CEO Perspective
Celebrating History – NAMIC-Style
September 9, 2020 125 years. No, that’s not how long we’ve been working from home – it only feels like it. It’s how many years NAMIC has been here to serve members and protect their interests, and something we’re celebrating in 2020... Read more
CEO Perspective | Vote!
August 19, 2020 For all the turmoil 2020 has sown, and the uncertainty generated each day, Election Day will still be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November... Read more
Recovery From COVID-19 Requires Jobs, Not Frivolous Lawsuits
July 23, 2020 COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on our nation’s business community, and it’s hard to say if the re-opening we’ve seen in the last month or so will continue. And then there’s the key question of where we are on the spectrum of... Read more
Standing Together
June 3, 2020 Eight minutes and 46 seconds sent an already fatigued nation into a collective state of mourning. George Floyd’s death on a Minneapolis street and his final words are seared into my mind, and into our nation’s collective consciousness. I don’t have... Read more
NAMIC Events to Take on New Look in Time of COVID-19
May 22, 2020 This year, as we all adjust to life in a pandemic, necessity has prompted some rethinking about our normal activities, and as an organization, NAMIC is no exception. Postponements and cancellations are the order of the day, and we find ourselves... Read more
Preparing America for the Next Pandemic
May 21, 2020 As I was reflecting the other day on where we are with the COVID-19 crisis, I thought of Winston Churchill, having just finished Erik Larson’s great new book, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and... Read more
Litigation Emerging as Latest Industry Threat From COVID-19
May 15, 2020 The property/casualty insurance industry is no stranger to crises, having faced many before, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant economic downturn have brought new and unprecedented challenges. Though insurers across the country have... Read more
I Read the News Today, Oh Boy...
April 20, 2020 Welcome to week number five or six...depending on where we started counting. Regardless, it has been a roller coaster of a ride during this pandemic. While we’ve reported frequently on the progress being made in terms of advocacy and the NAMIC federal... Read more
Separating Reality From Perception on COVID-19
April 15, 2020 Late last week, a group of senators led by Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina and the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, wrote President Trump to make clear they opposed any mandate to force insurance companies to... Read more
“The Times They Are A-Changin’”
April 7, 2020 It seems that line from the 1964 Bob Dylan hit may never be more apt, though I doubt Mr. Zimmerman had these “times” in mind. Sometimes a song seems to speak to a particular event, like Wilco’s “Jesus, etc.” in the post-9/11 environment, though it was... Read more
They May be BIG, But They Are Also Wrong
March 31, 2020 They are organized. They are well-funded. They are well-known individually, if not collectively … yet. And they are B.I.G. Big as in the “Business Interruption Group”– a group of celebrity chefs including Wolfgang Puck and Thomas Keller, backed by... Read more
Containing the Coronavirus
March 13, 2020 We are in unprecedented times as the world seeks to limit the impact of COVID-19, more commonly referred to as the coronavirus, that has shut down parts of the world and taken thousands of lives. In our industry, we’ve already seen the National... Read more
Stepping Into the Lion’s Den
March 4, 2020 As the sole witness on behalf of our industry at today’s House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing “examining” bias in auto insurance, NAMIC is taking the lead in defending the use of non-driving ratings factors. With the hearing... Read more
It’s Insurance Careers Month – So How Is NAMIC Helping to Attract the Next Generation of Talent?
February 14, 2020 Roses are red, violets are blue, a career in insurance is what students should pursue! (With sincere apologies to all serious writers of Valentine’s Day poetry.) Baby boomers are continuing to retire, leaving behind fond relationships and... Read more
Oh Christmas TRIA, Oh Christmas TRIA
December 20, 2019 If you would have asked me a year ago where we would be on the reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act at the end of 2019, you wouldn’t have heard me say: “finished.” Yet here we are. Today, the president signed into law a... Read more
Paying It Forward Was Never So Easy
October 29, 2019 Each year on that special day in May (or December), hundreds of thousands of college students don their caps and gowns to parade in front of cheering family, friends, peers, and professors commemorating their four (or more) years of... Read more
If It’s Fall – It Must be Mutual Factor Time!
October 2, 2019 You know it’s fall when you start hearing about football, pumpkin-spiced lattes, Halloween, and of course, the Mutual Factor. Yes, you heard right – The 2019 Mutual Factor is back for the second year in a row, and it’s bigger and better than... Read more
My Mutual Moment
September 25, 2019 Next year I will have been with NAMIC for a quarter of a century. I love this association, this industry, and the people in it, and I believe that mutual insurance companies, with their noble purpose and long and storied history, are the best... Read more
Measuring Innovation
August 5, 2019 Innovation. It’s a word that dominates business meetings throughout corporate America. In fact, I challenge you to identify a conference or strategic planning session that doesn’t feature innovation on its agenda. And with good reason; the ability to... Read more
CELEBRATING AOB VICTORY IN THE SUNSHINE STATE; BUT BATTLE NOT OVER
May 24, 2019 It’s been seven long years in the making, but finally, after years of contentious battle, the people in the white hats... Read more
Matching Rate with Risk: Progress Amid Gridlock
May 2, 2019 For most, the fresh hints of Spring in the air are a reminder that summer, and that upcoming beach vacation, are fast approaching. For those of us in the business of risk management, those smells of... Read more
TRIA a Success, But Still a Necessity
March 29, 2019 This year marks the first time a child born after 9/11 will turn 18. At times it still feels like only yesterday that these attacks happened, but so much has changed since then. While we may not have held onto the feeling of unity we had in the days... Read more
Bad Medicine for Insurance
March 5, 2019 I suspect everyone reading this column recognizes that bad faith legislation is bad medicine for insurance markets, insurance companies, and the policyholders served by them. If a policyholder were to ask why... Read more
On the Right Track With NAMIC Compliance Resources
December 5, 2018 As we hit the home stretch of 2018, I wanted to share some exciting news with you about NAMIC’s compliance resources. The NAMIC board has identified compliance as an area of focus, and we’ve put a tremendous amount of time and energy into improving... Read more
Finding Other Ways to Win
November 30, 2018 In the wake of the mid-term elections that saw Republicans take advantage of a favorable electoral map to grow their Senate majority while Democrats gained 40 seats to win control of the House, one of the few things we know for sure about the... Read more
