Your NASBP Membership Provides You and Your Staff A Slew of Valuable Resources

I have been enjoying my role as President of the NASBP. This summer, I attended NASBP events held in Washington, DC, Chicago, and Boston where I connected with many NASBP colleagues from all over the country. Many NASBP colleagues have shared with me how their state budget and economic struggles are spiraling into issues for clients and ultimately for their firms. I want to remind everyone to seek out NASBP as a resource to help your business thrive. NASBP has helped me and my agency so much. Take advantage of what your NASBP membership offers you. Here are some NASBP resources and events that you and your staff should be considering using and participating in.

In fact, I attended NASBP’s most recent networking event, the Regions 8, 9, 10, and 11 meeting in Boston. NASBP Regional Meetings are tremendous networking venues to renew and establish new contacts and build trusting relationships among fellow producers, affiliates, and associates. Early on, given the state of the economy, we were all concerned about adequate attendance, but we quickly learned that our fears were unfounded. Attendance was in line with prior meetings, and we had great participation in the programs put together by Brian Ayres, Kevin Garrity, and Wayne McCartha. The Boston meeting offered many valuable programs, such as the CE program for bond producers, “Tips and Tools for Maintaining Bonding in Tough Times,” which was presented by Berkley Surety Group. One of the benefits of being NASBP President is that you have the benefit of attending NASBP Regional meetings that you would not usually attend. Katie and I enjoyed seeing many old friends and meeting plenty of new ones. Our surety partners commented on how much they enjoyed the intimate setting. Regional Directors strive to make sure our members, affiliates, and associates feel their time and money is well-spent as is evident in the informative programs they have scheduled for the upcoming September Regional Meetings. The Regions 1,2, & 3 meeting features sessions including tribal bonding, premium growth, and claims in relation to broker ethics. For those of you in Regions 1, 2, and 3, please join me in Santa Ana Pueblo, near Albuquerque, NM. The Regions 4,5,6, & 7 will feature sessions on surety claims, ethics, lesser used underwriting practices, and bonds for the outsourcing business. For those in Regions 4, 5, 6 and 7, I look forward to seeing you in Austin, Texas.

Consider joining the industry’s premier educational event, the NASBP Surety School, by becoming a faculty member. The faculty are some of the industry’s best producers and underwriters that you can learn from and network with simply by becoming part of the School’s faculty. Not to anyone’s surprise, the Summer Session of NASBP William J. Angell Surety School was a tremendous success. During the Session, held in Chicago, the Surety School faculty educated 32 students in Level I and 65 in Level II. My hat goes off to the dedicated faculty who give up, in some cases, an entire workweek to educate those who are the future of our industry. This Session’s faculty included Paul Amstutz, Dedi Belis, Matt Cashion, Dave Castillo, Tom Durkin, Bud Herndon, Ed Heine, Jim Lareau, Larry McMahon, Ralph Pulver, Tom Padilla and Bob Shaw. I am sure you recognize these folks because many have been serving as faculty members for the School for years. NASBP is always on the lookout for more volunteers that can help teach one or more courses. We are not asking that you to devote an entire week, but just to consider two or three days. The existing faculty members continually tell me how rewarding it is to interact with dozens of enthusiastic, young surety professionals. If you are interested, please contact Ann Latham at alatham@nasbp.org or 202-464-1176.

This is a good time to brush up on the your code of ethics with NASBP’s help. The NASBP President is responsible for teaching the Ethics Course at the School’s Summer and Winter Sessions. We, as surety agents, are frequently faced with ethical dilemmas, and the purpose of the Course is to remind everyone it is our responsibility to do the right thing. Most of us are feeling the effects of this sluggish economy. We will see our competitors cut corners and misrepresent the truth in an effort to write business. We all know that approach is shortsighted. In the class, we remind the students of our own Code of Ethics. We must not waiver on the values articulated in this code. If you have not read it lately, it is worth reviewing. The NASBP Code of Ethics not only outlines our commitment to doing our job ethically, but also spells out that there is an expectation for all of us to stay engaged. Also, my theme is trusting relationships, and that will continue to be important for us moving forward. Ten years ago, would any of us anticipated a public owner waiving bonds on projects in excess of 500 million dollars or several states attempting to increase bond thresholds to one million dollars or more? Our livelihood is at stake. With this economy, there is no doubt that public/private partnerships will increase. We all need to make sure a surety bond, not some other guaranty, is the option of security.

I also suggest that you seek out the NASBP resources that can help you better understand your clients’ business requirements. For example, the audio recording from NASBP’s August 9 Virtual Seminar can help you and your staff understand what your clients with multi-employer pension plans must disclose. For this Virtual Seminar, NASBP invited FASB representatives and the General Counsel of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America to explain how the final FASB proposal and how the Coalition, of which NASBP was a member, succeeded in encouraging FASB not to entertain options that would have imposed significant disclosure burdens on construction companies. NASBP and representatives of the construction and surety industries worked collaboratively with FASB to help FASB reach its goals. To access the free audio recording and PowerPoint from that NASBP Virtual Seminar, click here.

Help boost your agency’s sales and premiums by participating in the September 21 and 22, NASBP Sales Workshop for surety bond professionals. This class, offered last year in St. Louis, was well received. The Workshop, offered this year in Austin, will be facilitated again by Jonathan Dick, a Fortune 500 sales coach. Joining him in instructing the students will be top-producing NASBP members Larry McMahon and Don Appleby. This Workshop is open to all; however, it is especially appealing to those members from Regions 4, 5, 6, and 7, as their Regional meeting immediately follows the conclusion of this Sales Workshop. Please take advantage of this course, whether you are a new producer or a veteran looking for some new ideas.

Also, NASBP is providing another program to help surety professionals understand the risks clients take on in their construction contracts and bond forms. I am excited about the NASBP Construction Contracts and Bond Forms Workshop that will be held October 20 and 21 in Atlanta, Georgia and will offer continuing education credit. NASBP has invited not just one, but four partners from the renowned law firm of Smith, Currie, & Hancock as well as a NASBP affiliate, SureTec Insurance Company, to present at the Workshop. Understanding the pitfalls of contracts and bond forms is vital to the risk management process. There is no doubt that attending this course will provide significant added value that you can share with your clients and prospects. Registration for this Workshop is now open for all at nasbp.org, so please sign up today.

In closing, I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the two remaining 2011 Regional Meetings. Enjoy what is left of this hot summer!

John M. Rindt
NASBP President

John M. Rindt is Executive Vice President of JDW Insurance in El Paso, TX. John can be reached at jrindt@jdw-insurance.com.