Being part of NASBP’s 5-15 Leadership Circle, a program designed to help prepare the surety industry’s future leaders, offers many benefits. One of the most powerful is building relationships with others in the industry, according to the 5-15 members attending the NASBP Annual Meeting.
The program is composed of surety professionals who have been in the industry for five to 15 years. Participants are from NASBP member agencies and are nominated by their managers or senior officers.
The 5-15 Leadership Circle “has been a great resource to partner with other surety professionals at the same point in their careers,” said Corban Enns, owner of Surety Solutions in Salem, Oregon, who has been in the industry for nine years. The program offers important opportunities for learning and networking, which are crucial in achieving success in the relationship-driven surety industry, he said.
The Leadership Circle is a “conduit” for networking and sharing ideas not just among peers, but also with executives at surety companies and at NASBP, said Chad Martin, bond manager at TIS Insurance Services in Knoxville, Tennessee, and vice chairman of the 5-15 Leadership Circle.
Monica Donatelli, surety manager at IMA Financial Group in Overland Park, Kansas, said that in the year since she became part of the program, she’s benefited from mentoring from NASBP members and officers.
“The program has helped shift my paradigm from seeing surety as a career to seeing it as a living thing that we can all affect in positive -- or negative -- ways if we choose,” she said. “It has made me step out of the bleachers and get on the field -- and I love it.”
Rachel Mullen, an account executive with Wells Fargo Insurance Services in Chicago, said the 5-15 Leadership Circle has been invaluable in sparking conversation with surety professionals, which she hopes “to see grow and build into a relationship over years to come. It expands my professional network and educates me on the product, which in turn makes me a better surety professional for my client, company and colleagues.”
Surety professionals who are newer to the industry often face challenges from bond requests that involve unique attributes, but relationships built through the 5-15 Leadership Circle can help them reach out to those who have experience in more-difficult areas, Enns and Martin said. Some of the challenges are related to environmental risks, design-build, energy or opportunities with a longer performance obligation, Enns said.
Participants in the 5-15 Leadership Circle said they think the program is succeeding in its mission of inspiring a new generation of surety industry leaders.
“As I look at the impressive individuals involved in the program, it is evident that we are doing a great job meeting that goal,” Martin said.
Additional information about the 5-15 Leadership Circle can be found at www.nasbp.org.