Make Your Plans Today to Attend the NASBP Winter William J. Angell Surety School

Planning is underway, and registration is open for the winter session of the William J. Angell Surety School to be held the last week of January in Houston, Texas. This popular offering of the school will include both Level I (January 22-25, 2012) and Level II (January 22-27, 2012) classes. The school, which is the industry standard for training and developing both producers and underwriters, is taught by leading practitioners from surety agencies and surety companies.

New Online Course Being Developed

The Professional Development Committee is sponsoring the development of a new NASBP online course that will provide an introduction to contract surety. Similar in length and format to the popular NASBP Commercial Surety Fundamentals, the new course will be entitled NASBP Contract Surety Fundamentals. It is anticipated that the new course will be approximately 10 hours in length and will be certified for continuing education credit in all states.

The course will provide an overview of the construction industry, evaluating contractors – including an introduction to financial statement analysis, bond forms, underwriting considerations, and the role of professional surety bond producers. This course, along with the commercial surety online course, will provide those new to the industry with a comprehensive orientation to the surety industry and is likely to become integral to every new employee’s educational development.

The course is scheduled to be available by the end of 2011. For more information, contact Ann Latham at alatham@nasbp.org  or 202-686-3700.

NASBP Construction Contracts and Bond Forms Workshop Receives Rave Reviews 

NASBP’s Construction Contracts and Bond Forms Workshop that took place in late October received rave reviews from attendees. The Workshop, provided in collaboration with the law firm of Smith, Currie & Hancock, addressed the essential risk provisions in construction contracts and bond forms and offered practical insights to help identify and address problematic language. The one-and-a-half-day workshop gave attendees systematic and practical approaches to risk management from the initial qualification of the project and its participants to project closeout, which can be applied to any size or type of project, whether public or private. The Workshop instructors included Thomas J. Kelleher Jr. (pictured below top right), Eric L. Nelson (pictured below bottom right), and Gene Rash (pictured below bottom left), all partners at Smith, Currie & Hancock, as well as Steven Nelson (pictured below middle right), executive vice president and general counsel of SureTec Insurance. Pictures taken at the Workshop are below.