| NASBP Second Vice President Susan Hecker (third from left), the Director of National Contract Surety and Area Executive Vice President of the Construction Practice of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., was a panelist at a plenary session at the AGC 2014 Conference on Surety Bonding and Risk Management. Also, pictured (from left) are Russ Johnson, Rod Williams, Phil Beck (moderator), Joe Gallagher, and Paul Becker. Additional panelists not pictured here were Scott Rasor, Tom Grandmaison, and Steve Nelson. |
NASBP Member Shares Producer Perspective at Construction Conference
From February 3-5, 35 NASBP members and 60 NASBP affiliates joined 225 in-house lawyers, in-house risk managers, and other senior executives of the construction and insurance industries in warm and beautiful Naples, Florida, to participate in the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) 2014 Conference on Surety Bonding and Construction Risk Management. Many discussions at the conference focused on surety bonds, insurance policies, construction contracts, and construction operations, with a special recurring motif of issues surrounding public-private partnerships (P3s) and performance security issues for same.
A big highlight on February 4 was the perspective provided by NASBP Second Vice President Susan Hecker, the Director of National Contract Surety and Area Executive Vice President of the Construction Practice of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., who was one of the esteemed panelists on the two-hour plenary session panel. This informative plenary session was entitled, "Opportunities for Improvement: When, Where and How the Construction, Surety and Insurance Industries Can Better Support Each Other." The session gave a “performance review” of the construction, surety, and insurance industries, where leaders of all three shared their candid assessments of how the parties are contributing to construction risk management. The other panelists were Scott Rasor of Zurich North American Insurance, Russ Johnson of Skanska USA Building, Rod Williams of Liberty Mutual Surety, Joe Gallagher of Alberici Group, Paul Becker of Willis, Tom Grandmaison of AIG, and Steve Nelson of SureTec Insurance Company. Phil Beck, a partner at the law firm of Smith, Currie & Hancock, was the panel moderator.
The panelists discussed the following challenges: addressing the need for good communication, managing and allocating risk, reacting and adapting to changes in the construction industry, and staying cognizant of the tight margins in the industry. Hecker emphasized the importance of communications between bond producers and their clients. According to Hecker, bond producers are the “eyes and ears” for their clients.
Hecker further noted that relationship building and trust are key ingredients to successful construction businesses. Bond producers are often "in the weeds” issue-spotting potentially onerous contract terms and conditions for their clients. The final word of advice Hecker shared with the audience was the importance of training and retaining good professional people, which is tantamount to successful professional relationships with clients.
Two members of the NASBP staff, Martha Perkins, in-house General Counsel, and Larry LeClair, Director of Government Relations, attended the conference and were joined by NASBP Immediate Past President Carl Dohn to participate in a meeting with NASBP, Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA), and AGC in-house lawyers and risk managers. Dohn, LeClair, and Perkins presented on several NASBP initiatives that were of great interest to the in-house lawyers and risk managers: initiatives on performance and payment bonds as security on P3s for the construction portion of the projects; advocacy efforts on long-term warranties and other onerous contract requirements; efforts to combat unauthorized sureties and fraudulent bonds; and the new NASBP educational initiative,
SuretyLearn.org website, that provides an online course and resources on surety bonding for small and emerging contractors. The AGC attendees were particularly interested in the new one-page, NASBP document, titled “Always Verify Your Bond!” To access this document, click
here.