With a major boost from Scottsdale Insurance Company, an excess and surplus lines insurance association expects to fully fund a $1 million endowment to Georgia State University, the group's executive director disclosed early this month.
Bernie Heinze, executive director of the King of Prussia, Pa.-based American Association of Managing General Agents, said Scottsdale's "leadership gift"–the biggest gift pledged to date–means that AAMGA University's endowment of an E&S chair at Georgia State is now 80 percent funded.
Mr. Heinze declined to reveal the exact dollar figure of Scottsdale's funding commitment at the request of the insurer.
Michael Miller, Scottsdale's president, told NU that his company's decision to contribute to funding the E&S chair was more than a response to the idea of advancing educational programs focused on surplus lines through a nationally recognized university, although that was an original impetus.
Beyond that, he suggested there may be a broader opportunity to change the public perception of the insurance industry.
"Part of my belief is that the insurance industry, at times, is not as informing to the public as it ought to be," Mr. Miller said.
"While we do great things, it doesn't come across that way," he said, referring to the insurance industry generally.
"It's a little bit tangentially connected, but the fact that we would have a significant university in the United States that would have a chair funded by the E&S [insurance] industry could provide an opportunity in my mind to continue to educate the public about the things that occur in the insurance industry," he said.
Mr. Miller said Scottsdale's significant contribution toward the GSU chair was driven more directly by two key factors–the chair's focus on E&S and Scottsdale's commitment to education.
Georgia State will become a leader in "research and leadership development specifically tied to the E&S industry," he said, noting that the chair will help guide and advance educational initiatives focused on the development of E&S professionals that AAMGA has in place through its AAMGA University programs.
"At Scottsdale Insurance, we're very focused on continuing to educate our people," Mr. Miller said. "We think it's very important as a company to have people who are interested in their personal development," he said, adding that it's equally important for the company "to find more and more ways…for them to further their education."
The creation of the AAMGA Distinguished Chair in the GSU's J. Mack Robinson School of Insurance and Risk Management was first announced in June 2007.
Mr. Heinze said the chair will have a professor assigned exclusively to E&S, who will work "to understand opportunities within the E&S and admitted [specialty marketplace], to do research, provide whitepapers, provide classroom education and give young people an opportunity to see what our marketplace is all about."
With a total of $800,000 committed by AAMGA members–including Scottsdale–as of the end of February, through the group's AAMGA University Foundation, Mr. Heinze said AAMGA expects the full $1 million will be raised by the middle part of next year. The grant will then be given and the chair will become active, he said.
Mr. Heinze noted that over time, the AAMGA has had relationships with several universities that have outstanding insurance programs–but through these relationships, the association has recognized there is an education gap when it comes to the E&S component of the market.
Scottsdale's pledge, coming in February, has turned something that to this point was "merely a concept" into a reality, he said.
Mr. Heinze spoke to NU earlier this month during AAMGA University Weekend East, an educational conference for AAMGA members featuring 17 courses including ones on climate change, public speaking, agency management, ethics and panels of executives of insurance companies and MGAs discussing marketplace issues.
AAMGA University, which is funded through a separate $2 million endowment, delivers education to members through stand-alone courses, weekend events like the one held last week and classes presented in conjunction with annual meetings.
Individual MGA members completing a specified number of hours of coursework qualify for a special university designation–CIW, or Certified Insurance Wholesaler. The University also offers a certification–CMGA, or Certified MGA–which can be awarded to an entire agency that meets specified requirements.
Focusing on the activities of the GSU chair aimed at educating college students, rather than E&S professionals, Mr. Heinze said an added benefit of "creating a greater knowledge base of the E&S market among the students" is that it should provide opportunities for AAMGA members to recruit those students who become truly interested in the E&S segment when they graduate.
Beyond the endowment of the GSU chair, AAMGA is also making a renewed commitment to an internship program this year, Mr. Heinze said.
Going forward, the existing AAMGA internship program, which was previously limited to the sons and daughters of AAMGA members, will be opened up to other college students, and to high school students also.
In addition, the revamped program will have a flexible structure responding to the needs of students, he said–noting for example, that a student might choose to intern for as many as 12 weeks with an AAMGA member company, or for only as short a time as one week, if that is preferable to a particular student.
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