Editors' Featured
-
Swiss Re Chief Economist Analyzes Current Market Conditions
Swiss Re’s chief economist Kurt Karl discusses the challenges the insurance industry faces, focused on the current economic and political environment, low investment yields, the euro debt crisis and slowing growth in emerging markets.
-
Cyber Monday Raises Cyber Risk
Cyber Monday may be one on of the most profitable days of the year, but it is also one of the riskiest for those in the cyber fraud industry.
-
Brokers: Overcome Fear of Patent Insurance
Garrett Koehn, president of Northwestern U.S. for Crump Insurance Services, authored his first intellectual property and technology related coverages in 1995, working Yahoo, Excite, and others in the Silicon Valley. Here in an interview at the 2011 PLUS Conference with Insurance Journal and Claims Journal, Koehn discusses one form on IP insurance, patent insurance, and [...]
-
Nevada’s New Insurance Commissioner Lays out Pro-insurance Agenda
This is the second time Scott Kipper has assumed the role of insurance commissioner for Nevada. His start date was Oct. 24, and now that he’s back he says he plans to bolster the state’s insurance business, and the business environment in general.
-
Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite! Managing and Mitigating Bed Bug Exposures
In this Markets in Motion Podcast, Crystal Jacobs, product specialist with Professional Liability Insurance Services (PLIS) Underwriting Facility and Pam Ritz, president of Specialty Risk Management, discuss the PLIS Bed Bug coverages created to help hotels and motels deal with a bed bug outbreak and the fallout that comes with it.
-
Interesting Times in Medical Liability
The medical liability market continues to perform well even as the nation struggles to implement health care reform. Robert Allen, senior vice presidents at Torus Insurance, says many health care institutions are implementing new strategies to be successful in today’s health care reform world. In this interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrea Ortega-Wells from the annual [...]
-
Catastrophes’ Impact on the Market
Michael J. Carr, senior vice president of excess and surplus property for Liberty Mutual Underwriters, has more than 18 years of experience managing, developing, and underwriting in the E&S property business. When he was at the National Association of Professional Lines Office convention in San Diego earlier this month he spoke about how the year’s [...]
-
Pressure to Merge
The soft market and tough economy has placed pressure on some wholesale brokerage firms to merge. Neal Abernathy, CEO of Swett & Crawford, thinks the surplus lines industry will see more consolidation in the future thanks to the rising cost of doing business today. In this interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrea Ortega-Wells from the annual [...]
-
The Future for NAPSLO
Brady Kelley, the new executive director of the National Association of Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO), is not a newcomer to the insurance industry. He brings to NAPSLO a unique view in insurance regulation. Kelley spent the last 13 years working with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners with oversight in the divisions of finance, products [...]
-
Bartosh Tech Commitment Comes from the Top
Brian Bartosh, chairman of ASCnet User Group, took some time to talk with Insurance Journal about the group’s vision and technology. Bartosh is president of Alpena, Mich.-based Top O’ Michigan Insurance, his father’s agency. He joined Top O’ Michigan in 1979 as a sales representative. Today he serves as president and shareholder.
-
Getting Better
The surplus lines industry continues to outperform the overall property and casualty industry year after year; but that performance gap is shrinking. Profitability in surplus lines isn’t quite what it used to be. But industry innovator Patrick Ryan, chairman and CEO of Ryan Specialty Group says there’s a lot of interest right now in surplus [...]
-
Downsized Partnerships in Surplus Lines
The surplus lines industry is getting smaller, at least in terms of the number of wholesale partners retail brokers are choosing to do business with. Patrick Ryan, chairman and CEO of Ryan Specialty Group, says that Aon’s announcement this year to limit its wholesale partnerships to just two brokers — Ryan Specialty Group and AmWins [...]
-
Pat Ryan Asks, ‘Are You Happy?’
Patrick Ryan is an innovator who sees opportunity. And it was opportunity that drove him to launch Ryan Specialty Group in early 2010. Success lies in hiring “good people,” Ryan says. In this interview from the annual National Association of Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) annual convention in San Diego, Ryan says his newest venture gave [...]
