Reporter’s Notebook: NAPSLO Mid-Year Leadership Forum

The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) came full circle on Feb 25-27 by returning to where the organization got its start—the Eden Roc Resort in Miami Beach—for its Mid-Year Leadership Forum. Nearly 600 attendees gathered in the city where the association was birthed in 1974, when an ad-hoc board of directors was elected at the annual meeting of the National Association of Independent Insurers.

Carriers, wholesale brokers, underwriting managers and associates spent most of their time networking in the brokers' lounge, in hotel lobbies, at social events and on the golf course. The event was highlighted by a leadership panel that featured Bruce Kessler, division president of Ace Westchester; AmWINS President James Drinkwater; Stanley Galanski, CEO of Navigators Group; and RSUI CEO Dave Leonard.

Listening to the executive panelists' recollections, it was obvious that Superstorm Sandy provided each of them a powerful reminder of the need for a versatile, fast response when such a large-scale catastrophe hits a densely populated area. 

“You can't think it all through,” said Kessler, noting there was no time to waste in responding to the late-October superstorm that swept up the East Coast, destroying property, businesses, landmarks and lives in its wake. “You have to manage on your feet.” 

In some cases, that management meant working remotely while coordinating efforts: Flooding from Sandy's storm surge directly impacted Ace's office in Jersey City, N.J. as well as several of the offices of brokerage AmWINS, Drinkwater noted. 

The panelists revealed how they networked with employees via social media as well as e-mail and phone calls to coordinate response efforts and maintain operations in the field, all the while dealing with power outages, spotty cell phone and Internet service, and a gasoline shortage. 

Re-establishing communications immediately, the executives concurred, was not solely accomplished for the sake of business. Their primary focus, as Kessler said, was “to make sure our people were safe and accounted for.” 

MILITARY VET DELIVERS COMPELLING KEYNOTE

One of the highlights at the NAPSLO mid-year was a stirring keynote speech by U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) David W. Sutherland, who, seamlessly linking humor with honest stories of heroism in war, spoke of leadership during times of crisis.

How a leader reacts in the face of chaos, said Sutherland, “is a major element [in leadership]. How you anticipate and react is key [to morale].”

On the front lines in battle and in the corporate world, he said, every subordinate must know what is expected of them. Effective leaders, he added, “tie subordinates to the whole” and inspire a willingness to create a positive from a negative, he said, but leaders must also recognize that “bad things happen to good organizations.”

NAPCO CEO: NO HUGE RATE BOOST FROM SANDY—YET

Sandy hasn't had a huge effect on commercial property catastrophe rates—at least not to date, David Pagoumian, CEO of wholesale broker Napco, tells PC360-NU. 

“Accounts with [substantial] losses will see larger increases,” he says, but mostly rates are rising at the same incremental pace they were before the superstorm hit—with flat to single-digit increases. 

Napco deals with clients with many layers of insurance—perhaps as many as 20 players involved in the account, he says—and there have been some instances in which a layer or two within the tower has dropped out.

“We're reshaping some accounts with new capacity that is being competitive [for the vacant layers],” Pagoumian adds. “It's helped to move things around. You can still get the coverage you need.”

KELLEY CONVERSATION

NAPSLO Executive Director Brady Kelley said members “seem enthusiastic and optimistic about the market.

“There seems to be a lot of high energy,” Kelley added, citing the mid-year event's record-setting attendance as proof. “Retailers are willing to write more. It's appearing to get better.”

Exposures, attendees said, are up. Multiple broker and carrier executives said more new business is moving back to the surplus-lines market as other carriers evaluate books of business to “look at what looks good currently and what looks good over the long term,” said Robert Gilbert, senior vice president of business development and marketing at CoverX Specialty. 

One key cause of growth in exposures: increases in insureds' payroll and revenues. When a policyholder's business is up, that account may generate more premium at renewal, explained Tom Perch, senior vice president of product management and development at Western World Insurance Group.