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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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Vertafore: Intelligence in Technology
Insurance technology leader Vertafore serves 15,000 agencies, 1,000 carriers and about 750 managing general agencies. Steven Finch, vice president of Market Solutions, says the recent purchase of Vertafore by private equity firm TPG Capital lets Vertafore target even larger acquisitions to grow. In this interview, Finch reviews the concept of intelligent workflow and the future [...]
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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.
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FERMA Growth Assured as Den Dekker Steps Down
Peter den Dekker’s tenure as president of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) could well be described as a tipping point in bringing risk managers into the main stream of European business, and establishing FERMA’s leading role in discussions with brokers, re/insurers and regulators. In this interview, you’ll see why.
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Lloyd’s Chairman Lord Peter Levene on Reinsurance, the U.S. Market and Some Future Plans
Lord Peter Levene talked to the IJ on his balcony at the Hotel de Paris. His reign as Lloyd’s Chairman has been pivotal in reestablishing its insurance industry preeminence. He pushed through changes that transformed Lloyd’s: contract certainty, electronic claims processing, establishing a franchise board that assures underwriting discipline, annual accounting and geographical expansion.
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9/11 and Terrorism Risk 10 Years Later
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States forever changed how the insurance industry views terrorism risk. For property and casualty insurers and reinsurers the impact from 9/11 was substantial, amounting to insured losses of some $32.5 billion in today’s dollars. As we approach the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Robert [...]
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What’s in a Name? Unitrin CEO Southwell Says A Lot
A legendary insurance company name is back in the headlines. Unitrin Inc. has taken the Kemper name and effective Aug. 25 Unitrin will officially operate as Kemper Corp. Don Southwell, chairman, president and CEO of Unitrin (which will become Kemper Corp. next week), says the name change fits the company well. Southwell says in this [...]
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100 Agents in 100 Days
Accident Insurance Co., a growing workers’ compensation and small business insurer, is looking for 100 new independent agents within the next 100 days— through Oct. 12. Opportunities exist in 11 states. Jon Beckham, AIC’s chief marketing officer, speaks with Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson about what the company is looking for, what it’s offering, [...]
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Growing Opportunities for Insurance Industry’s Women
Although men still outnumber women in the property/casualty insurance industry, there are many meaningful opportunities for women in the business, says Barney & Barney Principal Trindl Reeves. With more than 20 years of experience under her belt, Reeves — who recently received an award for her efforts to promote professional growth for women executives [...]
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Agent-Customer Conversations Offer P/C Insurers New Insight into Sales Process
Simulating conversations between an insurance agent and a customer during the selling process seems to be providing property/casualty insurers with a more in-depth understanding of successful, and perhaps not so successful communications strategies. In this interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrea Ortega-Wells, Bronwen Clark, qualitative manager for CMI, an Atlanta-based marketing research organization, discusses CMI’s own [...]
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Producer Compensation: The Good and the Great
Creating a compensation plan that is both fair to producers and the agency is critical in today’s competitive market, the experts say. But to do this, agency managers must distinguish between the good and the great. What makes a great producer and how should their compensation differ from that of average producers? In this interview [...]
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Building Strong Relationships from a Bank Robbery Veteran
A discussion with Billy Bond, executive vice president of the Sales Force Development Group for Leavitt Group, and Patrick Linnert, executive vice president with of MarshBerry, on building strong, meaningful and lasting relationships. If you want to do it right, you have to differentiate yourself professionally and personally. Hear Linnert’s remarkable personal story [...]
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Working on Your Agency vs. Working in Your Agency
Shirley Lukens, principal of Reagan Consulting knows a thing or two about agency best practices. She helped launch the first Best Practices study back in 1992 and has been the steward of the program ever since. Listen in as Lukens talks with Peter Van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan about the program and the common traits [...]
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Soft Market Is Finally Ending, Really, Says SNL Financial
Could the long soft market really be over? Several recent reports concluded it is not over. But now Virginia-based SNL Financial might be the first to conclude otherwise. SNL says fourth quarter reports show that the market is indeed hardening and it has the numbers from 2,500 carriers to prove it. Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson [...]
Featured
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Lobbyist Norwood Looks Ahead to 2012 in Legislature
John Norwood, principal of Norwood & Associates, has a career in political work dating back to the early 1980s, and he’s one of the state’s best known lobbyists in the insurance and financial services sectors. Norwood talked about workers’ compensation, and other legislation and regulation matters that the insurance industry will face in 2012, including [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
Popular
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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
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The Video Insurance Guy
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.
In the eleventh episode, Peter and Rick talk with Chris Jordan of Atlanta Insurance Live in Atlanta, Georgia. Chris argues using video and live chat promotes transparency and gives [...] -
Better Service than the Lizard
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.
In the sixth episode, Peter and Rick talk with Rick Dinger of Crescenta Valley Insurance, Inc. in Glendale, California about how social media has helped his company reach a [...] -
Who’s Getting Into, Out of the Agency Business
Agency consultant Al Diamond of the Agency Consulting Group discusses why more people are starting agencies today and why some who left are returning to the business.
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Up Close with NAPSLO’s New President
Richard Polizzi is the incoming president of NAPSLO. The organziation’s recent 2004 Annual
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