It was a meeting of common interests at the Florida Insurance Council (FIC) annual conference in June in Key West. A panel representing the boards of the Professional Insurance Agents of Florida (PIA) and FIC discussed an agreement to form an agent/insurer company partnership to work on common goals: to better educate consumers and the media on insurance matters, and to rebut what the industry perceives as misinformation being disseminated by the media. How the alliance will proceed, who will represent each association, and other details are still being put in place. Florida Underwriter asked Sam Miller, executive vice president of FIC; and Mark O'Connell, CEO of PIA, to discuss this "work in progress."
Q. How did this partnership idea get started? Was it agent-generated?
Sam Miller: PIA and FIC met numerous times over the past year, including cosponsoring a seminar in Boca Raton about the Florida hurricane insurance market. The PIA board of directors agreed to meet in Key West in early June in conjunction with the FIC annual meeting for another joint forum — this one focusing on the need to better inform consumers and the media about key and controversial insurance issues. The forum also illustrated the need to better inform the insurance community regarding challenges and opportunities. The most recent panel was suggested by PIA, both on the national and the state level. It was well received by FIC members.
Q. What are some ways the partnership will play out? Will there be whistle-stop joint appearances? How about business editor education, media advertising, blogs, and public forums? How wide-reaching is the vision?
Mark O'Connell: Probably a bit of all of the above. The key will be sharing information and resources. Our goal is to ensure that an accurate representation of industry issues makes its way to the public through the media. We'd like to make use of the PIA members prominent in their communities who will work with local media and other key opinion makers. These PIA members can serve as "feet on the ground" in terms of key insurance policy issues.
Miller: FIC already conducts an annual newspaper editorial-board tour that includes every major community. Having local agents discuss specific local issues with editors is important. We have done this over the years, but not with the formal network we believe we are about to develop. There are many other opportunities that we hope to take advantage of as well, using local networks developed through PIA.
Q. What are some recent examples of misinformation the group wishes it could have responded to? How nimble will you have to be to respond quickly? In that vein, is this a sizeable commitment for your board members to make in terms of time commitment and availability? Do you plan to rotate participants?
Miller: Insurance companies — and to some extent, agents — are sometimes presented and viewed as the villains. This is an unfortunate misrepresentation of our true role, and a denial of insurance's importance to Florida's economy. That's one example. Another issue is that in many areas of Florida, rates are dropping dramatically, for commercial and residential insurance.
O'Connell: I'm sure a strategy will evolve based on whatever the need may be. It's not that either PIA or FIC have not responded to misinformation, but sometimes a response, coming from one or the other of us, sounds too self-serving. A joint response, on the other hand, may have more credibility. The public needs to know that insurance stakeholders are not the villains so often portrayed in the media.
Q. How many people will there be from each association to cover the state?
Miller: This endeavor is just getting started, so most of the details are still being considered. Right now, we are moving forward based on the supporting consent of the FIC board and the PIA board. Our hope is to build an effective communications network throughout the state. An immediate part of our collaboration is to have the initial phase of this network in place should a hurricane make landfall.
Q. Is this alliance unique in the industry? Has it been done in other states?
O'Connell: We hope this isn't unique because it seems to make so much sense. It was an easy conversation to have when the boards sat down because our concerns were the same. This isn't an alliance of business interests. Agents will not be more or less involved in company affairs. Companies will not be more or less involved in agent affairs. We do expect that this shared venture will enhance the respect each group has for the other's role, but all we're talking about is the sharing and dissemination of information. That has to be a very good thing.
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