VIEW FROM THE TOP
VIEW FROM THE TOP – BREAKFAST MEETING RECAP
On September 15, 2005, the Philadelphia Chapter hosted two regional insurance executives in the annual “View From the Top” breakfast meeting. President Jon Hensinger introduced the panel, beginning with John Solari, CPCU, President & CEO, Professional Underwriters. John was a psychology major in college, and after a stint in the construction business, he began his insurance career in underwriting. He moved to marketing and then to the agency side, but eventually returned to underwriting and earned his CPCU in 1992. He describes his firm as an underwriting-only “Program Administrator” and is careful to distinguish that from an MGA, which engages also in things like reinsurance and claims administration. Professional Underwriters specializes in the public entity sector – organizations like schools, police, city, and county governments.
John shared his philosophy that to be the best in the business, you need to know the business better than anyone. As an example in serving the public entity market, John knows that schools are tied very closely to the July 1 renewal cycle. He also emphasized that beyond knowing the business well, you must also service the business better in order to excel.
John recounted a feature of schools and other public entities that make them unusual as insureds – they welcome loss control. But, as non-profits, they do have a slow and bureaucratic budgeting process. He closed his segment with the question that he uses to challenge himself each morning: “What am I doing today to improve myself or my organization?”
Our next executive was Steven Reiss, ACE Mid-Atlantic Regional Executive. Steven joined ACE just 45 days ago, after stints with AIG and Marsh. Steve examined all of the scandals that have come out of the Spitzer probes, and he asks how could such a large and great industry fall so hard due to the acts of just a few people? He then asked us to step back and take a broader look at the industry and its role in society. He noted that, upon completing college, his mother had hoped for him to work in an arena that contributed to the betterment of society – doctor, priest, social worker. He chose insurance, and he notes that insurance provides asset protection to groups and individuals, and that allows our society to function as efficiently as it does. So he made that point to his mother 20 years ago, and the usefulness and the value of insurance industry is just as true today.
The industry continues to respond to “unprecedented” events like 9-11, Andrew, and Katrina. Insurance, at least in part, allows society to recover from the financial consequences of these events. Make no mistake, he tells us, insurance will have a positive, lasting, and yet unheralded impact on the recovery from Katrina. No special awards will be given to the agent who recommended flood insurance that permitted a company to stay in business and continue as an employer. No acclaim will be sounded for the claim reps hustling to the area in harsh conditions to begin to settle losses. But there is no doubt that insurance serves a larger purpose than its own industry profit motives.
These types of events in fact are no longer “unprecedented,” so the industry must continue to plan to deal with them and continue to provide protection to society.
After Steven spoke, Jon Hensinger invited audience questions. John Solari was asked “What keeps you up at night?” He expressed concern for public entity rate levels, which look flat for 2006, despite rising loss costs. Steven, on the other hand, sees rates rising; the insurance industry cannot otherwise absorb the $60 billion loss expected from Katrina.
An audience member noted that most insureds communicate only with the insurer when there is a claim or a rate increase. How can the industry improve its public relations? Steve counseled that insurance professionals need to be customer focused, and that they must educate and communicate with clients, otherwise the customer will assume the worst. If you know that a client faces a rate increase at renewal, let them know early and be honest about it – don’t permit unpleasant surprises. John offered that the industry may miss a tremendous opportunity as it pays out the Katrina losses, but also told of one exception. He cited a Wall Street Journal piece that followed the day-to-day activities of a State Farm executive in responding to Katrina. John thinks that insurance executives need to follow this example and make sure to get the story out to the press, which otherwise will focus on only the negatives.
The panel was asked “How can the industry attract and retain the best talent?” John responded that you need to pay a competitive wage, but must also show a career path, show recruits the potential to move ahead. Steve added that employers should offer specialization and training, not just “generalist’ positions. With college students from both Temple and LaSalle in the audience, John asked them what they seek from prospective employers. Channa Feibush, of Temple, emphasized that salary is important, but training even more so. John pressed the issue to get starting salary expectations from the students, and they indicated that the minimum might be about $35,000 but those at the upper end of the insurance programs who had completed internships were looking for salaries approaching $60,000. This elicited several gasps from the audience, which may indicate a disconnect between the expectations of top new talent and the established insurance professionals in the room.
Our chapter was delighted to have these rising stars in attendance; it is encouraging to see the best of a generation who choose insurance as a profession. From LaSalle University, Assistant Professor (and chapter member) Kathleen McNichol, CPCU, ARM, was accompanied by students Daniel Parks and Dominick Barbuto. Attending from Temple University were Channa Feibush, Ben Faust, and Colin Wilhelmson.
Temple students chat with guests and speakers
