets. It's exciting for us as anindustry, and we need to take advantage of that.”