Highlights Of The Agenda For The Convention

• Next Generation Panel Discussion, Oct. 11, 3:00 p.m.

Kristen Skender, national marketing director at USG Insurance Services and president of NAPSLO's Next Generation (the under-40 segment of the association created to recruit young talent to the industry) will moderate a panel that will discuss issues concerning new people in the industry. The panelists (Michael D. Miller, president of Scottsdale Insurance Co.; Letha Heaton, vice president of marketing for Admiral Insurance Co.; Steven R. Gross, chairman and CEO of Metro Insurance Services Inc.; and Patrick Ryan, chairman and CEO of Ryan Specialty Group) will also discuss how they came up in the industry.  

• Presidential Address, Oct. 12, 9:00 a.m.

NAPSLO recently hired Brady Kelley as its new executive director, effective Sept. 12. Kelley will replace Richard Bouhan, who has been with the association for 20 years. The Presidential Address will reflect on Bouhan's time with NAPSLO (Bouhan will stay on through June 2012 to work on the transition and legislative issues) and also will officially introduce Kelley as the new executive director.

• Derek Hughes/NAPSLO Educational Foundation Lecture Series, Oct. 12, 9:15 a.m.

Michael Lewis, journalist and author of Liar's Poker, The Blind Side, The Big Short and Moneyball, will be the guest speaker. Lewis will talk about his books and about financial services in general. (The Big Short is about the lead-up to the recent financial crisis; Moneyball is the basis for a new feature film starring Brad Pitt.) 

• Current Technology Issues in the U.S. and U.K.

The program will feature Mike Roy, chief information officer of Risk Placement Services and chair of the E&S Joint Working Group; Frank Neugebauer, chief technology officer of Burns & Wilcox; and Peter Montanaro, head of delegated authorities at Lloyd's. They will discuss the future direction of the working group, which was formed by NAPSLO, the Independent Agents & Brokers of America's Agents Council for Technology, the American Association of Managing General Agents and ACORD. 

The program will also discuss the status of industry efforts to demonstrate the transfer of data between retailers, wholesale brokers/managing general agents and carriers; the use of standards in a changing environment; and recent actions by London and Lloyd's.