-
How to Buy Agency E&O
Not all agency errors and omissions policies are the same. So what are the major differences? Also, how does an agency know what limits to buy? Lisa Doherty is CEO of Business Risk Partners, which counts insurance agency E&O as one of its specialties. Doherty discusses what to look for when buying E&O and whether [...]
-
Substantial Catastrophes
Beazley Group’s Judy Patterson took some time out of her schedule at the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices to offer her take on subjects like catastrophes, risk, rate stabilization and surplus lines. One thing that’s important to note, she says, is that this year has seen an almost unprecedented level of substantial catastrophes, [...]
Featured
-
Norwood on Workers’ Comp
John, principal of Norwood & Associates, has been an lobbyist for insurance and financial services sectors across several decades. Norwood offered a focused looking at the all-important workers’ compensation issue, and he gave his thoughts on health insurance exchanges. In fact, Norwood forecast that 2012 will rank as an important one when it comes to [...]
-
Lobbyist Norwood Analyzes Consumer Watchdog Legislation
John Norwood is one of California’s best known legislative advocates for the insurance and financial services sectors. Norwood spoke to the Insurance Journal about legislation and regulation, including a proposal by a consumer advocacy group that would establish prior approval for healthcare insurance and would make major changes to auto insurance and homeowners insurance in [...]
-
At-Home Insurance Careers for Disabled Veterans
For insurance agents Gary Trippe and Jim Pender, the idea for DVIC, or Disabled Veterans Insurance Careers, which aims to guide disabled veterans into careers in insurance, evolved in part from their own personal experiences with disabled family members. In this interview with Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson, the two share their dream of an organization [...]
Popular
-
Entrepreneurial Technologists
This year the Entrepreneurial Insurance Alliance (EIA), sponsored by MarketScout, named Vertafore and Risk Metrics, as winners of it 2011 Entrepreneurial Award in technology. Vertafore’s WorkSmart and Risk Metrics’ Insurance 360 technology products received recognition from the EIA as being some of the industry’s most innovative concepts in technology. Each year, the EIA receives hundreds [...]
-
How Insurance Distribution Is Changing
Retail and wholesale brokers face the challenge —and opportunity— of redefining their relationships and value proposition in today’s changing insurance distribution world, according to Glenn Hargrove, president, MarketScout Wholesale, Dallas, Tex. In this interview from the recent Western Insurance Agents Association’s Insurance Industry Roundtable in California, Hargrove outlines the value proposition of agents and brokers [...]
-
Interesting Times in Medical Liability
The medical liability market continues to perform well even as the nation struggles to implement health care reform. Robert Allen, senior vice presidents at Torus Insurance, says many health care institutions are implementing new strategies to be successful in today’s health care reform world. In this interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrea Ortega-Wells from the annual [...]
-
Pat Ryan Asks, ‘Are You Happy?’
Patrick Ryan is an innovator who sees opportunity. And it was opportunity that drove him to launch Ryan Specialty Group in early 2010. Success lies in hiring “good people,” Ryan says. In this interview from the annual National Association of Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) annual convention in San Diego, Ryan says his newest venture gave [...]
Random
-
Overcoming Employee Resistance Within Your Agency
Tim Sawyer sits down with Cheryle Fessenden, CFO for Barber Insurance and President and CEO of Dagley Insurance Nathan Dagley, to talk about how their agencies have dealt with employee resistance and why change is necessary as companies adapt to a new way of doing business.
-
The right and wrong way to buy insurance leads
NetQuote is a provider of home, auto, life, health and commercial insurance leads for agents. With 20,000 insurance agent customers around the country, NetQuote provides tools and training techniques to sell to the online customer. NetQuote CEO Paul Ford advises agents new to online selling to take it slow, to ask lots of questions and [...]
-
Small Town, Big Business
Will Penny, owner of Penny Insurance operates his agency out of Hendersonville, North Carolina, a city consisting of just over 10,000 people. In this interview with Adam Degraide, Penny talks about how he has used internet leads to stretch his business beyond his small town borders.
-
Inside IMCA Interview with Jennifer Presley
Inside IMCA Interview with Jennifer Presley at the 2005 Annual Meeting Communcation Roundup
- Copyright © 2012 Wells Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.